Focus Stack of a Tulip

[Round Tuit]

This is a focus stack of the interior of a tulip. I like the starburst effect of the petals but I wonder if it would be more effective if the petals were slightly out of focus?



C & C always welcomed.

André

[Shadowman]

Did you plan the stack before the first click, usually the desire for stacking comes after finding one exposure isn't enough?

[DanK]

Andre,

A very nice image.

I have had the same question about a number of my own images. I tend toward sharp focus throughout, but I have seen quite a number of flower macros with a limited focal range, and some have been beautiful.

I’ve started experimenting with stacking images with shallower DOF to give me flexibility to do both


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[Wavelength]

Beautiful.....

[xpatUSA]

This is a focus stack of the interior of a tulip. I like the starburst effect of the petals but I wonder if it would be more effective if the petals were slightly out of focus?

André, A dramatic shot!

I see a slight softening in the reds around the edge which does indeed benefit the dark parts of the petals. Are there some near-focus shots that you could exclude from the stack to provide a further softening of outer details including the darks but without throwing away sharpness in the biological bits?

[Round Tuit]

Did you plan the stack before the first click, usually the desire for stacking comes after finding one exposure isn't enough?

Yes I did John. I ended up taking 20 shots with a very small increment in focus distance between shots. I probably could have gotten away with 10 but I found that when stacking it is a lot easier to throw away shots that you don't need than to have to start over.

[Round Tuit]

Andre,

A very nice image.

I have had the same question about a number of my own images. I tend toward sharp focus throughout, but I have seen quite a number of flower macros with a limited focal range, and some have been beautiful.

I’ve started experimenting with stacking images with shallower DOF to give me flexibility to do both


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks Dan.
I too usually like sharp focus. I have enough oof images of petals that I will experiment to see how it would look. I'll post my result hopefully by tomorrow.

[Round Tuit]

Beautiful.....

Thank you Nandakumar.

[Round Tuit]

André, A dramatic shot!

I see a slight softening in the reds around the edge which does indeed benefit the dark parts of the petals. Are there some near-focus shots that you could exclude from the stack to provide a further softening of outer details including the darks but without throwing away sharpness in the biological bits?

Thank you Ted. As I mentioned to Dan, I will experiment soon and post the result.

[Shadowman]

Yes I did John. I ended up taking 20 shots with a very small increment in focus distance between shots. I probably could have gotten away with 10 but I found that when stacking it is a lot easier to throw away shots that you don't need than to have to start over.

Andre,

Did any of the series fit your alternate view?

[joebranko]

Beautiful shot/processing

[Round Tuit]

Andre,

Did any of the series fit your alternate view?

Unfortunately NO

[Round Tuit]

Beautiful shot/processing

Thank you Joe.

[Round Tuit]

Unfortunately, I was not successful in creating a new stack with the petals slightly out of focus. I will have to try again with a different flower.
In the mean time, I worked on improving the symmetry and came up with this:



What do you think?

[xpatUSA]

For greater symmetry, how about rotating 2 degs counter-clockwise? Otherwise looks pretty good!