dragonflies Untitled

portrait of an emerald damselfly. focus stacking out of 7 pics

Nikon D200 - bellow - componon 50/2.8 - f/8 - 1/2s - ISO 200

Excellent macro with this wonderful details and colors. Bravo.

Hamid.

¡Fabulosa!

Hi Martin,

Focus staking has been around for 40+ years (film days), and if this was done on a live dragonfly in the field, this is quite an accomplishment.

I select still subjects or preserved specimens to do digital focus staking using up to 500 images. I always shot my quality macro lens wide open, like the Carl Zeiss 50mm F/2 mounted on a Nikon D7100. To implement very small changes in focus I employ a precision rail that can hold either the subject or the camera/lens.

Stopping down any quality lens compromises the definition from the lens. The DOF is nothing more than a perception of depth of focus, because there are no multiple absolute focus positions, only one.

I use all of my lens from wide open to one stop below (rarely 2 stops). I only have 650 lens lens to choose from my various collections.

So using "stacking" does allow a better overall view of a subject because the f-stop does not need to change .

Nice work here using only 7 images.

Best Regards, Mike

Nice portrait, good work!