VERY Small Subjects?

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Deanimator
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VERY Small Subjects?

Post by Deanimator »

Last night I started a stack of 111 images. The 1/8" gnat subject was perfectly aligned, and it looked like it was going to turn out great.

It took a long time for CombineZP to process the images. When it was done, it looked AWFUL, which really puzzled me.

However looking at the individual images, I discovered that 28 images in, the subject (dead as far as I know) had turned 90 degrees! Given the infinitesimal weight of the subject, it could have been anything, from a draft to somebody's kid upstairs taking a header off of the sofa. I doubt that a normal size housefly would have moved.

People use needles and super glue for larger specimens. What do people do to fix much smaller subjects like these gnats? Tape? The back side of a Post-it? Super glue on a card or other flat surface?

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

I would place the subject on a slightly rough surface, such as paper towel. See for example the setup shown in http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... =2796#2796 , for the image shown earlier in that thread and also (stereo) at http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=18359 .

BTW, this may be a silly question, but did the subject turn 90 degrees, or did the frame containing the subject turn 90 degrees? It's a common problem in vertical setups that the auto-rotate feature of the camera will change its mind in mid-stack. Zerene Stacker raises an error flag when this happens, but I don't know what CombineZP does.

--Rik

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Post by Deanimator »

rjlittlefield wrote:I would place the subject on a slightly rough surface, such as paper towel. See for example the setup shown in http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... =2796#2796 , for the image shown earlier in that thread and also (stereo) at http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=18359 .
That seems like a good start.
rjlittlefield wrote:BTW, this may be a silly question, but did the subject turn 90 degrees, or did the frame containing the subject turn 90 degrees? It's a common problem in vertical setups that the auto-rotate feature of the camera will change its mind in mid-stack. Zerene Stacker raises an error flag when this happens, but I don't know what CombineZP does.
No, it physically moved. I was shooting head on, slightly above the subject. The lens was looking directly into the eyes. At the 28th (I think) image, the subject literally turned 90 degrees. so that it was now parallel to the sensor. I use [my now working] CombineZP, but no stacking software could cope with that.

I suspect that it might have been an errant breeze from the living room window(s). They've been shut since last year. But as the Brits say, they like the rest of the apartment, are "rubbish".

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