A sticky end

[morgan]

Seedlings of sundew Drosera capensis are starting to grow well in my greenhouse.
This one has caught a fruitlfy.

Photo not quite as sharp as I hoped but working on it.

Nikon D200
EL Nikkor 50mm 2.8 @ 5.6 reversed on bellows
12 images stacked with HF

[rjlittlefield]

Photo not quite as sharp as I hoped but working on it.

Gee, what I can see looks pretty good.

You're using that lens at what should be close to its optimum settings, so I'm thinking that loss of sharpness is likely due to vibration. What kind of illumination are you using? What shutter speed? Any mirror lockup? Any other ideas about why not as sharp as you would like?

--Rik

[Ken Ramos]

Though there may be a few spots that could use improving, over all it is really a terrific photograph and quite colorful too.

[morgan]

You're using that lens at what should be close to its optimum settings, so I'm thinking that loss of sharpness is likely due to vibration. What kind of illumination are you using? What shutter speed? Any mirror lockup? Any other ideas about why not as sharp as you would like?

--Rik

Vibration may have something to do with it due to this being the first set of shots using Nikon pb-6 bellows. They are rock solid compaired to my other set.
The whole set-up is sat on rubber feet and these may, or may not, be containing too much vibration (I place an A4 sheet of card on top the on camera flash, to direct light down, and was shocked to see just how much movement there was at the mirror up stage) Will try the set-up without the feet.
I did use mirror up and a 1 second rear curtain flash, with 2 flash guns, as per usual. May try a longer exposure before flash next time.

Many thanks all.

[augusthouse]

Hi Morgan,
I'm assuming that you are using the PB-6 focusing rail for the increments in the stack?

What are the 'rubber feet' that you mentioned standing on?

You will need 'finer' movements than the PB-6 alone can provide, though the PB-6 is a very important part of the equation. How's that micrometer driven shadowgraph xy stage going?

Craig

[morgan]

Hi Morgan,
I'm assuming that you are using the PB-6 focusing rail for the increments in the stack?

What are the 'rubber feet' that you mentioned standing on?

You will need 'finer' movements than the PB-6 alone can provide, though the PB-6 is a very important part of the equation. How's that micrometer driven shadowgraph xy stage going?

Craig

I have been using a small milling table with the set-up on and the whole lot had rubber feet screwed onto the underside.
I have now removed the rubber feet and is now much improved regards to vibrations.
The shadowgraph positioner is still under construction but should be up and running next week.
Thanks all.

Here's another photo that has been re-worked a bit on HF and PS.

[rjlittlefield]

The whole set-up is sat on rubber feet and these may, or may not, be containing too much vibration (I place an A4 sheet of card on top the on camera flash, to direct light down, and was shocked to see just how much movement there was at the mirror up stage) Will try the set-up without the feet.
I did use mirror up and a 1 second rear curtain flash, with 2 flash guns, as per usual. May try a longer exposure before flash next time.

Interesting report. Naively I would have expected that rear curtain flash after 1 second would have been enough delay, but maybe those rubber feet were soft enough for your setup to vibrate for quite some time. Mine is all hard-mounted, so the vibrations are high frequency and die out pretty quickly. It sounds (and looks!) from your followup posting that getting rid of the rubber sharpened things up quite a bit. Good to hear.

--Rik

[Gordon C. Snelling]

Nice shots, that species along with others are now commonly found in some locations in certain parts of Northern California.

[beetleman]

Excellent Photos Morgan. Your Drosera capensis are a lot redder than the ones I have. Be careful, they will become a weed in your greenhouse if you let them Do a search for sundews in the forums and you will come up with some of sundews in my collection

[morgan]

Excellent Photos Morgan. Your Drosera capensis are a lot redder than the ones I have. Be careful, they will become a weed in your greenhouse if you let them Do a search for sundews in the forums and you will come up with some of sundews in my collection

Thanks
The Capensis in your photo's look likely to be the white form. Does it produce white flowers?
They can certainly take over a collection of carnivorous plants like weeds but they are still sold for top prices

Of the easy species my favourite is Drosera slackii (highland red)