Lucilia sericata

[laszlokupi]

Hi guys, I had a lot of great ideas learned from this forum thanks a lot for everyone.
I have tried three different programs to stack with: Zerene, Helicon and Photoshop. From these three, PS gave the best quality, although it can only handle cca.50 photos and runs out of memory above. The other two are equally good but needs a lot of trying with setup and methods to find the best solution. I also tried substacking in PS but with bad results.
The other issue I found during the last couple of weeks is the light. The diffuser for the MT-24EX twinlite I am using is giving still too harsh light, however a white plastic glass can make a good job. Do you have any ideas what diffuser I can use for this purpose?
Thanks,

Laszlo

This picture is stacked from 181 shots in ZS (Pmax), the equipment is Wemacro rail (8micron steps), Canon 5Dsr, Canon 200/2.8 L II USM, Nikon E Plan 10X/0.25 EPI, Canon MT-24EX with diffusers and white plastic glass.

[Beatsy]

...The diffuser for the MT-24EX twinlite I am using is giving still too harsh light, however a white plastic glass can make a good job. Do you have any ideas what diffuser I can use for this purpose?
Thanks,

Nice pic.

If I want to soften the light further, I leave the existing (diffused) lighting in place and add a ping-pong ball around the subject. Of course the ball is cut so the lens can see through the front and back, with a big slot in the bottom so it can be lowered over the specimen. It will cut the light more, but diffuses beautifully. Polystyrene cups work too - but cut an awful lot more light. Finally, if you need something bigger, you can buy dome-diffusers for studio flashes quite cheaply. They're harder material, but can be made to work just like half a (large) ping-pong ball. Mine are about 10cm diameter.

If you also use your MT24-EX for handheld macro, you may want to consider a pair of these http://www.mt24diffuser.com/ - they work really well, and could conceivably work well in a studio/rail setup too (I don't use flash for rail work - so haven't tried it).

Edit: there's a few pics of a ping-pong ball in use here (without extra diffused light) http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=31894

[laszlokupi]

Wow, great pictures and useful advices, thanks a lot! I will try this pingpong ball, looks very simple but easy to adjust around the subject. Yes, I will travel to Africa soon and there I want to use handheld macro (MP-E65 for instance) so those diffusers would work well. I use flash on rail yet although I have 4 Ikea lamps but my camera's shutter has vibration even mirror locked up. I will probably try my spare camera (7D) which still works with the older, full electrical shutter. Thank you for your advices indeed!

...The diffuser for the MT-24EX twinlite I am using is giving still too harsh light, however a white plastic glass can make a good job. Do you have any ideas what diffuser I can use for this purpose?
Thanks,

Nice pic.

If I want to soften the light further, I leave the existing (diffused) lighting in place and add a ping-pong ball around the subject. Of course the ball is cut so the lens can see through the front and back, with a big slot in the bottom so it can be lowered over the specimen. It will cut the light more, but diffuses beautifully. Polystyrene cups work too - but cut an awful lot more light. Finally, if you need something bigger, you can buy dome-diffusers for studio flashes quite cheaply. They're harder material, but can be made to work just like half a (large) ping-pong ball. Mine are about 10cm diameter.

If you also use your MT24-EX for handheld macro, you may want to consider a pair of these http://www.mt24diffuser.com/ - they work really well, and could conceivably work well in a studio/rail setup too (I don't use flash for rail work - so haven't tried it).

Edit: there's a few pics of a ping-pong ball in use here (without extra diffused light) http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=31894