Lighting for macro photography of fern gametophytes

A forum to ask questions, post setups, and generally discuss anything having to do with photomacrography and photomicroscopy.

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau

jsp
Posts: 461
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by jsp »

My original fern photo that I am currently trying to improve on, has come out in print. It's pretty exciting to see it published and several people have written nice emails saying they like. I was chuffed about that.

This is the image on the cover of the magazine:
Image

jsp
Posts: 461
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by jsp »

My Mitutoyo 10x lens has arrived and I am doing some testing. :-)

jsp
Posts: 461
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by jsp »

This is a single shot with the the mitutoyo mounted on a Olympus Zuiko 200mm manual prime, connected via a screw-on connector, and with the olympus connected to my canon camera via an Olympus to Canon adapter. Do You think this image should be sharper than this?

Image

This is the Helicon stack from 52 slices, 20 microns apart each.

Image

the setup:

Image

Much work needed, I think.

Lou Jost
Posts: 5948
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2015 7:03 am
Location: Ecuador
Contact:

Post by Lou Jost »

Are you really shooting at f/11 as the last picture of the lens suggests?

jsp
Posts: 461
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by jsp »

Yes that's right. Thanks for looking. :-) Should I change that?

My husband has just made a whole lot of adjustment, which has improved things a lot. I should have a better photo soon. This is a slice from the current run:

Image

Lou Jost
Posts: 5948
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2015 7:03 am
Location: Ecuador
Contact:

Post by Lou Jost »

Yes, that's a very bad choice for multiple reasons. Tube lenses generally shouldn't be stopped down at all, as Rik explained in many posts here. Sometimes stopping down just a bit does help improve contrast though. Maybe that is why you did it?

jsp
Posts: 461
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by jsp »

I'll keep it at f/4 then. :-) Thanks for the tip. I didn't do it for a good reason, but it's kind of you to suggest it. I'm just learning.

I've got a much better stack coming along in a minute, but it just crashed Helicon focus, so it might be quite a long minute.

Lou Jost
Posts: 5948
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2015 7:03 am
Location: Ecuador
Contact:

Post by Lou Jost »

If I were you I'd test it at a couple of apertures, starting at wide open; single shots or short stacks would be sufficient. As I said, sometimes contrast does improve a bit on stopping down, but watch for degradation of sharpness, or vignetting. Also check if the aperture is really doing anything at all when you begin to stop it down. For many tube lenses, you can stop it down a bit and the exposure doesn't change. I think there is no harm in stopping down to that point, and it may improve contrast. Beyond that point, you should be cautious.

jsp
Posts: 461
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by jsp »

I have done two tests now on a 5p coin. I did one on f/11 and one on f/4. Here are the stacks and slices. I think they look quite good. :-)

f/11 slice

Image

f/11 stack:

Image

f/4 slice

Image

f/4 stack

Image

jsp
Posts: 461
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by jsp »

This is another f/4 stack of a number from the financial times.

Image

This is a slice:

Image

Lou Jost
Posts: 5948
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2015 7:03 am
Location: Ecuador
Contact:

Post by Lou Jost »

Do the exposures change when you close it down?

jsp
Posts: 461
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by jsp »

Unfortunately, I can't entirely remember. I think I did them all on 1/160th but sometimes I used one flash and sometimes two. I didn't think to write that down. Sorry. They do look nice though don't they?

jsp
Posts: 461
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by jsp »

The objective was paid for by a university grant called "biomaker" which requires that I write down from start to finish how I did the work so that other people could do the same. My write-up is here:

https://github.com/BioMakers/23_Focus-s ... /README.md

A lot of the technical design came from this forum (http://www.photomacrography.net/) and I have put that acknowledgement right up top. I hope that comes across.

The microscope focus rail was a present from Doc.Al on this forum. He was really very kind indeed and actually brought it to my front door.

All the write-up is done now, and I just need to strap on my courage and try the setup with an actual fern. That is the tricky bit as they are quite fiddly, and tend to roll up that just the wrong moment.
Last edited by jsp on Fri Sep 22, 2017 5:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

jsp
Posts: 461
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by jsp »

I have four weeks left before I have to exhibit my final design in the Engineering Department at Cambridge University (UK) and I'd be delighted to have extra people on the team listing at the top, and different ideas incorporated, if anyone would like to join the fun. :-) Chris S said an acknowledgement would suit him nicely, so he's listed in the text.

jsp
Posts: 461
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by jsp »

What I mean is, since you all told me how to do this, if you would like to send me names and photos, I'd be very pleased to stick them right there in the team photo at the top. Just if you want to though. Thanks!

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic