2018 Project 52, First Quarter by Mike Sachtjen

[sachtjen]

Thanks Rudi,

I was checking out your 52 week challenge postings today. Your work shows how much learning and mastery is possible.

All I have for lenses are the newer style where the camera controls the aperture. I don't have a good method of controlling the aperture on secondary lens other than trying to tie it open at different levels. I might give that a try. I'm also going to keep my eye out for some inexpensive older lenses which will allow me to manual set the aperture on the lens.

Thanks for the links. Looks like a wealth of information to digest.

I'm also thinking of giving Zenere Stacker a try. I saw that was what you were using. I'm finding Photoshop easy to use. As long as I'm careful to get enough slices it's done a decent job with alignment. But, sometimes the masks it creates for blending is far from ideal, especially with smother surfaces. I'm auto-aligning and auto-blending. I have a feeling to take the qualify to the next level I need something with a little more manual control. I was wondering if other software would do a better job.

Mike

[rudi]

As reversed lens, I used the 'older' manual focus Nikkors 20mm to 55mm Pre AI-AI or AIS. All had 52 mm filter threads, which make swapping easy.
Those are very good quality lenses IMHO, and can be found easily on e-Bay. I still have a few that I intend to use with a bellows for magnification up to about 10x.

I use Zerene stacker, but there are also other stacking programs. There is usual a free trial version, so you can find out which program works best for you.

[Geoff F]

I have tried Zerene but found that the merge option in Photoshop CC worked just as well for me and was much easier to use. You can, if you keep a clear head, alter the masks where something doesn't quite work as required.

[sachtjen]

Taking a short break from Macro.

I didn't have my DSLR with me, but I did grab my Fujifilm FinePix F550EXR point and shoot. That's why the noise level is so high.

I don't take my camera out often enough when I'm with family and friends. I should do more of these. These are the shots I'm going to look back at later which document my life.

I chose this photo because I like the body language between my mother-in-law and her daughter.

ISO 1600, 1/4 sec, f6.4, no flash.

[Geoff F]

That looks good to me.

Like you, I find 'real cameras' are to bulky to carry around all the time so I have a Fuji X20 which is pocket sized so it can always be available. Also, I find people tend to relax more when you are using a small camera instead of getting tensed up and nervous when larger equipment is pointed in their direction.

[billtils]

Mike

For some reason I missed your reverse lens macros, so apologies for the late comments on them.

Coffee bean: Nice shot well-processed. You commented on what to do to deal with the paradox that you want to apply your macro skills to capture an object that is "large" in terms of the normal subjects for macro work. Your 85mm should work fine on its own - just step back a bit (and get the benefit of the extra DoF).

Feather: My view may be influenced a bit by having worked (too many years a go to count) with someone who had a specialist, technical interest in identifying the source of feather fragments, I liked your first one but found the second a bit featureless. I use the stacker in Affinity Photo but Dan K, who produces consistently superb macros, uses Zerene and I tried it. It worked well but not enough to overcome the joint obstacles of paying and learning/

Diner shot: I'm a sucker for B&W informal portraits. You handled the main lighting well, but if the intended centre of attention is mother-in-law and daughter, you may like to try doing something with the bright lighting top left.

[Shadowman]

Nice capture, noise not an issue for me, what works so well is the angle of view and the nice rich tones.

[Wavelength]

I liked this

[sachtjen]

Geoff, I'm having lots of fun with my Nikon around home, but for traveling I'm just not used to it. A friend of mine has an X-T20 and with a pancake lens it's almost as compact as my point and shoot. I'm not ready to switch yet, but I've definitely been eyeing the X-T20 or X-T2.

Bill, Thanks for the feedback. Great advice on the lighting in the upper left corner. I didn't want to crop the bar completely out, but you are right about the intensity of those lights. I should be able to mute them a little bit.

John and Nandakumar, Thanks for the kind words.

[sachtjen]

Back to macro, but with just a standard macro lens this time.

The theme this month for my local photog club is "what is it?"

This is my favorite knife. It gets used every day so it has a few scratches and imperfections.

#1. Un-edited. Just converted RAW to JPG.



#2. Edited in Lightroom. I pushed white balance toward blue, increased the blue saturation and dropped the blacks way down. I purposely pushed this into the realm of abstract. I think it's still recognizable as a knife, but I wanted to make it not quite so obvious.



85 mm Lens -- ISO 400 -- f/18.0 -- 13s -- Lit with an LED flashlight held almost directly over the blade.

[Urbanflyer]

Fun! Thanks for sharing!

[george013]

Back to macro, but with just a standard macro lens this time.

The theme this month for my local photog club is "what is it?"

This is my favorite knife. It gets used every day so it has a few scratches and imperfections.

#1. Un-edited. Just converted RAW to JPG.



#2. Edited in Lightroom. I pushed white balance toward blue, increased the blue saturation and dropped the blacks way down. I purposely pushed this into the realm of abstract. I think it's still recognizable as a knife, but I wanted to make it not quite so obvious.



85 mm Lens -- ISO 400 -- f/18.0 -- 13s -- Lit with an LED flashlight held almost directly over the blade.

Isn't that damascus steel?

George

[Manfred M]

Isn't that damascus steel?

George

That was my first thought too. The blade certainly shows signs of folding and forging, typical of how Damascus steel is made. Japanese Katana (Samuarai) swords are made the same way and show these patterns from the folding and hammering too.

[sachtjen]

That was my first thought too. The blade certainly shows signs of folding and forging, typical of how Damascus steel is made. Japanese Katana (Samuarai) swords are made the same way and show these patterns from the folding and hammering too.

Probably not technically Damascus steel but the pattern is from the folding and forging. Shun is the brand name. They describe it as "Inspired by the blade-making traditions of ancient Japan."

[Manfred M]

Probably not technically Damascus steel but the pattern is from the folding and forging. Shun is the brand name. They describe it as "Inspired by the blade-making traditions of ancient Japan."

With you being on the west coast, the Japanese influence is hardly surprising.

[sachtjen]

It was actually a gift to my wife when we were still dating. What can I say? I'm a romantic.