Ice Spikes - focus stacked. C&C welcomed.

nak

We had a sharp freeze recently. I knew from last year to check the bottom of the flipped over stock tank beside the barn for ice spikes.

Shot with a Canon 5dII with 135mm f/2.0L and 36mm extension tube. Exposure is ISO 200, f/8.0, at 1/60 of a second, manual focus. Ambient morning light in the shade of the barn, aided by two large white foam core panels. Spot lighting by an LED flashlight (the blue nature of the LED goes well with ice).

I shot 7 frames incrementing the focus as I went. I should have gone for more frames to get the tip fully into focus. I used CombineZM to do the focus stacking.

In post, I dimmed the brightness slightly and heavily increased the contrast. This reduced resolution image does not do it justice; there is a crazy amount of detail available at 100% crop of the original.

C&C welcomed.

nak

I got one other keeper; a 3-stack. Here you can see the background white foam core board in the far off distance. (A barn yard doesn't always make the best backdrop).

Shot at 1/60 at f/5.6 again at ISO 200 using the 135mm and a 36mm extension tube. Lighting is again the ambient morning light reflected off the white board plus a single LED flashlight for spot lighting to enhance highlights.

Again a reduced resolution image doesn't do the detail and highlights justice.

Dr Calohandre

I likeboth but the last one the best. I do though think you are experiencing some focus fall off at the tip and base on the top one and some on the base in the second one. I just got the rail to shoot some of these myself so keenl interested in learning what others are doing. You might PM macromeister as he is a real pro at focus stacking.

Lord Vetinari

Good stacks - always fascinated by the radial pattern of trapped air buubles in ice like this.
Brian v.

GOLDENORFE

really like second shot , great structure. think at least 6 frames in stack needed though as a minimum

nak

Another one, this time with feeling
Earlier in the week we had another thaw - sharp freeze and it gave us some big fat ice spikes to look at. I had to breath gently on them to melt the frost covering them so that I could get clear shots. A few learning experiences along the way: When shooting a focus stack, take your mitt off the lens before firing the camera. If you take your winter coat off to provide a black background, the cold may impair your judgement. The 5d has a self timer, I have no idea why I wasn't using it so that I could get both hands off the camera. Technique and practice really, really pays off. Tiny focus increments are your friend.

This is the best of them, an 11 shot stack to get the detail from the front clear through to the back. I used 5d2 + 135 f/2.0L + 36mm extension tube. ISO 100, f2.0, lighting by two LED flashlights (one on each side). The level of detail is incredible on the full resolution image; if I was going to print this, it'd be 16x20 so that all of the details showed up.

If I had to title it, it would be "We're number one! We're number one!"