David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Green Kingfisher in Belize. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec)
I have been using Helicon Focus to make composite focus stacked images for several years. It is great for doing macro images with much more depth of field than can be done with single images. I spent the day doing some focus stacked images on some small cactus flowers. The images were taken with a Nikon Df camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens. The camera was set up on a tripod on with a linear tracking head. The first set was with 13 images, in 5 mm intervals — which wasn’t enough. The second set was 24 images over 9 cm. That one looked better. I then added a TCE-3 III teleconverter (converting the focal length to 210 mm). The camera was set closer and did 33 images over 9 cm. The slide-show below shows all of the images. It includes one image from each set at a single distance. To see the individual images check here
After several days of cold, cloudy skies, and rain things cleared up for a bit. The clouds turned pink at dawn (only for an instant). Later on I saw a robin hunting in my backyard. It found a caterpillar for breakfast. One less butterfly this year… (check out a similar image from three years ago 03-May-2014). I took a cluster of rhododendron flowers inside to practice focus stacking. It was too difficult outside with the wind moving the flowers. I used a 9-cm focus rack. For the first two, the images were taken after adjusting the camera in 0.5 cm increments. For the third one, the camera was adjusted 6 cm in 1 mm increments. The images were processed using Helicon Focus (ver. 5.3) software. Let me know if you like method A (weighted average), B (depth map), or C (pyramid) for processing the images
Individual images from the slideshow can be viewed here.
The day started at the Versailles Palace where it was way too crowded inside the Palace so I spent my time in the outdoor garden. Then back to the Paris to tour the Opera House. I ended the day with an impromptu Photowalk with the Photographer Thomas Paris who I have known since Patagonia at Parc de Bercy where we saw a Young Girl on a Kick-Scooter, and a Capoeria Performance.
Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.
Flowers, some are native wildflowers, some are seeded wildflowers. The mushrooms are native and some of them are being guarded by one of my trolls.
