Originally posted by noelcmn Wow Doundounba!
Originally posted by WPRESTO +1 on that praise for Doundounba.
Thanks guys! I enjoy your shots too! (WP, that
spider focus stack was/is just mind-blowing.)
Originally posted by WPRESTO Maybe it's been out in the sun too long and has faded.
Quote:
BTW: When taking multiple images for stacking of a live one, in the field, do you 1) work off a tripod or hand held; 2) move the camera or twist the focus ring; 3) do whichever of these depending on the situation?
When the Raynox is on the D-FA 100mm, moving the focus ring changes the magnification of the shot, so you can't twist the focus ring to move focus point in the traditional manner. What I do is pick a
magnification using the focus ring, set the camera to Continuous High shooting, and then to attempt a focus stack, I brace as well as I can and fire a volley while moving the camera slowly backwards. (I move backwards just because Zerene likes to stack from back to front.) With the Godox V850ii flash I am using, flash power varies from about 1/16th to 1/32nd, and at those powers, the flash can keep up with the K-3's 8.3fps for around 8-15 frames without missing a beat. (I also sometimes use a Godox AD180, which is about twice as powerful and has a huge external battery, but it's heavy and cumbersome.) The toughest part is moving slowly enough to not have gaps between the in-focus areas from shot to shot. Frankly, I could use 10-12 fps, but I'm not sure the V850ii could keep up (though the AD180 wouldn't break a sweat). IMHO, Zerene is quite amazing for it's ability to align the shots and correct for my never-perfectly-linear movement, and I'm getting better at using its retouching tool when the software doesn't quite get it right.
This fly was very cooperative, so I shot about 100 frames, varying magnification and angle. Probably at least 20 different compositions, some single frames, and some stack attempts. When you've never shot a species - as was the case here - it's hard (for me) to predict the angles that work. It's also (for me) difficult to predict which angles will produce a nice background. So my approach is pretty much to try as many things as I can.
(BTW, a single frame can tell me whether to attempt a stack or not from a given angle. It can also mean I have
something for my efforts if the bug decides to leave. Some bugs don't mind a single flash, but are much less happy with 8.3fps flash bursts.)
In the end I stacked five bursts, and also considered 5-6 single frames with in-focus eye(s), and this stack was the clear winner, IMHO, for it's low angle, nice bokeh and head-on-the-left-ness (many of my shots were from the other side, with the head on the right of the frame). There's some other pretty good ones, so I might still publish one or two of the single frames or another stack, but I'm a little short on time, and this is surely not a previously unknown species, so maybe not...
p.s.: If I could improve one thing, I would make a better diffuser: one that would "droop" down on each side of the lens. Fill those shadows
just a bit more...