High Mag Focus Stack Butterfly head Tutorial

GOLDENORFE

a series of shots showing how i shoot a high magnification butterfly head focus stack.
all 5 frames of stack are shown which have been converted from raw files and just resized for web.
stacking was performed by zerene stacker -
http://zerenesystems.com/stacker/
there is a free program combine czp that is also very good -
http://www.hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZP/Installation.htm



to start shooting i hold the stem with perched butterfly in left hand, holding a leaf between fingers to give background colour.
the lens is suported by my thumb or fingers and slid along to change focus points as frames are shot.
everything is therefore kept steady,if my hand moves slightly so does the stem and butterfly, which means all frames are quite well aligned.




resting lens on thumb for support, the blue male butterfly is the one i was shooting




here are the five frames as shot,just converted from raw files and shown resized for web.only slight different focus planes, starting with the nearest hairs towards the camera and shooting each consecutive frame further into the subject , the last of the five frames has the back hairs on the nose in focus.
you can see they are not exactly aligned but zerene stacker still aligned them pretty good. i then used "edit" to clone all the best, sharpest areas.


#1 USED FOR HAIRS NEAREST ON SHOULDER AREA AND ANTENNA DETAILS



#2 THIS IS THE MAIN FRAME WITH WING DETAIL



#3 EYE DETAIL AND WING SCALES and HAIRS BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER



#4 HAIRS AROUND THE HEAD



#5 HAIRS BACK OF HEAD




here is the finished image after stacking,minor adjustments with layer masks in ps. levels/contrast adjustment and very slight crop to remove stacking marks around edge , re size for web and unsharp mask






HOPE THIS IS HELPFULL

PHIL

MileHighAko

Fantastic! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up and share.

basflt

yes , its helpfull
but the most crucial part is missing

how you do manage to keep a butterfly to stay put for longer then a second ?

normally they fly away when i get within six feet or so

Helvegr

Very Nice. Question though, do you have a third arm holding your flash in place?

IPClark

Excellent tutorial Phil.

I believe the flash is on a bracket (in response to Helvegr's question) ?

jpc

And a 4th arm taking pictures of him holding the camera, lens, leaf, stem and flash with his other arms!

Great tutorial, thanks.

dlplumer

basflt wrote: »

yes , its helpfull
but the most crucial part is missing

how you do manage to keep a butterfly to stay put for longer then a second ?

normally they fly away when i get within six feet or so

+1 scratch

CyberSteak

that's hand held? Hand held? HAND HELD?!?!???!??

Lord Vetinari

Good tutorial Phil ! - Must admit I'm fairly amazed the butterflies stayed put - was this early morning or roosting late evening ?
Brian v.

dlplumer

Lord Vetinari wrote: »

Good tutorial Phil ! - Must admit I'm fairly amazed the butterflies stayed put - was this early morning or roosting late evening ?
Brian v.

Looks like they are pinned to the perch. Phil?

basflt

dlplumer wrote: »

Looks like they are pinned to the perch. Phil?

D
after drugging them :cool

GOLDENORFE

thanks for comments , i cast a spell on them to sit still

this mating pair stayed still for quite some time, it is quite easy to cut a stem with a pair on to hold in a clamp on the ground for shooting.
i find butterflys sheltering on the ground in windy weather or early in morning after a cold night. easy to creep up on them

these shots were shot at 9.50 am Brian.

phil

basflt

^^
clap

Overfocused

Theys in heat... they ain't goin nowhares

Ambrola

What are the advantages of shooting in RAW format? Is it better for the editing process or the images just look better or both??

basflt

Ambrola wrote: »

What are the advantages of shooting in RAW format? Is it better for the editing process or the images just look better or both??

it is nessesary for editing

GOLDENORFE

Ambrola wrote: »

What are the advantages of shooting in RAW format? Is it better for the editing process or the images just look better or both??

RAW files can be altered to a greater amount if your exposures are not correct without degrading image quality, jpg quality is reduced everytime a file is opened or altered.

it does mean a bit more work but image quality should be much better.

DeeBug

Great tutorial Phil,i'm having a go at stacking at high mag and i'm really struggling,you guys make it look so easy!

Cheers Davy