Post your macro photos here
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Robin W
Senior Member
No, my camera won't do that. I am thinking about upgrading my D810 to a D850.
Blue439
New member
Focus stacking is an important technique to master when photographing subjects that are close and you need deep depth of field. Stopping down the lens only brings limited improvements, except if you’re working with a very wide-angle lens, which isn’t often the case in closeup photography. It also brings on the risk of diffraction, which degrades the image quality. Therefore, it is better to set your lens at its “sweet spot”, the aperture value at which it performs best, and stack focus.
Now, to stack focus, you need to move the focusing distance by very small and very equal increments, so that the software you will subsequently use to combine all those photos together, retaining only the sharpest parts of each, will have an easier job and not force you to make many retouchings by hand. That can of course be achieved most easily if your camera has a built-in function that allows you to program what you want, click a button and let the camera do the work while you enjoy a drink and a good book —a bit like interval photography. However, when you do that, the risk is that, as the camera automatically turns that focusing ring to focus on points farther and farther away, a phenomenon known as “focus breathing” appears. I will not expand on this as it is a complex subject and those of you who are interested can read all about it online; I will simply say that it is another issue that will make the post-production stitching less reliable and precise.
In order to avoid this, the best way I know of is to manually adjust the position of the entire camera + lens group to make it all move closer and closer (or the other way, of course) to the subject without touching the focusing ring. In order to do that, especially when you’re clumsy like me, you need a very good focusing rail that will allow very smooth action through high-quality gearing. The rail also needs to have precise markings so that you will see exactly how much you’re moving it towards the subject, or away from it, every time you make an adjustment. The smaller the adjustment, the better for the quality of the subsequent stitching, but you also don’t want to spend entirely too much time on this, nor end up with a stack of 200 photos that will be a nightmare to process... It is a domain in which everyone has to make judgment calls based on personal experience and the subject at hand.
The photo below is my first try at stacking focus manually. I used a general photography lens, an 85mm, to which I added an extension tube to allow it to reach 1:1, or possibly even a little beyond that. I took 20 focus-stacked exposures, using the Novoflex focusing rail that appears on the behind-the-scenes snaps below. Those explain everything so I will not dwell on the technical aspects any more. Let me just say that I found manual focus stacking not so difficult, even enjoyable. It is of course, by nature, a repetitive and thus boring process, but doing 20 photos with one hand on the knob of the focusing rail and the other on the radio trigger to actuate the shutter really didn’t take up too much time. It is the pre-start thinking that was more difficult: the “How many photos do I need?” part is easily answered by looking at the actual results on the back screen of the camera (or, even better, a much larger computer screen if you’re shooting tethered), but the “How much should each focusing increment be?” is a lot more difficult. I followed what had worked for me previously when using the auto function on the camera, and the result was apparently OK for Helicon Focus, which did a good job, as usual.
Now, to stack focus, you need to move the focusing distance by very small and very equal increments, so that the software you will subsequently use to combine all those photos together, retaining only the sharpest parts of each, will have an easier job and not force you to make many retouchings by hand. That can of course be achieved most easily if your camera has a built-in function that allows you to program what you want, click a button and let the camera do the work while you enjoy a drink and a good book —a bit like interval photography. However, when you do that, the risk is that, as the camera automatically turns that focusing ring to focus on points farther and farther away, a phenomenon known as “focus breathing” appears. I will not expand on this as it is a complex subject and those of you who are interested can read all about it online; I will simply say that it is another issue that will make the post-production stitching less reliable and precise.
In order to avoid this, the best way I know of is to manually adjust the position of the entire camera + lens group to make it all move closer and closer (or the other way, of course) to the subject without touching the focusing ring. In order to do that, especially when you’re clumsy like me, you need a very good focusing rail that will allow very smooth action through high-quality gearing. The rail also needs to have precise markings so that you will see exactly how much you’re moving it towards the subject, or away from it, every time you make an adjustment. The smaller the adjustment, the better for the quality of the subsequent stitching, but you also don’t want to spend entirely too much time on this, nor end up with a stack of 200 photos that will be a nightmare to process... It is a domain in which everyone has to make judgment calls based on personal experience and the subject at hand.
