Beginner 4th Macro Day

chrispp

chrispp

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Chris
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Well after the great feedback already and me having a an enthusiasm like no other I decided to have a go at stacking ! Well main problem I had was trying to get Photoshop to stack the raw files, after trying a few times read an article an changed them to Jpeg. Process I thought was quite straight forward but I need to work out how to batch process the images in camera raw. Checking the white balance etc. I know there not brilliant pics but heres my first couple of attempts. Any help, advice gratefully appreciated. Thanks Chris


S1 by Chris_Pritchard1, on Flickr

S3 by Chris_Pritchard1, on Flickr

Had an idea for a flash modification with plasticard heres the pic of that

Flash by Chris_Pritchard1, on Flickr
 
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Nice work with the stacking though you've chopped the ends of its legs off, its all about getting practice. I tend to stack "by accident", if the insect stays still long enough I will adjust the focus ring and try and get as many shots as I can (6,9,12) sometimes that can fail though with "stripes" of out of focus body parts (which I do get). My setup is the pringles tube with some diffuser over the end - your tube, although it will work, wont have much reflective capability inside the tube itself, hence the pringles tube is ideal as its foil covered inside (though you could literally put some foil inside your tube too), that will keep the flash light generated at its strongest, compared to just a white cardboard on the inside.

Great watching your progress though!
 
Carl, great advice many thanks. I see your point about the legs I wanted to get the body in the frame more so cropped his legs out. I'll re look at that. I found it hard taking multiple pictures as the spider kept moving so had quite a few attempts to get a series of shots. I'll look at foil on the inside of the tube. Lastly some type of diffusion for the e d of the flash, though I need to look at that a bit more in depth.

Thanks again Chris
 
Still hard at it I see chris good to see your experimenting with flash diffusion, there's a Greg post on this forum somewhere called show us your macro rigs take a look at them they will certainly give you more inspiration for ideas
 
I think you are now leaping before learning to walk.... learn the dof art first then have a play with stacking. Admiral attempt but key issues. Missed focus sections compositions out of wack.

Not all bad though the lighting looks good.
 
Tintin124 said:
I think you are now leaping before learning to walk.... learn the dof art first then have a play with stacking. Admiral attempt but key issues. Missed focus sections compositions out of wack.

Not all bad though the lighting looks good.
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Thanks for the comments, much appreciated. Thing is critic is what I am after and will take on board your comments and keep working on my DOF art. Regarding the missed focus sections that is possibly due to not having enough pics perhaps ?

Thanks Chris
 
chrispp said:
Thanks for the comments, much appreciated. Thing is critic is what I am after and will take on board your comments and keep working on my DOF art. Regarding the missed focus sections that is possibly due to not having enough pics perhaps ?

Thanks Chris
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Nothing wrong with what you are asking... but bouncing around the place is not going to assist you. I truly recommend working on a single aspect at a time dont believe me look at my flickr.... my progress is there plain as day to see and it wasn't achieved in days. :D

We will all assist you along your way but it does need you to also be patient and take on board and move forward.
 
Tintin124 said:
Nothing wrong with what you are asking... but bouncing around the place is not going to assist you. I truly recommend working on a single aspect at a time dont believe me look at my flickr.... my progress is there plain as day to see and it wasn't achieved in days. :D

We will all assist you along your way but it does need you to also be patient and take on board and move forward.
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Your right, I'll slow down a bit and concentrate on different aspects and take things from there, appreciate your feedback

Chris
 
Crikey throwing yourself in at the deep end! That's what I like to see; don't listen to @Tintin124 he's only jealous :ROFLMAO:

My only crit with the stacking is that you've missed a frame closest too us on the second image. I think the top of the spider could be sharper. Other than that, alignment looks good, exposure and lighting is great!

Bryn's right in saying you could have better composition though. It's a challenge but try and get it face on. Spiders look much scarier when you are looking at them eye to eye, to eye, to eye....
 
Agree with the above that @TimmyG said. Esp the bit about @Tintin124 :D

Batch processing in photoshop is a matter of applying the settings to one of the RAWs, then select that one first, and then add to the selection of the other ones in the stack. At the top of Adobe bridge is a drop down that allows you to "Sync Settings". That will apply all the processing from the first selected image to the rest, there are checkboxs which I keep checked as the default.

Nice start (y)
 
TimmyG said:
Crikey throwing yourself in at the deep end! That's what I like to see; don't listen to @Tintin124 he's only jealous :ROFLMAO:

My only crit with the stacking is that you've missed a frame closest too us on the second image. I think the top of the spider could be sharper. Other than that, alignment looks good, exposure and lighting is great!

Bryn's right in saying you could have better composition though. It's a challenge but try and get it face on. Spiders look much scarier when you are looking at them eye to eye, to eye, to eye....
Click to expand...

For a first attempt at the deep end I've picked up a lot of great advice from the forum, composition will hopefully come with time and practice. I just wanted to have a quick go a stacking to see what the outcome would be and see where I could go with this. I realise I need to take a few more pics and not to rush. I'll have another play at this as I'm getting infatuated with macro photography. As always comments good and bad are all useful and push me on to be better and better. I am pleased with the light and exposure but agree with the sharpness and focus issues. Thanks for the help and advice TimmyG really pushes me on

ChrisA said:
Agree with the above that @TimmyG said. Esp the bit about @Tintin124 :D

Batch processing in photoshop is a matter of applying the settings to one of the RAWs, then select that one first, and then add to the selection of the other ones in the stack. At the top of Adobe bridge is a drop down that allows you to "Sync Settings". That will apply all the processing from the first selected image to the rest, there are checkboxs which I keep checked as the default.

Nice start (y)
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ChrisA do the majority of people take their photos in raw and then change to jpeg ? Just curious. I was always told to take in raw whenever possible. I'll have a go using your suggestions, thanks very much for your reply and support

Chris
 
Chris I hold my hat of to you like you I'm new to macro work and I can be at times a bull in a china shop but your work is advancing very nicely I wish I had a bit more time at the moment and a bit more sunshine instead of this damned rain me thinks I may have to do some indoor work instead
Keep it up
 
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