Macro/Landscapes

Shooting in macro mode, techniques, tips & tricks
Charles Krebs
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Macro/Landscapes

Post by Charles Krebs »

Here are a couple of "macro/landscapes" made using Helicon Focus. These are from the Quinault Rain Forest in Washington State. The light was very "flat" this day (I would have preferred a brighter overcast), but it was extremely calm which is absolutely essential. You really can't have things blown in different positions while shooting the stack. It took a stack of about 24 images to get it the way I wanted. The plants in the nearest foreground are probably at 1:1 or slightly more (and about an inch from the front of the lens)

Image

Image
http://www.krebsmicro.com
Dan Kozub
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Post by Dan Kozub »

Charles,

Did you retouched image a lot? Usually foreground objects become unfocused and cover adjacent areas on the background.
Charles Krebs
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Post by Charles Krebs »

Dan,

Yes, naturally there was some touch-up required because of the problem you mention. But not nearly as much as I had feared would be the case.

As far as equipment is concerned the most difficult part is getting a wide-angle lens that will allow smooth and continuous focus from over 1:1 out to "infinity" without moving the "entrance pupil" of the lens at all! If the lens' entrance pupil moves with focus change then it becomes nearly impossible to get a decent stack result.

In order to do this I made up a special "lens":
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=4879
http://www.krebsmicro.com
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wildlifeshot
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cool equipament

Post by wildlifeshot »

I never seen this lense or this equipament b4 very cool image :P
Wildlifeshot

Canon 5D | Canon 16-35 L 2.8 | Canon MP-E 2.8 5:1| Canon 100m macro 2.8 | Canon 70-20 2.8 | Canon 50mm 1.4 | Canon 500 F4 | Canon tc 2x L II | Cokin Filters | NG Bag |
cybermystic
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Post by cybermystic »

Totally and utterly outstanding work!!
Greg
Canon 40D, 100mm macro, 100-400mm zoom, 28mm fixed focus, Helicon Focus, CS3, PaintShopPro, Manfrotto accessories.
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stillstonevisions
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Re: Macro/Landscapes

Post by stillstonevisions »

I do my macro work with Canon's 100mm macro and the Canon D50. I also have a quality macro focusing rail. So I can either focus the lens in steps to accumulate a stack, or I can more the camera+lens on the rail. Clearly, moving the camera on the rail would not keep the entrance pupil in the same location for each shot. What about focusing the 100mm lens? Do you know?

I'm trying to figure out the best way for me to do stacking macros with Helicon Focus and the equipment I own as I doubt I can afford more at present. I did a few sample shots yesterday using Helicon Remote (focusing the lens, in other words), and the artifacts are pretty distracting and disappointing. Is that because of the entrance pupil moving, or something else I don't yet understand.

Thanks
Paul
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stillstonevisions
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Re: Macro/Landscapes

Post by stillstonevisions »

I might have just answered my own question. If I could find a compatible tripod mount ring for my 100mm lens, and then use the focusing method of creating the stack, that would leave the exit pupil stationary, right? However, it doesn't appear that Canon makes one for that lens.
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stillstonevisions
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Re: Macro/Landscapes

Post by stillstonevisions »

Oops! No, I don't think that will work after all. The tripod collar fits on the unit to the rear of the actual lens (and entrance pupil), so it's still not going to keep the entrance pupil stable with respect to the subject. Darn!
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Stas Yatsenko
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Re: Macro/Landscapes

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

Please send us the stack, I would like to look at it and ensure that the artifacts are caused by the lens movement. See how upload the images here: http://heliconsoft.com/ftp.html
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stillstonevisions
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Re: Macro/Landscapes

Post by stillstonevisions »

I am uploading the stack right now. Should be done in a few minutes.

Thanks,
Paul
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Stas Yatsenko
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Re: Macro/Landscapes

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

Paul,

Thanks for the stack. Part of the problem is that the brightness of your source images varies a bit. You are using the manual exposure mode with the same parameters which is good. Make sure that flash is not moving and that it has enough time to load completely to fire with the same amount of light.

Method B works best with surfaces where no sharp transitions from one to other object exist. I would recommend to use Method A with larger radius (24). This seems to give better results. We will use your stack to fine tune our algorithms if you do not mind.
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stillstonevisions
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Re: Macro/Landscapes

Post by stillstonevisions »

Thanks. I will try some more testing as you suggest soon.
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stillstonevisions
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Re: Macro/Landscapes

Post by stillstonevisions »

I wonder if there is someone out there who is pretty optically literate and willing to answer my question. I'm still a bit confused about this point about keeping the entrance pupil stable for the optimal stack. It seems to me that the only way to do that is with a bellows between the lens and the body, focusing by using the rack to move the camera (and film plane) while leaving the lens in the same location relative to the subject.

Is that right so far?

But my two Canon macro lenses are both EOS, which means they have no manual aperature settings...it is only through the electrical connection with the camera. And there is apparently only one well-made EOS bellows commercially available with electrical connections (Novaflex) and that costs around $900....outside my budget.

Any options? Suggestions?
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Stas Yatsenko
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Re: Macro/Landscapes

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

I think that shift of the entrance pupil is only noticable if it is relatively big compared to distance from lens to the object. Let's say, if the entrance pupil shifts by 1%, this will cause no artifacts, if it shifts by 10% then it is a real problem. I would be interested to hear theoretically correct explanation of this too.
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stillstonevisions
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Re: Macro/Landscapes

Post by stillstonevisions »

If you are correct, then perhaps it is less of an issue than I was making of it. I just did a test measurement from the front of the lens to a macro subject at a typical range. I don't know exactly how to measure to the entrance pupil, but I suspect the front of the lens housing is a good approximation. Anyway, distance to the center of the subject was 240mm. Change in position of the lens focusing from the front to the back of the subject was about 3mm, or just over 1%. There could be instances when I might be a bit closer than that, but probably not more than 2%, based on this test.

I'll keep testing.
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