Brian Valentine - SmugMug Artist-in-Residence

Andy

Dgrin's Lord Veterinari, Brian Valentine, is one of SmugMug's Artists-in-Residence.

Brian is an amazing Macro shooter. We're lucky to have him here! Here in this thread is where we'll announce new discussions, the details on the monthly roundtable, and more.

Stay tuned...

Brian's Macro Learning Series

Macro Exercises #1 DOF, Aperture and diffraction

Macro Exercises #2 FOCUSING

Macro Exercises #3 FOCUS STACKING

Macro Exercises #4 Lighting

Definition of MACRO - What's a Macro?

Some earlier references and resources:

Macrophotography Tips & Links

More Macro Tips & Links

Yet more!

Ephemeral

Wel done Havelock.

Lord Vetinari

Thanks - I think
Brian V.

BigAl

Fame at last

Awais Yaqub

Ooo wow what a great photographers

Skippy

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks - I think
Brian V.

Well we keep telling you how good you are ya duffa
Congratulations Brian, you are indeed an incrediably amazing Macro Photographer, who is always willing to share your knowledge with the rest of us and I for one thank you for it hooray for you .....:D Skippy

andymillson

Congrats Brian, well deserved!

DavidTO

And we learn his full name!

Fantastic.

wxwax

We need an insect smilie for Lord V.

Lord Vetinari

Thanks everyone
Whilst I'm finding out from Andy what's entailed in this function, I'd be grateful for any ideas from you macrophotographers out there what you'd like to see me do here on a regular basis.

Brian V.

wxwax

The most common problems I see with less-than-perfect marcos are:

Depth of field (usually too shallow)
Lighting
Composition
Backgrounds

andymillson

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks everyone
Whilst I'm finding out from Andy what's entailed in this function, I'd be grateful for any ideas from you macrophotographers out there what you'd like to see me do here on a regular basis.

Brian V.

How do you keep those darn bugs still enough to take a couple of shots so you can focus stack them?!

I have had no luck with that side of things, they always move between shots

Lord Vetinari

wxwax wrote:

The most common problems I see with less-than-perfect marcos are:

Depth of field (usually too shallow)
Lighting
Composition
Backgrounds

Thanks for the ideas Sid - will see what we can do- mind you I'm still fighting with most of them
Brian V.

Lord Vetinari

andymillson wrote:

How do you keep those darn bugs still enough to take a couple of shots so you can focus stack them?!

I have had no luck with that side of things, they always move between shots

Agree can be difficult and is more often than not, luck. I normally try to get a good first shot- eyes in focus etc and then try to do another one or two shots fairly quickly after. Sometimes after getting the camera in reasonable focus distance on the bug, I just watch it through the viewfinder to see what it's doing rather than taking a pic- you can then often see them settle down and know it's then a good time to try a stack.
All this of course depends on the bug and what it's doing when you spot it. Bugs sunbathing are normally good for trying a stack but obviously if they are actively hunting food or cleaning themselves then you don't stand a chance. Oddly mating bugs are often good for stack shots.
If you find in the stacked shot that the bug moved a feeler or a leg so there are ghosts in it, you can often clone these out in PS or go back to the original shot with the item in sharp focus and do a manual cut and paste job with it.
One big advantage of at least trying to get a focus stack is that you will normally at least get one pic with the focus exactly where you want it.- Sort of manual version of focus bracketing.

Brian V.

wxwax

Just explaining your focus stacking technique would make a great discussion.

tmlphoto

Congrats Brian. Thanks for sharing your photographs and your knowledge with us.

pathfinder

Congratulations, Brian.

We are all looking forward to learning from your expertise!!

Your shots are always outstanding

Lord Vetinari

wxwax wrote:

Just explaining your focus stacking technique would make a great discussion.

Quick focus stacking tutorial.

One of the major problems in macrophotography is lack of DOF. This can be partially overcome by using small apertures but this comes at a price. Shooting at apertures smaller than about F11 at 1:1 magnification causes diffraction softening of the image resulting in good DOF but loss of detail in the shot.
One way to overcome this is to use focus stacking of a series of shots taken of the subject from the same point of view (POV) but at different focus depths and then use software to combine the "in focus" parts of the different images.
The software I use is freeware and is the combineZ series. The latest version combinezm is available here
http://www.hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZM/Manual/Install.htm

This latest version will handle the High res jpg picture size from a canon 400D (ie 10mpx)

I normally take the shots whilst handholding the camera but often either I'm resting the lens on something or I'm leaning on something- when using this method I focus on the nearest part of the subject take a pic but mentally note where the next nearest OOF part of the image is- I then physically move the camera till that part of the image is in focus and take the next shot. This process is repeated until you have covered the required depth. I normally take betwen 2 and about 6 shots like this.
The other method is to use a tripod and either use a macro slider to focus or just use the focus ring to focus on the next slice. This is more reliable as whilst the software is very good at re-aligning pics in the sequence, it will not correct any rotational errors in the shots.
The technique does take a while to master but it's worth persevering.

