Natural light stacking.. better prepare it the day before.
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Natural light stacking.. better prepare it the day before.
In the past couple of weeks I tried early morning shooting with natural light focus stacking, and I spent more time looking for the beasties than shooting...
One hour passes very fast, and spending 30 minutes around a single insect it's not uncommon
The temperature also raises quick after the sunrise and even if the insects can't fly or walk around they start to move body parts (legs, abdomen, mouth parts...) and waking up.
With the sunrise also starts the breeze, because of the air warming ...
So I started to look for them the night before and marking the places where I found something interesting, in the hope they can be there at 6 AM the day next... the good news is .. they are .. except for spiders and caterpillars who look to love to roam around during the night. But the winged ones don't move.
Insects are also a lot more easy to find during the night ... at night the grass is packed with still creatures...and the high contrast between the light in the branches and the darkness in the background makes it much easier to spot the insects... some also shine.
So I did a set of orange "flags" .. and in the morning it's very, very easy to find the spot again and go straight to the insect.
Flags... by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
A dragonfly ... at 10,30 PM ...
P3150139 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
"Flagged"
P3151227 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
The morning next
59 photos, f/3,5, differential 2
2019-03-16-11.43.25 ZS retouched by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
An Aricia cramera (buterfly) spoted during the night...
IMG_20190304_234129 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
next morning ..
FLK_000189 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
FLK_000191 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
meanwhile, during the search I am having lots of fun doing nocturnal shooting (Single shots)
P3150117 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
P3150128 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
P3151192 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
with a very simple setup I am going to improve ...
IMG_20190314_195225 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
Thanks for watching,
Antonio
Admin edit [rjl]: "bracketing" --> "focus stacking"
One hour passes very fast, and spending 30 minutes around a single insect it's not uncommon
The temperature also raises quick after the sunrise and even if the insects can't fly or walk around they start to move body parts (legs, abdomen, mouth parts...) and waking up.
With the sunrise also starts the breeze, because of the air warming ...
So I started to look for them the night before and marking the places where I found something interesting, in the hope they can be there at 6 AM the day next... the good news is .. they are .. except for spiders and caterpillars who look to love to roam around during the night. But the winged ones don't move.
Insects are also a lot more easy to find during the night ... at night the grass is packed with still creatures...and the high contrast between the light in the branches and the darkness in the background makes it much easier to spot the insects... some also shine.
So I did a set of orange "flags" .. and in the morning it's very, very easy to find the spot again and go straight to the insect.
Flags... by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
A dragonfly ... at 10,30 PM ...
P3150139 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
"Flagged"
P3151227 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
The morning next
59 photos, f/3,5, differential 2
2019-03-16-11.43.25 ZS retouched by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
An Aricia cramera (buterfly) spoted during the night...
IMG_20190304_234129 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
next morning ..
FLK_000189 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
FLK_000191 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
meanwhile, during the search I am having lots of fun doing nocturnal shooting (Single shots)
P3150117 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
P3150128 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
P3151192 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
with a very simple setup I am going to improve ...
IMG_20190314_195225 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
Thanks for watching,
Antonio
Admin edit [rjl]: "bracketing" --> "focus stacking"
Last edited by Yawns on Sat Mar 16, 2019 7:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
-
- Posts: 713
- Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:40 am
- Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Very nice, thank you for sharing, Antonio! I have been learning from your posts.
So when you searched for insects at night with flashlight and sometimes photographed them speedlite, did they often get disturbed by your movement and lights? How did you avoid disturbing them (so that they don't move away)?
You probably don't need the bottom part of your plastic plate diffuser. Bigger white color may look like a bird to insects and be frightening to them. Also more cumbersome.
So when you searched for insects at night with flashlight and sometimes photographed them speedlite, did they often get disturbed by your movement and lights? How did you avoid disturbing them (so that they don't move away)?
You probably don't need the bottom part of your plastic plate diffuser. Bigger white color may look like a bird to insects and be frightening to them. Also more cumbersome.
Last edited by zzffnn on Sat Mar 16, 2019 1:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
They don't get disturbed with the light.. neither with the torch, neither with the flash...zzffnn wrote: So when you searched for insects at night with flashlight and sometimes photographed them speedlite, did they often get disturbed by your movement and lights? How did you avoid disturbing them (so that they don't move away)?
At night most of the insects are very "tolerant" ... they lack of energy (it's cool), they have the wings humid, can't fly etc...
some move a bit around but don't go away...
002 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
others like Robberflies and Butterflies get very calm right after the sunset even with daylight .. when they decide to rest for the night they don't move anymore and become very docile .. robberflies will come home in your finger gladly.. butterflies too if you don't move them out of the leaf or branch.. you can even get them to the lightbox, they will not care ... (at least most of the times)
Just don't touch them ...
0003 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
with a bit of experience you learn what you can and can't do... but usually they tolerate the lights, they tolerate some leaf / branch cutting with a scissor.. just don't make very sudden or hard moves..
---
the setup... yes you're right.. that was only a 5 minutes fix .. anyway it produces acceptable results.
- MarkSturtevant
- Posts: 1957
- Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2015 6:52 pm
- Location: Michigan, U.S.A.
- Contact:
Thanks for sharing photos and tips.
Troels Holm, biologist (retired), environmentalist, amateur photographer.
Visit my Flickr albums
Visit my Flickr albums
7,30 AM .. the sun is now high and hitting all the grass.
75 Photos - 2019-03-18 - C by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
75 Photos - 2019-03-18 - C by antonio caseiro, on Flickr
Thanks Antonio
I've always appreciated you sharing your interesting experiences.
I'm glad to have found you here and once again learn some great field techniques from you on this thread..
I'm glad to have found you here and once again learn some great field techniques from you on this thread..
Thank you ...SteveB wrote:Absolutely stunning - the preparation pays off!
It's not working so well later... it's warming up, here. The temperature around midnight is now 10ºC (around 48F I suppose). I'm not finding so many insects at night now and the insects are more active because it's warmer...
last night I was out almost a couple of hours and I couldn't find much ,, just brought home decent pictures of this spider and did not leave any flags...
P3200215 by antonio caseiro, on Flickr