Texture II

great detail, how many images were in your stack? Never got into focus stacking, but since I like macro, I probably should!

Hi Bill,

 

Thanks for the comment and the question.

 

There were 10 images in the stack, each one with three different exposures, so 30 images. I thought the exposure bracketing might be useful, because the tulip had quite a colour range between blacks and bright yellows. When it came to putting together the stack I found only 5 of the images (so 5 images with 3 exposures each) were useful. So the shorter answer to your question is my stack had 5 different images, each bracketed 3 ways for a total of 15 images used.

 

 

Since you have an interest in stacking, I'll add some additional detail:

 

Unlike some more modern cameras, my camera has no automated in-camera stacking. My usual method is to do the work indoors on a desktop so that there is no wind moving my subject during the stack. I set up the camera on a tripod and use a remote flash triggered by a flash trigger on the camera. I connect the camera to my laptop PC with a USB cable and run a program called Helicon Remote (HR). HR lets me view my subject on the laptop screen, control my camera from the laptop, determine how many images I want to stack, and what my nearest and furthest points of focus should be for the stack. Once I've set all that up, I can press go and HR and the camera will start the sequence without my further intervention. Once all the photos are taken, I meld them together using another Helicon program, Helicon Focus. I like Helicon, but caveat: while it works with Nikon and Canon, it does not work with Sony at this time. :(

 

Hope that helps. If you need more detail, please ask. In the unlikely event that another dozen ask, I'll even write up a blog.

Peter, thanks for all the input. Seems more complicated than I had expected, have to think about. One more question about your image, I see there are some highlighted reflected areas, could they have been improved upon by using a polarizer?

Bill,

 

You're absolutely right. I should have thought about a polarizer filter. My bad. Or tried without the flash and just used longer exposure. That may have helped too.

 

Regarding complexity, the simplest way to start is manually do your focus stacks - so no tether to PC, no Helicon Remote, no remote flash, and then have Photoshop stack the images. That's certainly how I first experimented with focus stacking.