Artful pics of flora...

[Knorp]

...

 

[pegelli]

Budding Amaryllis


A7Rii + M-Elmarit 90/2.8 (M39) + 15 mm extension ring

 

[pegelli]

The bud from the post above has now developed three flowers in full bloom while the fourth still needs to unfold


A7Rii + M-Elmarit 90/2.8 (M39), Helicon focus stack of 22 shots

 

[pegelli]

Here's some Amaryllis experiments from yesterday

Bud

A700 + Sigma 180/3.5 telemacro, Helicon focus stack of 9 shots


In a vase

A700 + Sigma 180/3.5 telemacro, Helicon focus stack of 15 shots

 

[Abstraction]

 

[pegelli]

The bud from post # 684 came out, so this is probably the last Amaryllis shot from me this year


A7ii + M-Elmarit 90/2.8 (M39) + extension tube, Helicon focus stack of 12 shots

 

[pegelli]

Magnolia stamen


Sony A700 + Minolta 100/2.8 macro D

 

[pegelli]

Apple blossom


Sony A700 + Minolta 85/1.4 RS G + extension tube

 

[Knorp]

rose of venezuela ...

 

[pegelli]

Today they got the weather forecast right, rain-rain-rain.....

So I did some macro work inside


Wild azalea

Helicon focus stack of 13 shots)


White orchid and bud

Helicon focus stack of 11 shots)


Purple striped orchid and bud

Helicon focus stack of 11 shots)

All A7Rii + Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 65/2 macro

 

[JoelM]

Very nice Pieter,

Which stacking program do you use and how easy/hard is it to learn?

Thanks,

Joel

 

[pegelli]

Very nice Pieter,

Which stacking program do you use and how easy/hard is it to learn?

Thanks,

Joel

Thanks Joel, the total workflow is quite easy I find, and the program I use is Helicon Focus (the "light" version, which does enough for me)

I first shoot the stacked sequence, I focus on the nearest detail I want in focus and then move the camera closer on a macro rail until the furthest detail is in focus. As steps I take about 25% of the dof for lens/distance/aperture. Make sure you still have everything in the frame when you're closest to your subject (so the last shot as I do the sequence). I don't think it makes any difference starting at the furthest detail and then moving the camera back until the nearest detail is in focus.

I then import the photo's into lightroom, select all and then with Auto Sync on I PP all the shots exactly the same (WB, exposure, colours, crop, .....)

Helicon focus comes as a Lightroom plug in so the next step is to export all frames to Helicon Focus.

Once the photo's are in there (the program opens automatically) I just hit "render". So far I've not felt the need to change any of the default settings or do any retouching. Then I save the result as a high quality jpg (multiple other formats are available) and close Helicon Focus. The resulting file is then automatically imported in Lightroom and you can do a few last tweaks before exporting or printing.

That's basically all there is to it, most effort goes into making the photo's of the stacked sequence, after that it's all downhill (at least for me and the kind of subjects I have tried this on)

 

[pegelli]

I know it's not the right time of year for fungi, but look what we found next to our garden last weekend :loco:


A golden jelly fungus or tremella mesenterica


A7ii + LA-EA4 + Sigma 180/3.5 telemacro, Helicon focus stack of 12 shots

 

[pegelli]

Blooming wild azalea


Sony A700 + Sigma 105/2.8 macro, Helicon focus stack of 22 frames

My 12 year old A700 is still going strong today

 

[pegelli]

Wet, wet, wet, the story of this week

A7Rii + FE24-70/4 CZ

 

[pegelli]

Two shots from a walk last weekend

Late fungi



Early magnolia


Both A7Rii + FE70-300G

 

[pegelli]

Wet fungi


Sony A6000 + E30/3.5 macro

 

[Knorp]

...

 

[gandolfi]

Hydrangea.

 

[pegelli]

Here's the flowering magnolia in our front garden last sunday, glad I took some pictures of it then (more to follow) since the little bit of frost last night completely destoyed all the flowers and changed the colour to some kind of drab light brown



A7ii + Trioplan 100/2.8 @ f2.8