Improving!

Neil Burnell

Neil Burnell

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Neil
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No 2 is just fab, yes your getting better altho I understand not all is possible, No 2 could have been better with a lower/face on perspective.
Other than that Neil, great shots.
 
Nice work Neil, yes more diffusion is required but all looks on its way.

Can I ask why did you need to do a stack was it just practice? What were the camera settings for the stacks?
 
Thanks for the comments guys.

Hi Bryn, I'm still just experimenting really and tried several shots from all angles! I felt the 2 shots I stacked benefitted with the extra detail... the camera settings were:
  • ƒ/16.0
  • 90.0 mm
  • 1/60
  • 100
 
Neil Burnell said:
Thanks for the comments guys.

Hi Bryn, I'm still just experimenting really and tried several shots from all angles! I felt the 2 shots I stacked benefitted with the extra detail... the camera settings were:
  • ƒ/16.0
  • 90.0 mm
  • 1/60
  • 100
Click to expand...

if you want more detail then use a lower f number.... f8 etc... at f16 you have gained nothing as the dof would have covered most of the area so you might be stacking a tiny amount of each shot.

See @TimmyG thread on the this... http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/indian-meal-moth.538056/

(y)
 
Thanks Bryn, I personally thought the stacking really improved on those two shots, but will most certainly try a lower F number for any future stacked shots.

That is a really interesting post and you can certainly see the image has finer detail at a lower F number.
 
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These are nice images Neil, I think you have done very well indeed. For me #2 is the best of the bunch.(y)

If you are considering more flash diffusion may I suggest you have a quick look at my post of yesterday in the Show Us Your Macro Rig section, it might give you one or two ideas about how to go about it. I have found it to work very well.

George.
 
Great stuff Neil, I think the lighting is great. You've got some good compositions and I like the bright coloured backgrounds.

I would expect to see more DoF for your stacks, particularly at F16. It's easier said than done of course but you should try and get a frame throughout the focal range of the subject and try not to overlap too much or have many identical frames. In the last one for example, it would be greatly improved if the leg in the foreground was also in focus.

Generally I will start by getting some shots of the eye in focus (usually at high aperture, around F13). If the subject seems compliant I will attempt a stack, and try opening the aperture more. I'll then start focusing a little way in front of the subject, and slowly edge forward as I take each shot. If I get all the way to the back of the subject without it moving, I do the same in reverse to try to reduce the risk of missing a particular focal point (it can ruin your whole stack if you have a line of blur right across your subject). Sometimes it's impossible to get the whole subject in though and you just have to settle on the head being in focus, or maybe the head and thorax. It's usually better to try to get what's closest in focus anyway, it's less of an issue if some of the rear is still out of focus. Always make sure the eyes are in focus though!

Good work anyway, glad you are trying out some stacking and you are getting some good results.
 
Lovely shots, really colourful and you've got nice detail there.

Stacks...I don't bother, can't be bothered :)
 
A tidy set and it's good when you can see that your images are getting better, lots of good advise to be had and stacking is something that does need a lot of practice to get right.
Plenty of detail and the colours work well (y)
 
Super detail in #3, and I really like the low angle.

If you are setting out to capture a stack then I agree that a larger aperture would often be better so as to maximise detail.

On the other hand, I generally go for single shots and use very small apertures to maximise the dof, but even then I sometimes get an "accidental stack", where it turns out that two or more images can be stacked even though they weren't shot with stacking in mind. This can sometimes work well even with small apertures.

Another thing with small aperture stacks is that you don't need so many shots to achieve a given amount of dof, which can be an advantage in some circumstances. You don't get as much detail as you would if you used more shots with larger apertures, but if you aren't cropping a lot then that may not matter much as the detail you lose by using a small aperture may not be visible anyway when looking at the whole image.
 
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