Stick yer tongue out

[carregwen]

Why did you stack 6 shots? Was it to get everything in focus? Can I do this with PS CS3?

You can sometimes get away with 2-3 shots. It depends on the total DOF you want to capture. This one was six shots. You should be able to do it in CS3 - I have CS5, but I think it's the same. I normally use helicon which is a stand-alone program with a few more refinements but CS does it OK.

1. Load your files to CS3
2. Go to FILE > SCRIPTS > LOAD FILES INTO STACK
3. When the dialogue box appears make sure you check the 'Attempt to automatically Align Source Images' box... and then continue.
4. Go to the layers palette and select all the layers (Press Ctrl and click each layer or Select=>All layers) then go to Edit=>Auto-Blend Layers (tick the box that says 'stack images').

Have a look at Sean's tutorial on stacking... https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...king-fstop.htm

Have a go and post your shot back here. You don't need any special gear, and you don't need a macro lens. You can also try it with landscapes (two shots is probably best for that)

[Klickit]

If the light is good, I crowd by the window.

So, ummm, how many of you are there?

[Katy Noelle]

So, ummm, how many of you are there?

Oh, hold on! I'll go check...... "everyone here, raise your hand!" There are 5 of us! The table, chair, tripod, orchid and I! It IS crowded over there!

[pono]

Katy,
I was also looking at the 60mm macro. I was thinking that it would make a good portrait lens too, but I still kind of want the 50mm.

I was just wondering if you used one because the focus of thew photos is super good. I never seem to be able to get it perfect, although sometimes I get close. I try to get as close as I can with my 28mm-135mm f3.5-5.6. Ill get it as close as I can and crop like you, but in my poinion, it just never seems satisfying. I think it's because I look at photos like yours all the time.

Is the mirror lock up just so the camera doesn't move?

Rob,
Thanks for the info. I'm going to try that. Maybe that will give photos that something that I think is missing. I've never thought of trying the technique with landscapes. Gonna have to give it a go!

[PopsPhotos]

I'm going to insert here a lesson from Bill Belknap.

"Right or wrong is the decision of the photographer. From there it is the decision of the developer and printer. From there, it is the decision of the viewer. So, "right" and "wrong" are not proper terms to apply to a photograph nor to the picture produced from that photograph. It is the sum of the opinions down the line."

There is more to that lesson, but that gets the point I wish to make across, for the moment. I like them all. the original ones and the further processed ones. Which I like best has little bearing on "right" or "wrong" for the individual pictures. The best I would be able to offer to your question would be "I would have done ..."

Sorry for the little rant, but I just don't like "right" or "wrong" applied to a photograph which the photographer thought good enough to be viewed in public as a picture, rather than being thrown away.

Granted, there is "right" and "wrong" when teaching the rudiments of focus, exposure, composition and such to beginners, but the pictures I saw in this thread are far beyond that.

Pops

[Katy Noelle]

Thanks, very much, Pops, for making the distinction clear. It just brings out, to me, what a journey this is of learning in generaland learning to really see and learning to choose how we want to portray things for others to see. (I hope that made sense. I'm up really late because I can't sleep. - need sleepy smilie.)

[Katy Noelle]

Katy,

I was also looking at the 60mm macro. I was thinking that it would make a good portrait lens too, but I still kind of want the 50mm.

You have a greater zoom lens than I do. The 50mm looked good (and less expensive) to me but because I only have up to 55mm and am always wishing that I could get just that much closer, I think that the 50mm would drive me bonkers. Also, the one to one ratio in the "viewfinder" is very attractive to me.

I was just wondering if you used one because the focus of thew photos is super good. I never seem to be able to get it perfect, although sometimes I get close. I try to get as close as I can with my 28mm-135mm f3.5-5.6. Ill get it as close as I can and crop like you, but in my poinion, it just never seems satisfying. I think it's because I look at photos like yours all the time.

Well, thanks! It makes me wonder, though, why? When I was first trying macro, I found that I was just blindly pointing and shooting "aimlessly" at the flower, etc. (NOT that you're doing that.) Then, I realized that, in macro, you have to make a tiny composition, in the end; so, I started trying to focus on the very part that i wanted to highlight when it was cropped. Then, I realized that at a tiny level, like this, I need to have a higher dof. THEN, I realized that I wasn't lighting it correctly and my focus point was always the part in shadow. I'm still wrestling with all of this. It just seemed that every time I got one thing satisfactory to me, I would get the next thing "off". It's getting better, though. You guys all know how I'm a beginner figuring things out! Just sharing, that's all!

Is the mirror lock up just so the camera doesn't move?

Yes! A lot of what I've learned that has really stuck has come out of necessity. I was taking so many precautions to get a still photo but, then, my camera would "chunk" and, then, "uncachunk", every time that I took a photo. When I happened upon this feature in my camera's manual, I knew that I needed it!

Still hoping to see some photos of amazing and exotic flowers from Hawaii!!!

[pono]

2 images stacked. One is f11, the other is f16.