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Excellent, worth the effort Mark. Pam
Hello
It's a pretty good image as it is.
The focus looks good, the colour good and the composition good.
Focus shift to me means several shots taken with different focus points and combined to make an image with more depth of focus..If that was used here i would expect more in focus.
I have done a fair amount of macro flowers photography and would approach this by
camera on tripod to enable slower shutter speed and exact focusing
smaller aperture for increase depth of field
manual focas
live view, magnified as required to get exact focus required.
natural window light or a lamp
manual white balance or shoot in RAW to adjust colour balance in processing.
if DSLR mirror up and cable release for actual exposure.
However your image is successful and lot of people use flash for macro especially for insects etc.
regards
Ian
It's a pretty good image as it is.
The focus looks good, the colour good and the composition good.
Focus shift to me means several shots taken with different focus points and combined to make an image with more depth of focus..If that was used here i would expect more in focus.
I have done a fair amount of macro flowers photography and would approach this by
camera on tripod to enable slower shutter speed and exact focusing
smaller aperture for increase depth of field
manual focas
live view, magnified as required to get exact focus required.
natural window light or a lamp
manual white balance or shoot in RAW to adjust colour balance in processing.
if DSLR mirror up and cable release for actual exposure.
However your image is successful and lot of people use flash for macro especially for insects etc.
regards
Ian
Very well done and an interesting technique. I have found a powerful shoe mounted flash with diffuser works too. The stacking has not been entirely successful as there are several different layers of focus, but they are not terribly demanding so you largely get away with it.
Paul
Paul
I'm glad you explained your technique, Mark, because I thought the blurred areas were very strange, not being where I would expect them to be, and not graduating and getting more blurred on the outsides.
Nevertheless, the centre is sharp and the soft areas then become more interesting because they add something different to the macro shot.
I get the feeling of a gentle breeze blowing across the petals, touching some and not touching others.
I like the flower filling the whole frame, and the soft light is lovely.
Dahlias often have a centre that is a different hue to the outside petals, and this is one of their attractive aspects.
Pamela.
Nevertheless, the centre is sharp and the soft areas then become more interesting because they add something different to the macro shot.
I get the feeling of a gentle breeze blowing across the petals, touching some and not touching others.
I like the flower filling the whole frame, and the soft light is lovely.
Dahlias often have a centre that is a different hue to the outside petals, and this is one of their attractive aspects.
Pamela.
Not my area of expertise at all - but the one time I did try focus stacking, I used manual focus, and turned the ring a little after each shot. That seemed to work. Start from beyond where you need to be, and maybe try different combinations of frames when you merge them.
I've not tried focus stacking so I'd go with John's suggestion. Maybe uneven focus increments between exposures?
The end result looks good though.
The flash modification is intersting. As the Pringles lid is translucent rather than clear the light won't be as harsh as a straight flash.
However, with lighting it's the size of the lightsource that matters, and here it's the size of that lid, so, still small. But in relation to the subject it's large which has resulted in a softer (in lighting terms!) looking image, less contrasty, but with some modelling. In fact, as I look at your setup, the flower is being lit at an angle of 45 degrees which is another reason it's produced an effective result.
The end result looks good though.
The flash modification is intersting. As the Pringles lid is translucent rather than clear the light won't be as harsh as a straight flash.
However, with lighting it's the size of the lightsource that matters, and here it's the size of that lid, so, still small. But in relation to the subject it's large which has resulted in a softer (in lighting terms!) looking image, less contrasty, but with some modelling. In fact, as I look at your setup, the flower is being lit at an angle of 45 degrees which is another reason it's produced an effective result.
