Macro Photos (nothing technical)

A piece of cork bark


Close up view (17 stacked shots)


A duster thingy


Close up view (60 stacked shots)

Stacking Again

First a short demo video showing the unit in operation.



There is a 1.5 second delay between each shot. I had to set it that long as the M5 takes most of that time before it is ready for the next shot.

60 focus stacked shots for this photo of my Venus Fly Trap.



I think this rail would have enough room for up to 80 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.

A Brilliant Day

It was a good day for me in a couple of ways. First thing this morning I had to attend the Urology clinic at the hospital. A previous ultrasound scan had shown slight enlargement on my kidneys so the urologist had ordered a CT scan. This morning I got the result. Nothing nasty showing. A bit of enlargement which they will monitor but nothing to worry about at this time.

Second was the weather. A very slight breeze. Temperature 9C. Blue sky and fluffy clouds. In fact it felt so warm I changed from my Winter to a Spring coat when we went walkabout. I even had to undo that half way through.

Lovely mixture of blue sky and different cloud formations:



Couldn't resist seeing what the PhotoSpiralysis app would make of it.
Tried grey scale this time:



A bit on the grainy side but I like the overall effect.

Monday Mystery

I think I can claim a win this time.
Last week's mystery photo



was recognised by everyone as the bud of a plant, but what plant?
Actually it was the flower bud on one of my Cymbidium Orchids.
The only one to produce a flower spike this year.





My thanks to all who had a go at identifying it.

This time I have a macro photo for you.
The result of seven focus stacked shots.



The actual size of the object is about 10mm.

If you think you know, or would like to make a guess, please leave your guess in the comments. They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.

HyperDroste

As I still had the HyperDroste app on my old iPod I had a play with it.



The app is easy to use but what a kerfuffle transferring the video to the MacBook.
I though it was going to save the video clips to the iPod . Wrong. It generates the video but that has to be transferred to the MacBook by Air Drop. Took me a while to work out how as I last used Air Drop (sending a file between machines by W-Fi / Bluetooth) a few years ago.

In a Spiral

Had a hearty meal at the newly opened carvery at my local garden centre.
Choice of turkey breast, beef pie or quiche. I chose the latter.
Lots of veg choices. I was a good boy and gave the chips and roast potatoes a miss.
Too high in potassium for me. I chose mashed spuds, green beans, peas, cauliflower and carrots.
Topped with lashings of gravy. Everything was perfectly cooked though just a bit on the cool side.

In the evening I was checking through the apps on my old iPod and deleting some I never use.
I was a bit peeved to find the iOS app HyperDroste I have on my old iPod was no longer downloadable. I had wanted to install it on the iPhone. That app takes any photo and turns it into an animated recursive spiral.
So I downloaded and had a play with the iOS app PhotoSpiralysis last night.
This only makes still spiral pictures.

For example



can be manipulated to become



or



could become your worst nightmare



It reminds me of the giant sand worm creatures from the film Dune.