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.

Monday Mystery

For a while I thought last week's mystery photo

 

might have been another winner for me.
Nice though to be proved wrong by Dave, Ellen D and The Weaver of Grass who saw it was salt.
I picked this up from the footpath one morning after the local authority had salted the road.
Thanks to all who had a go at identifying it.

This week here is

 

part of what?

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

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.