Ants

GardenersHelper

GardenersHelper

In Memoriam
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Name
Nick
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These were captured hand-held during visits to two local nature reserves in the past week using my FZ330 bridge camera with two stacked Raynox 150 close-up lenses and KX800 twin flash. The raw files were batch processed in DXO Optics Pro and Silkypix, with image-specific adjustments in Lightroom. There are 1300 pixel high versions of these images in this album and this album at Flickr.

#1

1174 58 2017_05_22 P1260391_DxO 0100RAW01cP SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#2

1174 59 2017_05_22 P1260392_DxO 0100RAW01cP SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#3

1172 57 2017_05_18 P1250262_DxO 0100RAW01cP SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#4

1172 77 2017_05_18 P1250374_DxO 0100RAW01cP SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#5

1174 61 2017_05_22 P1260461_DxO 0100RAW01cP SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#6

1172 82 2017_05_18 P1250416_DxO 0100RAW01cP SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#7

1174 68 2017_05_22 P1260462_DxO 0100RAW01cP SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#8

1174 69 2017_05_22 P1260455_DxO 0100RAW01cP SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
 
Magical stuff Nick and with Ants, normally an impossible task.
 
hoftwi said:
Brilliant shots again Nick(y)(y)(y)
Click to expand...

Thanks Icy.

hoftwi said:
Your DOF is not too shallow, how do you do it?
Click to expand...

I think there are several factors in combination.
  • I use the smallest aperture I can, equivalent in terms of DoF to f/45 on full frame or f/28 on APS-C.
    • Most people won't use apertures that small because of the loss of sharpness/detail from diffraction, but to my eye the increase in DoF more than compensates for the loss of sharpness/detail. The question for me is "how much sharpness/detail is enough?" And for the size I produce my images, and for my visual preferences, I get sufficient sharpness/detail at minimum aperture. I'd like more of course, but as the aperture gets bigger I dislike the loss of DoF more than I like the increase in sharpness/detail.
  • I often crop, and this has the effect of increasing the DoF compared to an uncropped image from closer in with the same framing as the crop. The downside is that the more you crop the more detail you lose. (I have a rough rule of thumb that I keep in mind along the lines of "if you want all of the subject in focus don't fill the frame with it, or come anywhere near filling the frame with it".)
    • With my bridge cameras the potential for cropping is more limited than with other setups. This is because the sensor I'm using is small (the same size as in a smart phone I believe) and prone to noise, which shows up more as you crop (and also I tend to under-expose to protect highlights and then raise shadows in PP, and this worsens the noise issue).
    • In addition the sensor only has 12 megapixels, which also constrains the cropping potential.
  • Whenever I can I capture lots of images of a subject. This includes using different angles on the subject, different magnifications and repeated shots with the same angle and magnification.
    • The different angles and magnifications have different DoF coverage of the subject (and different looks to the backgrounds) so I can pick and choose which I like best.
    • The repeated shots with the same angle and magnification help with the fact that there is a significant random element to individual shots. Consider the ant shots for example. I was working hand-held and my hands shake, quite a lot actually, the more so if I have to stretch out over/around obstructions and/or stand/kneel in an awkward position. The ants were moving around - they were briefly still for some shots, but in motion for others. And the leaves that the ants were on were moving in the breeze. So because of all these movements the centre of DoF is most of the time not where I want it to be and the capture gets thrown out. It varies, but quite often only a very small proportion of the shots are acceptable, and sometimes none.
  • I do very careful post processing.
    • The first two (batch) stages, with DXO Optics Pro and Silkypix, help to bring out the detail/sharpness of the images. This means that as the whole image becomes sharper/more detailed some of the borderline areas can be drawn into the DoF, in effect increasing the DoF.
 
Graham said:
Magical stuff Nick and with Ants, normally an impossible task.
Click to expand...
alfbranch said:
:agree:
Click to expand...

Thanks Graham. Thanks Alf. The odd thing is I've never had much success with ants before. It might be that I just didn't try it very often and got discouraged by the lack of success and gave up trying. It might be kit-related. I use autofocus and the FZ330 focuses pretty fast even with the stacked Raynox 150s.
 
GardenersHelper said:
Thanks Icy.



I think there are several factors in combination.
  • I use the smallest aperture I can, equivalent in terms of DoF to f/45 on full frame or f/28 on APS-C.
    • Most people won't use apertures that small because of the loss of sharpness/detail from diffraction, but to my eye the increase in DoF more than compensates for the loss of sharpness/detail. The question for me is "how much sharpness/detail is enough?" And for the size I produce my images, and for my visual preferences, I get sufficient sharpness/detail at minimum aperture. I'd like more of course, but as the aperture gets bigger I dislike the loss of DoF more than I like the increase in sharpness/detail.
  • I often crop, and this has the effect of increasing the DoF compared to an uncropped image from closer in with the same framing as the crop. The downside is that the more you crop the more detail you lose. (I have a rough rule of thumb that I keep in mind along the lines of "if you want all of the subject in focus don't fill the frame with it, or come anywhere near filling the frame with it".)
    • With my bridge cameras the potential for cropping is more limited than with other setups. This is because the sensor I'm using is small (the same size as in a smart phone I believe) and prone to noise, which shows up more as you crop (and also I tend to under-expose to protect highlights and then raise shadows in PP, and this worsens the noise issue).
    • In addition the sensor only has 12 megapixels, which also constrains the cropping potential.
  • Whenever I can I capture lots of images of a subject. This includes using different angles on the subject, different magnifications and repeated shots with the same angle and magnification.
    • The different angles and magnifications have different DoF coverage of the subject (and different looks to the backgrounds) so I can pick and choose which I like best.
    • The repeated shots with the same angle and magnification help with the fact that there is a significant random element to individual shots. Consider the ant shots for example. I was working hand-held and my hands shake, quite a lot actually, the more so if I have to stretch out over/around obstructions and/or stand/kneel in an awkward position. The ants were moving around - they were briefly still for some shots, but in motion for others. And the leaves that the ants were on were moving in the breeze. So because of all these movements the centre of DoF is most of the time not where I want it to be and the capture gets thrown out. It varies, but quite often only a very small proportion of the shots are acceptable, and sometimes none.
  • I do very careful post processing.
    • The first two (batch) stages, with DXO Optics Pro and Silkypix, help to bring out the detail/sharpness of the images. This means that as the whole image becomes sharper/more detailed some of the borderline areas can be drawn into the DoF, in effect increasing the DoF.
Click to expand...
Interesting points about cropping, very good photos.
 
petersmart said:
WOW! - You've done it again - if they weren't so good this would be boring looking at that quality all the time - in case you haven't guessed I am SOOOOOO jealous - ;)
Click to expand...

:D Thanks Peter. I've never had much success with ants before. Not that I've tried very often because on the few occasions when I did try it didn't work and seemed rather unlikely that it would work (the ants being rather small and usually scurrying around). That rather put me off trying. Don't know what has changed. I was rather surprised with these. Don't know if I'll be able to repeat the trick.
 
Superb detail, excellent shots Nick (y)
 
A fabulous set of shots. Shows the macro world in incredible detail.
 
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