I'm curious -- which aspects do you find counter-intuitive?

--Rik

The way I see it... 8.2 pixels per lp is oversampled. The image should be printed at higher than 300 dpi (for standard viewing conditions). For web display, the image should be resized smaller. At 4 pixels per lp, the resized version will contain all the detail of the original, but will still look a...

Hi, I can't seem to find much info on the web regarding this guy - Zeiss Tessovar Photomacroscopy System. Would anyone have a moment to briefly enlighten me on the benefits of owning one for studio macro work? I did manage to find some info at The Macrolens Collection Database. http://www.macrolens...

Ken Ramos wrote:Actually I would say that it is not any flatter than the other, maybe even a bit more rough to tell the truth.

Hhmm... indeed!

So then why does it look so much better? Or do you see it differently?

--Rik

Charlie, Good questions. Let me be slow and careful in responding. When I wrote "and render", I was thinking of resizing for the web. More precisely, I was thinking of final output where the observer can clearly see individual pixels, either all the time or if they work at it. Suppose my optical ima...

Ken, I like your idea -- sheet film, a shoe box, and a pinhole give very reliable results. Neither the exposure time nor the absolute resolution are anything to write home about, but hey, there are tradeoffs. Regarding the larger issue, I think a big part is just focus -- as if it makes sense to tal...

Will, Thanks for the feedback & comments. Please see if these responses help. 1. For most of the effects that I'm concerned with here, circles of confusion are irrelevant and confusing. Except for printing, I'm presuming that the human either has or can get enough magnification to examine the indivi...

An excellent action capture -- wonderfully low angle! I'm curious -- what equipment did you use and how long did you have to watch, to get this shot? About the weevil... If it'll make you feel any better, guys, I'd bet that this weevil was dead and dried when the ants found it. Look close, and you c...

Interesting shots, Ken. The second one seems to be sharper (more contrasty, greater DOF, yada yada). In fact it looks almost...stacked.

Is the second subject just a lot flatter, or did you do something different with it?

--Rik

I remember another flap involving a herd of zebras, many of whom looked too much like each other. I can't find the reference to that, however. On the other hand, I did run into this interesting policy statement a couple of days ago: http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries/photo-ethics.html . What I fin...

The backdrop in the picture is a huge fungus mound on a tree. I was at a weird angle and my flash wasn't really able to reach this guy, but I kind of liked the silhouette-like effect for some reason. Is it just too dark or does it work? Any thoughts? For me, it works GREAT! :D The combination of lo...

It's a pretty damselfly, Nikola. :D About the composition, there's always the rule of thirds to fall back on. You know the one -- always put your subject 1/3 of the way in from an edge. In this case, I'd be inclined to whack about 120 pixels off the top. That turns the thing into about a 2:1 horizon...

I see now that the spider has not so much of a blue cast now but more of a green one. :shock: :lol: Picky, picky, picky,... :lol: Yeah, and worse, it depends on where you look in the image. It's really hard to completely fix up color problems, starting from a JPEG that was far off as this one. Not ...

Bruce, this is nice work under difficult circumstances! I was going to criticize your choice of f/5.6 till I saw the shutter speed! Mike, bear in mind also that the Minolta A2 uses a small sensor -- only 8.8 x 6.6 mm. Due to scaling laws previously discussed at length , f/5.6 on that camera, for thi...

These are really beautiful images. About the flash reflection, I dunno. It's tempting to say "oh, yeah, should have used a diffuser", but when you actually do that, sometimes you just end up with a BIG annoying reflection instead of a small one. Crossed polarizers would have killed the annoying refl...