Below is a quick slightly trivial example I did this morning of a clothers peg.
I took five shots for the stack but have only included the first shot, last shot and final stacked image. The shots were taken at F11 with my 300D and 105mm EX macro lens and ETTL flash.

Brian V.

camera flash setup




First Image in stack



Last Image in stack



Stacked Image

GraphyFotoz

Oh hail KING MACRO!

Your Da Man for Macro Brian....lots to learn from you!
Congrads on the fame!
Can I get your autograph?

Dalantech

Congrats Brian!

ziggy53

Lord Vetinari wrote:

... Oddly mating ...

Brian V.

Is there any other kind?

Congratulations on the new post. You have been such a help and inspiration in the past, and you continue to amaze.

Regarding CombineZ:

I have not been able to get a successful compilation of images. The results look like an interlace problem. (I tried Win ME and Win 2000)

Is there a trick to setting up the software? Is there any other software you might recommend?

Thanks,

ziggy53

Lord Vetinari

ziggy53 wrote:

Is there any other kind?

Congratulations on the new post. You have been such a help and inspiration in the past, and you continue to amaze.

Regarding CombineZ:

I have not been able to get a successful compilation of images. The results look like an interlace problem. (I tried Win ME and Win 2000)

Is there a trick to setting up the software? Is there any other software you might recommend?

Thanks,

ziggy53

Thanks Ziggy
Re- combinez5- did you have both the fftw3.dll and gdiplus.dll file in the same folder as combinez5.exe ?
There is also a new version called combinezm which comes in a self installing file and handles larger files (10.1 mp).
If you have no luck with these there is helicon focus - has a 30 day free trial I believe, but I found this less satisfactory than combinez5/m.
Brian V.

ziggy53

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks Ziggy
Re- combinez5- did you have both the fftw3.dll and gdiplus.dll file in the same folder as combinez5.exe ?
There is also a new version called combinezm which comes in a self installing file and handles larger files (10.1 mp).
If you have no luck with these there is helicon focus - has a 30 day free trial I believe, but I found this less satisfactory than combinez5/m.
Brian V.

Thanks Brian,

Yep, I tried CombinZ5 first, and I just downloaded, and tried, the December 2006 CombineZM on the Win2000 machine.

I did note that CombineZM requires Media Player 9, which I did not have previously. MP9 is installed and operating, but now, starting CombineZM, I get an error relating to the Kernal itself. Yikes!

I will send the author an e-mail to see if they have any suggestions.

Thanks,

ziggy53

donek

wxwax wrote:

We need an insect smilie for Lord V.

My best grinner


Brian, Your photos are the reason I bought a macro lens. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Lord Vetinari

Thanks Sean for the compliment and the smile
Good shot BTW.
Brian V.

tlee

Congrats!! clap

Here's another bug "grinner" for you:

Lord Vetinari

tlee wrote:

Congrats!! clap

Here's another bug "grinner" for you:

Now that's something I haven't seen yet
Brian V.

Stustaff

Congrats, put me down as another one you have inspired to get into macro. just bought my macro tubes today so look forward to having a play and seeing more of your shots and advice.

DifferentSeed

Andy wrote:

Dgrin's Lord Veterinari, Brian Valentine, is one of SmugMug's Artists-in-Residence.

Yaaaa! Congratulations!
I can't wait to learn from the resident Lord of the Macro

Lord Vetinari

DifferentSeed wrote:

Yaaaa! Congratulations!
I can't wait to learn from the resident Lord of the Macro

Thanks
Well let me know what you want to know or see and I'll try to answer.
Brian v.

RogersDA

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks
Well let me know what you want to know or see and I'll try to answer.
Brian v.

I want to know it all

But, I will start with lighting. Are the extreme close-ups with natural light or primarily flash. What would be typical flash settings (power levels) and camera settings (Av, Tv, manual)?