Frozen Dewdrop Tutorial

GOLDENORFEGOLDENORFE Super Moderators Posts: 4,747 moderator
edited May 11, 2015 in Holy Macro
There was a really good hard frost last night! so i was lying on a plank of wood in the freezing cold early this morning shooting these shots! lol Must be MAD!
I Dont often get the chance to shoot them , so made the most of it! 521 frames shot in three freezing cold hours! eventually i could not feel fingers or toes! Haha.


This is a focus stacked frozen dewdrop. Dew forms naturally on the tips of blades of grass on cold nights after a warmish day.
shot at x4 magnification with canon mpe-65 macro lens. the depth of field is so shallow at this high magnification that focus stacking is used to increase the dof to cover all parts of the frozen drop.



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This is how its done!


Once a good dewdrop has been located on the lawn, i then place a small flower,( a primula in this case ) just behind the flower to give background colour. in a non frozen dewdrop, the flowers image is refracted inside the water drop. moving the flower back/forward will alter its position in the water drop , so can be moved slightly to give the best resulting image inside the drop.

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Here you can see how close the flower and drop are to each other, and the approximate angle position of the mpe lens when shooting. i use a large plank of wood to lie on ,and rest lens barrel on left hand to keep stable!
a series of frames are then shot , each with a slightly different focal point until all parts of the subject have been shot in focus. typically 8-14 frames at f7 should do, i align one of the crosshairs in the viewfinder to a noticeable part of the drop so i can keep all the frames fairly well aligned when shooting.

FROZEN+DEWDROP+TUTORIAL+PIC+%25233.jpg

Here is the flower/drop used for this sequence of shots.

FROZEN+DEWDROP+TUTORIAL+PIC+%25231.jpg




Here are 4 of the individual frames , i used 8 in the final image. you can see in each frame the slight differences in focus point.

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the focus point in the next 2 frames was very slightly different on the main frosted drop.

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All 8 individual images are then stacked in "zerene stacker" to produce the final image, with significantly greater depth of field than a single shot could produce at this magnification.


I shot 11 frames , but chose to leave out 3 so the image has a natural dof, with the lower blade of grass out of focus.

FROSTED+DEWDROP+2012++%25234.jpg




Here are a few more that i shot :)

FROSTED+DEWDROP+2012++%25232.jpg



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a crop from above shot!

FROSTED+ORANGE+DEWDROP+2012.jpg



I will post the best shots from today in next blog!
shot after i had warmed up a bit!!



all shots taken with canon 5d2 and mpe-65 macro lens.

Comments

  • jjpaynejjpayne Registered Users Posts: 5 Beginner grinner
    edited January 15, 2012
    Very nice, thanks for the tips.
  • Lord VetinariLord Vetinari Registered Users Posts: 15,901 Major grins
    edited January 16, 2012
    Wonderful captures Phil - still not had decent frozen dewdrops here
    Brian v.
  • SnowgirlSnowgirl Registered Users Posts: 2,155 Major grins
    edited January 17, 2012
    Beautiful - and instructional. Thank you.

    Around here it is MUCH too cold to be laying on the ground. Yesterday's ambient temperature was -19C and, once you factor in the windchill, it was equivalent to -27C (or, for those south of the 49th parallel in NA, that's -16F). In other words - beyond cold!
    Creating visual and verbal images that resonate with you.
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  • DeVilDeVil Registered Users Posts: 1,037 Major grins
    edited January 18, 2012
    Nicely taken images and thanks for the "Frozen Dewdrop Tutorial" clap.gif
  • scootogscootog Registered Users Posts: 92 Big grins
    edited January 18, 2012
    Top man! Class! Thanks..


    I guess I need some software now.headscratch.gif
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  • DeeBugDeeBug Registered Users Posts: 487 Major grins
    edited November 13, 2013
    Well done Phil,excellent tutorial,i see you use a 5d to shoot with,is this better? or is a crop body,7d or like better for macro?

    Cheers Davy
  • Lord VetinariLord Vetinari Registered Users Posts: 15,901 Major grins
    edited November 14, 2013
    DeeBug wrote: »
    Well done Phil,excellent tutorial,i see you use a 5d to shoot with,is this better? or is a crop body,7d or like better for macro?

    Cheers Davy

    No definitive answer but with a standard 1:1 macro lens I tend to shoot on a crop body but with an MPE-65 1to 5X macro lens I shoot on a FF body.
    Brian V.
  • DeeBugDeeBug Registered Users Posts: 487 Major grins
    edited November 14, 2013
    Cheers Brian,i had a go yesterday with my mpe but really struggled,anything i tried above 1-1 went in the bin, maybe as i was trying to get closeups of bees in a bush,i kept hitting the bush with my flash and scared them away lol.
  • Lord VetinariLord Vetinari Registered Users Posts: 15,901 Major grins
    edited November 16, 2013
    DeeBug wrote: »
    Cheers Brian,i had a go yesterday with my mpe but really struggled,anything i tried above 1-1 went in the bin, maybe as i was trying to get closeups of bees in a bush,i kept hitting the bush with my flash and scared them away lol.

    Actively feeding bees are just about the hardest subject to try !
    Brian v.
  • basfltbasflt Registered Users Posts: 1,882 Major grins
    edited November 16, 2013
    DeeBug wrote: »
    Cheers Brian,i had a go yesterday with my mpe but really struggled,anything i tried above 1-1 went in the bin, maybe as i was trying to get closeups of bees in a bush,i kept hitting the bush with my flash and scared them away lol.

    i recommend to get up early
    when bugs are still cold you have a better chance shooting them
    when they are warmed up by the sun they become too active
  • ingleslenobelingleslenobel Registered Users Posts: 11 Big grins
    edited November 22, 2013
    Good tutorial, well illustrated!
    New extreme macro site at http://extreme-macro.co.uk/ - why not try extreme macro for yourself?
  • DeeBugDeeBug Registered Users Posts: 487 Major grins
    edited November 22, 2013
    Actively feeding bees are just about the hardest subject to try !
    Brian v.

    Cheers Brian,maybe all is not lost then lol
  • DeeBugDeeBug Registered Users Posts: 487 Major grins
    edited November 22, 2013
    basflt wrote: »
    i recommend to get up early
    when bugs are still cold you have a better chance shooting them
    when they are warmed up by the sun they become too active

    Thanks Bas,i appreciate the comments
  • chaddchadd Registered Users Posts: 80 Big grins
    edited May 11, 2015
    Thanks for the tutorial.
    Very detailed.
    The shots look great by the way.
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