Acorn Caps

[Round Tuit]

I had picked up these two acorn caps last fall with the intent of photographing them. I finally had the opportunity to get back to photography last week after a very difficult five months that saw the unrelated death of my two brothers.
I set up the acorns on top of my tablet and used black foam core panels to eliminate unwanted reflections. I would welcome C & C as my recent lack of practice was very apparent to me.



André

[DanK]

I think this came out very well


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[Shadowman]

Nicely composed and captured.

[Manfred M]

I'm sorry to hear about everything you went through. It sounds like you've had a very tough year.

The shot came out very well, although if it were my shot, I'd be tempted to crop a bit off the right hand side.

[mugge]

I like it a lot. 20mm off the right hand side should do it in my view.
Cheers Ole

[Round Tuit]

Thank you Dan. This is my first attempt at focus stacking using Zerene. It wont be last.
Thanks John.
Thanks Manfred and Ole. I experimented with different crops. Some worked well, like centered in a 1 x 1, others not good at all. I agree with you both that shaving the right side would result in a marginally better picture but I settled on the 2 x 3 crop because I needed to print at that ratio.

[DanK]

Thank you Dan. This is my first attempt at focus stacking using Zerene. It wont be last.

This stack worked well.

I don't know which of the two algorithms you used, but they behave quite differently. I prefer DMAP for things like this; it does a better job of preserving color. However, it is also more prone to halos. These typically arise when there is a considerable distance (front to back) between an edge and the surface behind it. In those cases, I typically stack both ways and touch up from the PMAX composite to the DMap in areas with halos.

[Round Tuit]

This stack worked well.

I don't know which of the two algorithms you used, but they behave quite differently. I prefer DMAP for things like this; it does a better job of preserving color. However, it is also more prone to halos. These typically arise when there is a considerable distance (front to back) between an edge and the surface behind it. In those cases, I typically stack both ways and touch up from the PMAX composite to the DMap in areas with halos.

I tried both and selected the DMap. It was only a five photo stack and I did not see any artifacts on either stack but the color looked more natural with the DMap.

[Wavelength]

Excellent image