peter.s

Very hard to capture - fast moving small object - very, very well done.

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.

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.

Lovely work, Camilo!

Lovely work, Francisco: the brightness of the leaves, the detail of the moss on the trees - wonderful.

Giangiorgia, amazing. I tried my hand (unsuccessfully) at bees last week. So difficult. I'm doubly impressed by your photo. Beautiful.

Franz, I like the simplicity and the symbolism. Very nice.

Patrick - eye catching palette, eye catching angle, love the clarity and originality. Well done. Regards.

Rosario - thank you. I'm not sure if my sub-title description is very visible, so at the risk of repeating: astronomy has changed and become easily accessible to non-astronomers. If you're motivated to do so, you could take photos like this too without special equipment. My description of how I was able to rent telescope time is at: https://blog.staadecker.com/2020/10/22/stalking-the-pelican/

Thank you, Rosario. That's kind. I will probably go back during the winter.

Wow! Love it. Congratulations on this.

Ha! I've paddled tandem at times with my wife. Did not lead to divorce, but there were many times when I was paddling and she was admiring the view. :) My sons were kidding us both about that. As for your neighbour's high tech kayak, I don't recall any commandment that says "thou shalt not covet though neighbour's kayak," especially if it's carbon fibre.

Your neighbour has good taste. :) [And you have a great eye for colour.]

A little digression from the world of photography - my wife just bought a Delta kayak and I'm building a hoist for hanging it in the garage ceiling. The one in your photo - is it yours? Internet search on the logo says it's a Stellar (which I'm not familiar with), but a quick read says fibreglass and carbon fibre with very light weight even for the longer kayaks. Sounds great!

Giangiorgio beat me to it: the reflections are superb. Now I'm curious about the object causing the reflections. Kayak on it's side with a cockpit cover on?

Thank you, Bernado.

Thank you, Warren. That's much appreciated. Regards, Peter.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Tina. Regards, Peter.

This is superb. Congratulations. Regards, Peter.

Walter - many thanks. I wasn't sure about this one, so your ranking is very helpful. Regards, Peter.

Thank you, Brian.

Thank you, Brian. Regards, Peter.

Nice moment. Nice capture!