First attempts at "interesting" flower macros

Lord Vetinari · November 12, 2005

Been attempting to take interesting macros of flowers.
Here's a couple of my first tries. Both images use focus stacking.
I'd be grateful for critique.
Brian V.

Christmas cactus bloom

Fuchsia bloom

pathfinder · November 12, 2005

Very impressive Brian. Better than a lot of published work I think

:

Sam · November 12, 2005

Brian,

These are fantastic! I especially like the first one. The composition, and color are great.

Keep posting.

Sam

Dee · November 12, 2005

Wow
Those are absolutely great, especially the fuscia!

Keep going and shoot some more!

Osprey Whisperer · November 12, 2005

Nice shots, Brian. Well done.

Like that 2nd one a lot. What kind of flower is it?

MM

Lord Vetinari · November 12, 2005

pathfinder wrote:

Very impressive Brian. Better than a lot of published work I think :

Thanks Pathfinder,
Just seeing what can be done with flowers as the close season on bugs is nearly here.:D

Sam wrote:

Brian,

These are fantastic! I especially like the first one. The composition, and color are great.

Keep posting.

Sam

Thanks Sam, I was just looking for something a bit different from the standard flower pics.

Bird Man Photographer wrote:

Nice shots, Brian. Well done. Like that 2nd one a lot. What kind of flower is it?

MM

Thanks BMP
The second shot is part of a fuchsia bloom- still have a few in the garden as we have not had a frost yet.

Brian V.

Stormdancing · November 12, 2005

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Both images use focus stacking.

They look like something from another world.
I"m new to all this stuff. Could you please explain what focus stacking is?

mereimage · November 12, 2005

Great shots....
terrific dof on these macros.........I need to learn this focus stacking...but don't know if I have the patience for it..............Mereimage

Lord Vetinari · November 12, 2005

Stormdancing wrote:

They look like something from another world.
I"m new to all this stuff. Could you please explain what focus stacking is?

Thanks Storm Dancing- sort of what I was aiming for.

mereimage wrote:

terrific dof on these macros.........I need to learn this focus stacking...but don't know if I have the patience for it..............Mereimage

Thanks Mereimage

Focus stacking is very easy and does not take much time- there is an explanation here-
http://www.digitalgrin.com/showpost.php?p=156830&postcount=30

Brian V.

Stormdancing · November 12, 2005

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks Storm Dancing- sort of what I was aiming for.

Thanks Mereimage

Focus stacking is very easy and does not take much time- there is an explanation here-
http://www.digitalgrin.com/showpost.php?p=156830&postcount=30

Brian V.

Ooooo oooo something new to play with and it's free!
Thanks so much. Interesting.

Phil U. · November 12, 2005

ummmmm... interesting? These are fantastic. You are the king of macros. Excellent work. Love the lighting and compositions on both. It appears that you have the focus stacking down to a science.

*Minor nit-pick: Looks like on the first the red stamen could use just a tad more light to bring out the details.

Osprey Whisperer · November 12, 2005

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Focus stacking is very easy and does not take much time- there is an explanation here-
http://www.digitalgrin.com/showpost.php?p=156830&postcount=30

Brian V.

Do you have a link for a free download of combinez5 ? Did a google..and not much luck.

I've done some similar/differnt stacking on some of my shots. More for exposure situations etc. I'll merge two cloned images with different wxposures and remove certain areas with the "eraser" tool in PSCS2. I've been meaning to get around to messin' with "stacking". Too much to try/learn .

Lord Vetinari · November 12, 2005

Phil U. wrote:

ummmmm... interesting? These are fantastic. You are the king of macros. Excellent work. Love the lighting and compositions on both. It appears that you have the focus stacking down to a science.

*Minor nit-pick: Looks like on the first the red stamen could use just a tad more light to bring out the details.

Thanks Phil U
Think you are right in Pic#1- I was playing with backlighting the flower, I probably needed a little bit of light on the front.
Brian V.

Lord Vetinari · November 12, 2005

Bird Man Photographer wrote:

Do you have a link for a free download of combinez5 ? Did a google..and not much luck. I've done some similar/differnt stacking on some of my shots. More for exposure situations etc. I'll merge two cloned images with different wxposures and remove certain areas with the "eraser" tool in PSCS2. I've been meaning to get around to messin' with "stacking". Too much to try/learn .

You'll find this prog is a bit different as far as I can work out it works at the pixel level. Anyway you should be able to find it and the required dll on this page somewhere.
http://www.hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZ5/combinez5.htm

Brian V.

Osprey Whisperer · November 12, 2005

Lord Vetinari wrote:

You'll find this prog is a bit different as far as I can work out it works at the pixel level. Anyway you should be able to find it and the required dll on this page somewhere.
http://www.hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZ5/combinez5.htm

Brian V.

Thanks Brian. Guess I read through that info too fast and missed any download link. <returns to site>

Lord Vetinari · November 13, 2005

Bird Man Photographer wrote:

Thanks Brian. Guess I read through that info too fast and missed any download link. <returns to site>

I missed the download first time I tried to find it too

Brian V.

ian408 · November 13, 2005

These are nice. Especially the second which looks like a Georgia O'Keefe
painting--very nice.

Ian

Lord Vetinari · November 13, 2005

ian408 wrote:

These are nice. Especially the second which looks like a Georgia O'Keefe
painting--very nice.

Ian

Thanks Ian,
Had to look up Georgia O'keefe- think my focus is better

- interesting paintings.
Brian V.

ian408 · November 13, 2005

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks Ian,
Had to look up Georgia O'keefe- think my focus is better - interesting paintings.
Brian V.

Now that's pretty funny

Ian

Skippy · November 13, 2005

Ohhhhhh I LIKE

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Been attempting to take interesting macros of flowers.
Here's a couple of my first tries. Both images use focus stacking.
I'd be grateful for critique.
Brian V.
Christmas cactus bloom
Fuchsia bloom

Number 2 does it for me........this just gorgeous, and how pretty are the colours in that shot

your pretty dang clever with this focus stacking technique you use aren't you, man you sure have it down to a fine art

Just beautiful..... Skippy (Australia)

Lord Vetinari · November 14, 2005

Skippy wrote:

Number 2 does it for me........this just gorgeous, and how pretty are the colours in that shot your pretty dang clever with this focus stacking technique you use aren't you, man you sure have it down to a fine art
Just beautiful..... Skippy (Australia)

Thanks Skippy,
Have to admit I did play with the white balance on PIC#2 to make it a bit bluer during RAW processing.
I seem to automatically now take a pic series with the thought of possible focus stacking on my mind. It's a bit like Focus bracketing - it helps ensure you do get at least one shot with the focus spot on with the possibility of also focus stacking to increase the DOF as an added bonus, not that I always use it

: .
It's actually the software that does the stacking that is clever

, but I'm suprised that not many people seem to use it.
Brian V.

mushy · November 14, 2005

Amazing colours and clarity there, most impressive

Lord Vetinari · November 15, 2005

mushy wrote:

Amazing colours and clarity there, most impressive

Thanks Mushy

Brian V.

First attempts at "interesting" flower macros

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