First Stacks with Lomo 3,7 x 11 need guidance...

Just bought that first macro lens? Post here to get helpful feedback and answers to any questions you might have.

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altereddecay
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Location: OAKLAND CA
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First Stacks with Lomo 3,7 x 11 need guidance...

Post by altereddecay »

Here are my first somewhat successful stacks. I would welcome some insight and help on where to go from here as Im still a bit confused. I can tell something is off but im not sure where to start, capture or processing. After experimenting for about 16 hours yesterday and the day before, here is where I’m at. I've been really enjoying this forum and very excited to start down this wonderful rabbit hole!

The following were shot on a Nikon D800 with the 105mm Micro with a Lomo 3,7 x 11 microscope objective attached via a 52mm to rms adapter. Shot on a WeMacro rail and stacked with Helicon Focus using (B,Radius8,Smoothing4)

Based on what Viktor kindly told me my 105mm lens, would get 105/32.8=3.2x magnification.
So I entered that into http://extreme-macro.co.uk/focus-stacking/ focus stack step calculator using f2.8 to get 50um steps. I tried using 180 um backlash and 220 um backlash as the WeMacro instructions were conflicting. I also experimented with the um a bit.


Here are the resulting images and settings. They are unedited except for white balance and cropping out the vignette from a lack of coverage on full frame. Any guidance would be appreciated.
Image 01 House Fly Shoot 01 50um  180umbl 87 images
Image 01 House Fly Shoot 01 50um 180umbl 87 images
Image 02 House Fly Shoot 02 50um  220umbl 72 images
Image 02 House Fly Shoot 02 50um 220umbl 72 images
Image 03 House Fly Shoot 03 55um  180umbl 53 images
Image 03 House Fly Shoot 03 55um 180umbl 53 images
Image 04 House Fly Shoot 04 55um  220umbl 57 images
Image 04 House Fly Shoot 04 55um 220umbl 57 images
Image 05 House Fly Shoot 05 48um  180umbl 125 images
Image 05 House Fly Shoot 05 48um 180umbl 125 images
Image 06 House Fly Shoot 06 48um  220umbl 68 images
Image 06 House Fly Shoot 06 48um 220umbl 68 images
Image 07 House Fly Shoot 07 52um  180umbl 106 images
Image 07 House Fly Shoot 07 52um 180umbl 106 images
Image 08 House Fly Shoot 08 10um  180umbl 97 images
Image 08 House Fly Shoot 08 10um 180umbl 97 images

ChrisR
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Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:58 am
Location: Near London, UK

Re: First Stacks with Lomo 3,7 x 11 need guidance...

Post by ChrisR »

They look pretty successful to me :D
The two things to keep under control are
1) lighting diffusion. You have discovered how light you probably thought was pretty flat, gives you a contrasty image. It's a good exercise to first use multiple flashes, or diffusers and reflectors, to get it as absolutely flatas you can. It's hard. Then you can add or take away a little to see how far off flat, gives you the modelling you want.

2) vibrations. If you use flash at this magnification it shoudn't be a problem, but DO peer hard at pixel level, to see if there's the slightest sign of things jumping about, or being blurred.
Chris R

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