First picture - moss, possibly Pladiomnium sp DIC

[PAC]

Hi all,

A few firsts for me here! This is my first picture posted on this forum and my first attempt at focus stacking (only 3 images). It's also my first attempt at observing moss leaves. It was taken with an Olympus BH2 using DIC via a DApo 40 UV oil immersion objective. I've adjusted the image in photoshop but, being colourblind, I'm never quite sure how they look to everyone else! The sharpness of the stack is a little softer than the original images... am I going wrong somewhere?



...and here's just a single frame...





All advice and comments welcome.

Paul.

[Litonotus]

second one is very nice (:

[rjlittlefield]

I've adjusted the image in photoshop but, being colourblind, I'm never quite sure how they look to everyone else!

Ah, well, they look very "colourful". The greens are sort of natural, and the other colours are obviously not -- introduced by the DIC, I suppose.

The sharpness of the stack is a little softer than the original images... am I going wrong somewhere?

It seems so, but there are a lot of ways to "go wrong" when processing images like this. It's not immediately clear to me what the result should look like. Which software did you use to do the stacking, and what methods & settings within that software?

--Rik

[PAC]

Which software did you use to do the stacking, and what methods & settings within that software?

I used photoshop CS3 just by applying a simple photomerge, blend and stack. I originally used around 10 images but the results weren't good. The image above is a stack of just 3 images. Looks like I need to work on my technique!

Paul

[Peter M. Macdonald]

Paul,

Photoshop CS3 really does not do focus stacking well for macro shots. The demo when it came out gave the game away. It showed a stack of a box with a patterned flat lid. No complicated 3D geometry for the software to get its "head" around. If it had been designed to produce nice output of more complicated subjects, you can bet that Adobe would have shown that in the promotional video.

Try one or more of the specialist focus stacking programmes. CombineZP is not bad, and it is free. Helicon Focus is better. Zerene Stacker is the best of the crop. It was written by Rik to address his frustrations with what was on the market at the time.

Both of these commercial programmes offer trial periods, so there is nothing to lose by having a go. There are good tutorials on their websites.

Regards,

Peter

[PAC]

Ok, thanks for the comments. I'll give the other stacking software options a try and maybe back off with the colour saturation level in the images!

Paul.