Robber fly "head shot"

[Charles Krebs]

The last face a lot of small critters ever see!

Nikon D200. Reverse mounted Schneider Componon 28mm f4. 28 frames, stacked with Helicon Focus

[Ken Ramos]

Can't say as which I like the best Charlie, your robber fly here or the skipper in your other post. Both leave nothing to be desired in my opinion. Wonderful and quite interesting images as usual, thanks Charlie

[beetleman]

Wonderful detail...as sharp as a Ginsu Knife...lighting is perfect. Super photo Charles

[Jody Melanson]

Just stunning! The light, detail, this photo has it all! Once again I don't understand why hardly any responses.

[Carl_Constantine]

Right now, I can't see either picture. The place where Charles has it hosted is not responding.

Charles, you know you can upload the picture to this server right? I'd love to see these but can't. Can you upload them here instead?

[puzzledpaul]

<< I don't understand why hardly any responses >>

Well, I for one feel somewhat 'eulogistically challenged' when confronted by images of this quality - all that needs to be said probably already has been and people can get accustomed to such artistry that they don't expect any less from the individual(s) concerned - so excellence becomes the norm and therefore elicits little response?

That said, yes - a true 'Canon' pic - even tho' none of their kit sems to have been used in this partic. case.

Makes me wonder whether there's a case to be made for a separate section / forum just for stacked images - irrespective of the equipment used? (apologies if this has been raised before, btw)

pp

[PeglegOS]

Just stunning! The light, detail, this photo has it all! Once again I don't understand why hardly any responses.

We are just overwelmed with the stunning images. I for one just gaze at them for long periods. Striking...

[teva]

Yeah, those stacked images are just stunning.

[MacroLuv]

Superb! Are those little oval things, upon antennae, ocelli a simple eyes? This is one sentimental robber, he released tear drop on a left eye.

[Smokedaddy]

The last face a lot of small critters ever see!

Nikon D200. Reverse mounted Schneider Componon 28mm f4. 28 frames, stacked with Helicon Focus

Woa,

Charles the image is absolutely amazing, to say the least. Mind telling me something about the setup and protocol or procedure you used? I know what stacking software is but only from an astrophotography video perspective. What is the purpose? I have never heard of a Reversed mounted Schneider either? Is that something Nikon specific?

-SD:

[Smokedaddy]

Oops,

If you've addressed the questions I've asked before, a link would be appreciated.

-SD:

[Cyclops]

The last face a lot of small critters ever see!

Wow thats a stonker of a shot!

[rjlittlefield]

Charles the image is absolutely amazing, to say the least. Mind telling me something about the setup and protocol or procedure you used? I know what stacking software is but only from an astrophotography video perspective. What is the purpose? I have never heard of a Reversed mounted Schneider either? Is that something Nikon specific?

Charlie does nice work, doesn't he? Hopefully he'll be around in a day or two to fill in the details, but in the meantime I can give some general answers to your technical questions.

In photomacrography and photomicrography, "stacking" is used to get extended depth of field. Each frame of the stack is focused at a different depth. Software like Helicon Focus lines up the frames, then makes a composite image by choosing pixels from the sharpest frame at each pixel position. See this article for an introduction to stacking in photomacrography.

The Schneider Componon is a darkroom enlarging lens. It is designed to work especially well at low magnifications, with the back of the lens nearest to whatever is being enlarged. "Reverse mounting" the lens just means to orient its backside facing away from the camera, placing that side nearest the subject as designed. This trick can be used with any SLR, with the appropriate adapter.

--Rik

[DaveW]

SD,

There are two reasons for reversing lenses. A conventional camera lens (usually a fixed focal length standard lens) can be used like a multi-element supplementary close up lens by reversing it on other lenses using a coupling ring to join the two filter threads together.

Secondly, reversed lenses can be used direct on the camera or on bellows or tubes using a lens reversal adapter that has the lens filter thread on one side and the camera bayonet on the other. When you use a lens closer so that its film/sensor distance is greater than it's lens to subject distance you are moving from the parameters it was originally designed for. So put simply turning it round so the end designed to be close to the film/sensor now faces the nearer subject and the end that was designed originally to be further away from the subject faces the larger film/sensor distance tends to restore the optimisation of it's design.

See:-

http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototip ... rsing.html

http://www.alanwood.net/photography/rev ... rings.html

Independent lens reversing rings are fairly cheap but makers are dearer:-

http://www.srb-griturn.com/index.php?cP ... dbd643876f

http://search.ebay.co.uk/lens-reversing ... QQfromZR40

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search. ... ling+rings

DaveW

[acerola]

I was not here for a time, but this picture alone worth to come back. I love your pictures, Astonishing.