Yellow Eggs

I was pruning some overhanging branches on a fruit bush when I spotted a flash of yellow on one green leaf.



On a closer look I could see a group of tiny yellow eggs.



Just the subject for another macro focus stacking session. Here I set up the Canon M5 with 18 - 150mm zoom lens and added the Raynox MSN-202 super macro conversion lens on my home brew automatic stepper unit.



The results - closer views of the eggs of a Large White Butterfly - often called a Cabbage White as cabbage leaves are one of the plants they often lay their eggs on for the caterpillars to consume.





I wrote about my home brew Arduino driven automatic system HERE in 2020. The first of today's macro photos used eleven shots, each with a slightly different focus, stacked using Helicon Focus. The second used 20 shots.

Callistemon Seed Pods

Haven't been on here much recently. Firstly the Hospital has been catching up on Consultant outpatient appointments so I had three visits in ten days. They seem satisfied with my progress and the next appointment should be in about four months time. Secondly I've been making amateur radio contacts around the world on the HF bands as conditions seem to be excellent. So good my low power, simple set up managed to make contact with four Japanese radio hams this morning. Not something I can usually manage.

My Callistemon (bottle brush plant) produced another good display of its unusual red flowers. In the Summer they looked like this:



Once the flowers have faded the seed pods can be seen:



I thought this would make an interesting subject for a focus stacked closer view:



That was a stack of 20 photos taken using my home built automated unit. The following photo was taken some time ago:



Once the photos had been transferred to the laptop they were processed with Helicon Focus which used the sharp, in focus, parts of each photo and combined those bits to buid the final macro photo.

Orange Macro

A second small cactus plant has started to flower. A lovely orange colour.



Just the subject for taking a series of focus stacked macro shots:



Built up from 42 shots at slightly varying focus distances using Helicon Focus software.

Macro Session

I felt just in the right mood to take a few macro shots this morning. First I chose the subject - a small flowering cactus plant:



Found a space to set up my home brew set-up for taking a series of focus stacked photos:



The Canon M5 fitted with Canon 18-150mm zoom lens and added a Raynox DCR-150 macro lens. Each stacked macro photo is made from 40 - 50 individual shots and processed in Helicon Focus software. The results ....









The flower is about 17mm across.

Tiny Flower - macro

This may not be the world's smallest flower but it is the smallest I have.

The plant:
Adromischus cooperi



produces a disproportionately long flower stem



with tiny flowers which open gradually along the stem



Just the subject for some macro focus stacking.

The M5 fitted with a Raynox MSN-202 25 diopter macro conversion lens



The result of 35 focus stacked photos processed with Helicon Focus



The set up used was described HERE.

Buddy

On one afternoon walkabout I spotted a twig on the ground.
What caught my attention was the lichen.
It seemed a good subject for a photo so I took it home.



After a bit of focus stacking:



Once I had the twig in my hand the arrangement of buds seemed photogenic.

A bit more focus stacking later



They looked even more interesting close up, especially the colouring.
The twig was found under an old Ash tree but I don't think it came from that.
The best possibility I could find looking at scores of photos on t'internet was Oak.
As I am useless at identifying trees from buds I am probably way out.

This session the lighting was positioned at about 2 o'clock to give some shadow.

Cypress Close Up

I cut a small section from my tall Cypress tree to take some closer photos.



One of the tiny cones
53 focus stacked RAW shots



A closer general look
74 focus stacked RAW shots


Not sure whether the yellow background photographing nearer green is a symptom of the auto white balance in the M5 camera or the output from the LED lamp. Maybe a bit of both.

The Rusty Nut

Still experimenting and improving the macro focus stacking (hopefully).

16 focus stacked RAW photos using Helicon Focus - Method A (weighted average)
There are two other methods of stacking: Depth Map and Pyramid.



The nut measures approximately 12mm across.
For all the previous photos I used an LED anglepoise type lamp for illumination.
This time I used a mains operated LED ring light that I had forgotten all about.
It fits the stacking set up perfectly and has adjustable brilliance.
The camera was set to depth of field priority and manual focus.

Sempervivum

Many years ago I had one small clump of Sempervivum growing in a pot.
Over the years it has appeared all over the place.
Presumably self sown seeds. Much of it is growing in the gravelled front garden.
It relieves the bareness of gravel.
Obviously it doesn't need much in the way of soil.
There is a membrane under the gravel.



Macro



A close crop of the above photo

Helicon Focus

Helicon Focus is a focus stacking program available for Windows and Mac.
Not cheap at $200 + taxes but it does handle CR2 RAW photos from the Canon M5 as well as JPG.
Processing JPGs is very fast. RAW photos take a lot longer as the program uses an Adobe converter to convert CR2 to DNG for use in  processing. It is worth the wait though for the extra quality.
Output files can be DNG, TIFF or JPG.

Even the JPG stacking is a vast improvement over the other programs I have.

This from stacking 36 JPG shots in Zerene Stacker


The same JPG shots processed in Helicon Focus


This time a stack of 70 RAW shots


of a rather dried up Chinese Lantern seed case.

Corkscrew Hazel

Some of the catkins on my Corkscrew Hazel bush are opening as are the flowers.



I brought one piece indoors to take some close shots.
The crimson flowers are minute as can be seen here:




A macro shot of the male catkin which produces the pollen.




A macro view of the minute female flowers.



There are several flowers in each bud.

Macro Photos (nothing technical)

A piece of cork bark


Close up view (17 stacked shots)


A duster thingy


Close up view (60 stacked shots)

Focus Stacking Home Brew Setup

A short while ago I was impressed reading a project on Instructables. It sparked the idea of trying something similar but programmed by an Arduino. After a couple of weeks thinking (comes hard some days), programming, buying, 3D printing and constructing I ended up with:



This consists of the electronics bits



Left to right: relay to activate camera shutter, stepper motor driver module, Arduino Uno R3 with added extra contacts.

The Arduino is programmed using a home 3D printed panel which uses an LCD to indicate what is happening. Three buttons. Top: set the number of photos to be taken, Middle: start the sequence, Bottom: abort / restart.

 

The camera sits on top of a bought unit which was originally designed to use on the Z axis of a CNC machine. The stepper motor takes 16 moves to forward the camera 10mm. This is set by DIP switches on the driver module. I also added a micro switch as the camera is automatically rewound to the start position once all the macro shots have been taken.



A few odds and ends were used to make the mount for the camera.

For my first test I mounted the Canon M5 fitted with 18-150mm zoom lens plus the Raynox DCR-150 macro / close-up conversion lens to take 36 focus stacked shots of a small cactus flower.

Why go to all the trouble of taking so many photos?
Getting close to things can result in a very shallow depth of focus on any single shot.
For example

First shot:


Last shot:


Each photo in the stack has a slightly different area of the subject in focus.
The two programs I use can sort out the in focus parts and combine just those bits to make the final composite shot.

The result using Zerene Stacker to process the individual photos to make one stacked picture



I recently purchased Focus Stacker and this is the result from the same batch of 36 photos



The main difference in output, to my eyes, is the latter has a better colour rendering.
The unit actually works so I'm a happy bunny.

A bit of extra processing in Affinity Photo

 

to increase contrast and vibrance.