First Pass at Focus Stacking (Context Image added)

jgs001

jgs001

Brian Cox
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John
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I decided to have a try at some focus stacking.

55-250 @ 250mm, min focus distance, Raynox DCR250 on the nose, cheapy ebay tubes in between, lens at f/8. This setup gives me about 4.5x life size.

9 Shot Stack - HDD read head cable
cablestack.jpg


Context Image (nifty 50 with Raynox, look for the small white box, that's approximately the area of the stack. You need to take the lid off the hard drive)
IMG_8044.jpg


12 Shot Stack (I was aiming to get it looking like you were looking through the mechanism at the cogs), tiny watch gears
cogsstack.jpg


8 Shot Stack - I messed up something in shooting these, and I can't deal with the colour easily, something else I need to work on in PP..
needle3fs.jpg


Thanks for looking C&C please ?
 
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John, the watch cogs..so dream like DOF.. love it. the blend of gold, the texture on the surface of the metal.. (y)
 
John these are great - the cogs shot and the needle shot - cracking! The cogs are surreal and the needle so clear and well lit! The colours are ace!

Not tried focus stacking what do you need to achieve that?
 
Thanks very much Kev.

Cheers John. I've tried it before and always had issues. A macro rail makes it so much easier, then just the software to combine the images.
 
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Looks like a good first try John (y) not tried any focus stacking yet so not quite sure of the issues involved :thinking:

First image looks a little difficult to make out what it is and the badly marked wood is, I think, too distracting.

Cogs image nice! (y) very effective in 'abstracty' way - as they are watch gears I guess it was difficult to compose with the narrow depth of field at such high mag

Ditto nice needle image (y) good idea to use the coloured threads :clap:

HTH

Geoff
 
So my HDD isn't wooden! :eek:
 
Thanks Guys...

Geoff, I've added an image of the hard drive with a small white box on it to show the area I've shot for the stack, you have to take it apart and get a high power magnifier on it... I was amazed by what I saw this close... not bad for a 55-250 :D...
 
With my I.T. hat on.... "Don't open up your hard disk unless you never want to use it again"

:LOL:
 
That was the entire plan... it was an old one that was no longer required.. ;)... and rather than just smash it, as tempting as that was... I decided to see what photographic content it might have...
 
The heads can be quite interesting (I used to work in a place that designed hard disks with removable cartridges).

If you want really interesting stuff, get hold of some ferromagnetic liquid (a dye, can't remember its name though) and wash the platters in it. You'll see the tracks, data, and servo areas. :D Can't think of any household material that would do the job though... :thinking:

The best bits about dead hard disks are the voice coil motor magnets though. Just watch your fingers! :) :)
 
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jgs001 said:
Context Image (nifty 50 with Raynox, look for the small white box, that's approximately the area of the stack. You need to take the lid off the hard drive)
Click to expand...

Ah, I see where you are now - yes, big magnification - what sort of working distance were you (subject to lens distance) and presumably you used very slight manual focusing adjustment?

Geoff
 
That sounds interesting stuff Ian

Geoff, the Raynox DCR250 is a macro convert lens, it clips onto the filter threads. It's a triplet, so ought to be well corrected, and gives +8 diopters (I think) adjustment, bringing the min focus distance on the 55-250 down from 1.1m to 12cm. I didn't actually look at the working distance with the tubes, but it's probably in the order of about 3 inches...

Cheers John, I don't think this is gonna work on insects unless I can glue them in place :D If I lose the tubes, and go handheld I can get them up to about 2.5x life size, with some luck...
 
you're welcome Geoff
 
Thanks very much James (y)
 
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