Focus Stacking Advantages

Good macro photography technique says to get the subject square to the camera (parallel to the focal plane). That's because the depth of field--the zone that's in focus--is very shallow.

The camera was directly above this flat bug, so the body and head are in focus. Click an image to compare pairs. (f/6.7  1/3000s  ISO 800  #5 of 8 images)

Focus stacking most prominently added more of the flower. It also improved the bug's legs and antennas. There are artifacts, too, in the form of a reflection on the left side and distorted petal edges.

 

This fly is not square to the camera. It didn't respond when I asked it to move, so what could I do? I like the shot, though. (f/5.6  1/500s  ISO 800  #2 of 5 images in the stack)

Focus stacking added the fly's wings, the fly's legs, and the stem it's standing on.

 

I'm attracted to bees' faces, and this one was square to the camera. Without focus stacking, that's all I'd have. With it, I got its wings, legs, and hairs on its body. (f/6.7  1/350s  ISO 800  8 images)

None of these struck me as being particularly good... (f/5.6  ISO 800  1/750s)

 

 

 

 

... but the 5 pictures stacked together turned out nicely.

Sometimes I can experiment with how much background to include in the stack. (f/4.8  1/250s  ISO 1600  3 images)

Which one do you prefer? (5 images)

Northern Minnesota

I visited the Minnesota Zoo (previous posts) thanks to a trip to visit relatives and friends. We spend a couple of days in northern Minnesota, in and near Bemidji.

Sunset, Paul Bunyan Drive NW, Bemidji

tricolored bumble bee, focus stack of two pictures

thistle, focus stack of three pictures

thistle, focus stack of four images

lichen, focus stack of three shots

The intersection of 309th St. and 450th Ave. near Cass Lake, MN, looking east on 450th. Roads are named grid-wise even in rural parts of Minnesota.

green bottle fly, focus stack of two photos

 

Backyard bugs

Here are some bugs from around my house. I've always thought "bug" was just a colloquial term, but it turns out a true bug is a thing. I started out wanting only to take pictures, but I keep learning stuff, dang it.

summer azure butterfly

Blinded sphinx moth. Crummy picture of an interesting moth.

Large milkweed bug (a true bug!). It's not on a milkweed, but the missing gardener says the plant is related to milkweed.

large milkweed bug nymphs

thread-waisted wasp

spotted cucumber beetle

green bottle fly?

Monarch caterpillar, also not on milkweed. I think that's poop (frass) in the bottom-right corner.

I can get some good shots of bugs with the lenses I have, but I end up cropping-out a lot of the image. For example, the caterpillar represents about a fourth of the entire image. I'm happy with the used D7000 and telephoto lens I bought from mpb.com, so I'm looking for a used macro lens for closer shots of bugs. I dithered (not unusual) between two and had pretty much decided on one, but all disappeared from the store before I clicked to buy (also not unusual).