Leaf tailed gecko from Madagascar

pbertner · Post by **pbertner** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 8:15 pm

Leaf tailed gecko (Uroplatus sikorae) from Madagascar, 2 shot focus stack for subject and background:

Thanks for looking and commenting,
Paul

Bill Eldridge · Post by **Bill Eldridge** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 8:33 pm

What a masterpiece!

pbertner · Post by **pbertner** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 1:46 pm

Thanks Bill!

Interesting, there seems to be a split opinion, in other places where I posted, mostly the nature and wildlife forum where backgrounds are perhaps more common there is a desire for more emphasis on the subject. However in the macro forums where there is seldom detailed backgrounds there is a greater interest in the stacked version.

These are the two shots that I stacked. Due to the focus shift between shots I had to reconstruct the tail and margins of the photo in PP.

Bill Eldridge · Post by **Bill Eldridge** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 8:22 pm

This is an "environmental portrait" of the gecko. With the blurred background it's quite a nice shot but doesn't move me to exclaim "masterpiece".

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 9:49 pm

I quite agree with Bill.

Along with purely esthetic aspects like composition and colors, it's being able to see clearly both the gecko and its environment that makes the shot memorable for me.

But I can certainly understand how the two types of audiences might have very different leanings. Anything unusual is always more interesting.

Due to the focus shift between shots I had to reconstruct the tail and margins of the photo in PP.

You did a superb job of that. Without the originals, I would have no idea.

For what it's worth, this sort of difficulty comes up very often in studio stacks. People take time to frame tightly because they can, and then get surprised when the result comes out badly because they happened to do their framing at the wide end of the stack. This usually comes to me as a question like "How can I stop the software from cropping off the edges?!", and then we have to have a discussion about what would happen if the edges were not cropped off.

--Rik

pbertner · Post by **pbertner** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 10:15 pm

Thanks for your take Rik, I always appreciate your reasoning and value your opinions and advice.

Thanks for the re-visit Bill, cheers!

Although I think I like the 15mm wide angle version (which I posted earlier) a little better, this one allowed me to get in closer to the falls.

I definitely need to remember my to leave more room. I generally save stacking for photos where I have a specific idea in mind since it's relatively PP intensive with uncooperative subjects.

15mm version