DSS#49 Alien Cave

Velvet-Art · April 23, 2010

I had a little time today and broke out my M42 macro setup ( 2 sets of extension tubes totalling 120mm and an old set of macro bellows giving me up to 300mm of extension ) and tried a couple of ideas out before getting this one.

What do you think of this one, Alien Cave

This is an 11 image focus stack

Tim

JAG · April 23, 2010

very nice Tim! I am definatly saying WTH is that? You did great on the stack focusing.

Velvet-Art · April 23, 2010

JAG wrote:

very nice Tim! I am definatly saying WTH is that? You did great on the stack focusing.

Thanks very much

thumb but really you should be saying that CombineZP did a good job on the stack

although my poor laptop did struggle with combining 11 18mp images.

Tim

CaiusMartius · April 23, 2010

banana peel?

Velvet-Art · April 23, 2010

CaiusMartius wrote:

banana peel?

Nope, but you are sorta in the right field

Tim

CaiusMartius · April 23, 2010

Ahhhh, Apple peel.

Velvet-Art · April 23, 2010

CaiusMartius wrote:

Ahhhh, Apple peel.

You're thinking too big

Tim

CaiusMartius · April 23, 2010

White grape? It is definitely organic and has started to ... decompose.

CaiusMartius · April 23, 2010

Despite being on theme, I am afraid that the decomposing matter might lead this photo to be in the unselected category. (Maybe it has some kind of subliminal effect on the viewer?)

Velvet-Art · April 23, 2010

CaiusMartius wrote:

White grape? It is definitely organic and has started to ... decompose.

We have a winner

clap This was just a grape pulled off the stalk, ok the bunch was starting to be a bit past their prime but they weren't decomposing yet ( maybe not too many days off it yet

)

Tim

The Curious Camel · April 23, 2010

Amazing, I was thinking potato chip. Nice work.

peace, gail

kdotaylor · April 23, 2010

So THAT's what a macro lens will do...
I Like It

CaiusMartius · April 23, 2010

Well that is what a macro with TWO extension tubes will do!

Velvet-Art · April 23, 2010

Here's a setup shot, just to show how I got this shot. On top of the jamjar is a blob of blutack with a pin stuck in it onto which I viciously stuck the poor grape. And yes, the grape was that close to the front of the lens, probably less than 1" away!!!

Just thought I'd share my setup for macros.

Tim

Paintguy · April 24, 2010

wow, that would open up some possibilities. I think my pics could have doubled as low tech for the last competition as I put an old 70-210 f4 n/ai lens with a macro filter and hand held/activated my flash to the side.

Velvet-Art · April 24, 2010

I've got a couple more for the consideration of the collective's wisdom, both of the same object but from different angles, one is a 9 image focus stack, and the other is a 41 image focus stack.

#2, Martian Canyon

#3 Valley of the Shadow of Death

So, what do you think of these, any better / worse than my 1st try?

Tim

travelways · April 24, 2010

Very nice

PS: Uh, no... I meant the first one is very nice

ABCL · April 24, 2010

Fantastic crisp shots and perfectly exposed and composed. Oh and

clap

for the awesome setup!

Velvet-Art · April 24, 2010

photo-bug wrote:

Very nice

PS: Uh, no... I meant the first one is very nice

Thanks Tatiana

whiterice · April 24, 2010

The white grape is my favorite - beautiful job with the focus stack - the detail is very amazing! And I like the composition.

Velvet-Art · April 24, 2010

ABCL wrote:

Fantastic crisp shots and perfectly exposed and composed. Oh and clap for the awesome setup!

Thanks ABCL

Sometimes when I work on a few shots I find it hard to be objective about which one might be the better to enter into the challenge, so do you mind if I ask if you rate one image above the others? You dont have to say why ( but that would help too

)

Tim

Velvet-Art · April 24, 2010

whiterice wrote:

The white grape is my favorite - beautiful job with the focus stack - the detail is very amazing! And I like the composition.

Thanks very much

Tim

slpollett · April 24, 2010

I like the white grape one better than the other two. Why??

I think I like the color & the lighting better on the grape.

That's some set up you have, btw.

Since I've never done one & don't know anything about it, how do you do a focus stack? Do you need special software or can photoshop do it? I haven't found any inspiration to try this on yet, but I'm hopeful something will come along.

Thanks,
Sherry

JAG · April 25, 2010

2 and 3 look alot like meat loaf? I still prefer #1. I would have never guessed it was a grape and I like the lighting and composition.

Velvet-Art · April 25, 2010

slpollett wrote:

I like the white grape one better than the other two. Why?? I think I like the color & the lighting better on the grape.

Thanks Sherry

Since I've never done one & don't know anything about it, how do you do a focus stack? Do you need special software or can photoshop do it? I haven't found any inspiration to try this on yet, but I'm hopeful something will come along.

The way I do focus stacking is this: I use a manual focus lens as the focus ring has more travel ( ie you have to rotate it more ) than a auto focus lens has, and so is easier to make small adjustments. I 1st of all turn the focus ring to the closest setting, and then using live-view I move the subject until the part of the subject that is nearest the lens is in focus.

I then take a test shot and examine to make sure the exposure is ok and the focus is ok ( btw, it is alwasy a good idea to shoot in full manual mode when focus stacking to get all the frames without the exposure varying ) I also stay in live mode as, on my camera, this keeps the mirror locked up even when taking the pics, and thus cuts down on vibration.

After making sure that everything is ok I make a note of the shot number that is the start of the stack ( saves a lot of headscratching later ) and then adjust the focus to get the next slice of the subject in focus. This is where live-view is really handy as you can literally see where the focus was sharp in the 1st setup, and then adjust to get the next section in focus, and then take another photo.

For an example, look at this gallery that I took for a previous challenge, flick through the pics and see the steps in focus.

Repeat the above until you have got all the way to the back of your subject ( ie the part furthest away from the lens ) and that is the end of the hardest part of focus stacking.

Now while the pictures transfer to your computer, go and do a search for "CombineZP", it is a free piece of software that will automatically stack all your shots ( there is a snag though, it only works with jpg's, so if like me you shoot raw, you will need to batch process all your shots the same way into jpg's )

When you run combinzp it is worth reading through the helpfile, but if ( like me ) you just want to get on with it, this is what you need to do. Click "New" , ( you can minimise or close the help assistant ) in the dialogue that appears navigate to where your jpg's are from your focus stacking shoot, and select all of them and click "open".

Then another box will pop up to tell you what the program is doing, basically at this point it is importing and examining the files previously selected. After a little while you will be presented with the top frame of your focus stack.

Now you have to tell the program to align and balence your stack, so from the drop-down menu next to the "new" button, select "Align and Balance Used Frames (quick)" and click "GO"

Now go and make a cup of coffee.

When the program has finished that step you now can make a focus stack. CombineZP offers a number of different methods to achieve the stack, all available from that same drop-down menu, and all have their advantages and disadvantages ( see helpfile ), but the one I have found to be very good is "Pyramid Weighted Average". Select the one you want and click "GO"

Now go and make a flask of coffee.

Then bask in the glow of your freshly made focus stack.

Click "Save", give it a name, crop it in photoshop ( or whatever you use ) to get rid of the rendering artifacts around the edges, post it on Dgrin and bask in the warm and fuzzy feeling:D:D:D:D

That is how I do it, I am sure that there are other ways too.

Tim

Velvet-Art · April 25, 2010

JAG wrote:

2 and 3 look alot like meat loaf?

Nope, and quite a way off, but I do see the resemblance now that you have mentioned it

I still prefer #1. I would have never guessed it was a grape and I like the lighting and composition.

Thanks

Tim

slpollett · April 25, 2010

Wow, Tim! Thanks for that great explanation of focus-stacking. Awesome! I definitely want to give it a try. I am a little disgruntled with my macro lens right now (was before this challenge) as it's Mr. Auto Focus doesn't appear to be working properly. I had already decided I would have to manually focus with that lens anyway, so here we go! I'm just not sure I trust my bad eyes to know when I'm really in focus!! (New glasses--everything's a little fuzzy!! Plus, too soon after being a blind judge to have my vision back, lol.)

Now to find a victim...I mean subject...of my photographic efforts!

Thanks again for the tutorial!

Sherry

wats005 · April 29, 2010

I think I will echo that thought and say thank you for the explaination. That was very benifical! now to try it....

HaveCameraWillTravel · June 14, 2010

What is that macro of?
I think I know what you shot there. BTW, nice work! From what I remember of my old high school biology class, it looks to me like a "stoma", or "stomata", basically, the pore of a leaf where the carbon dioxide enters.

Am I right?

Velvet-Art · June 15, 2010

HaveCameraWillTravel wrote: »

I think I know what you shot there. BTW, nice work! From what I remember of my old high school biology class, it looks to me like a "stoma", or "stomata", basically, the pore of a leaf where the carbon dioxide enters.

Am I right?

The 1st image ( the green one ) is a close up of the hole caused by removing the stalk of a white grape ( why do they call them white grapes when they clearly are green ?? )

#2 and #3 are two angles of the same subject, a rusty slot-headed screw that I removed from an outside door-handle and then did some creative lighting on. The screw head is less that 1/4" side to side, and the shots were taken looking along the slot.

Hope this answers your query,

Tim

DSS#49 Alien Cave

Comments