The photo below is my first try at stacking focus manually. I used a general photography lens, an 85mm, to which I added an extension tube to allow it to reach 1:1, or possibly even a little beyond that. I took 20 focus-stacked exposures, using the Novoflex focusing rail that appears on the behind-the-scenes snaps below. Those explain everything so I will not dwell on the technical aspects any more. Let me just say that I found manual focus stacking not so difficult, even enjoyable. It is of course, by nature, a repetitive and thus boring process, but doing 20 photos with one hand on the knob of the focusing rail and the other on the radio trigger to actuate the shutter really didn’t take up too much time. It is the pre-start thinking that was more difficult: the “How many photos do I need?” part is easily answered by looking at the actual results on the back screen of the camera (or, even better, a much larger computer screen if you’re shooting tethered), but the “How much should each focusing increment be?” is a lot more difficult. I followed what had worked for me previously when using the auto function on the camera, and the result was apparently OK for Helicon Focus, which did a good job, as usual.
Blue439
New member
The Mont Blanc is 4810 meters high
The 18-karat gold nib of my Montblanc Meisterstück fountain pen. I bought it in the 1980s when I was a young lawyer. It was one of the trappings you were supposed to sport back then, and I always wrote with fountain pens anyway, since high school. Shortly after the purchase, it fell down on a marble fireplace in my office and the nib had to be replaced, as well as part of the Bakelite body that had cracked. Since those tempestuous beginnings, we have lived happily together and plan to continue for as long as possible.
And yes, the “4810” marking on the nib refers to the altitude of the Mont Blanc in the French Alps, the highest summit in all of Europe. For a long time, that marking used to read “4807”, which was the official altitude of the mountain. It is the figure we all learned in school as we grew up. Then with better instruments, the altitude was revised to 4810, and now I hear it is calculated each year (really, some people have entirely too much free time on their hands... or else they are paid too much...!), and the latest figure is a little bit less than 4809 meters... It is all terribly important to know, of course.
I see from my notes that this was a 10:1 macro taken with a Micro-Nikkor 105mm and the bellows, probably almost fully extended. I focus-stacked no less than 55 photos, with manual adjustments between each using the focusing rail I speak about in the previous upload above.
Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens, FTZ adapter, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. 55-exposure stack processed with Helicon Focus. Artificial lighting.
The 18-karat gold nib of my Montblanc Meisterstück fountain pen. I bought it in the 1980s when I was a young lawyer. It was one of the trappings you were supposed to sport back then, and I always wrote with fountain pens anyway, since high school. Shortly after the purchase, it fell down on a marble fireplace in my office and the nib had to be replaced, as well as part of the Bakelite body that had cracked. Since those tempestuous beginnings, we have lived happily together and plan to continue for as long as possible.
And yes, the “4810” marking on the nib refers to the altitude of the Mont Blanc in the French Alps, the highest summit in all of Europe. For a long time, that marking used to read “4807”, which was the official altitude of the mountain. It is the figure we all learned in school as we grew up. Then with better instruments, the altitude was revised to 4810, and now I hear it is calculated each year (really, some people have entirely too much free time on their hands... or else they are paid too much...!), and the latest figure is a little bit less than 4809 meters... It is all terribly important to know, of course.
I see from my notes that this was a 10:1 macro taken with a Micro-Nikkor 105mm and the bellows, probably almost fully extended. I focus-stacked no less than 55 photos, with manual adjustments between each using the focusing rail I speak about in the previous upload above.
Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens, FTZ adapter, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. 55-exposure stack processed with Helicon Focus. Artificial lighting.
Like the narrative.
Blue439
New member
Thanks, Needa!
Well, there could be quite a story to tell also about, not really this photo, but its subject, i.e., my trusty Citizen watch, the best there is in the world. This watch is so astounding and perfect I wouldn’t part with it for any other (and I’ve owned a Rolex and still own a Cartier Tank for formal occasions!).
However, I will not bore you with a detailed praise of its many qualities (unless you ask me, of course...
). I’ll just say this is a 10:1 (or thereabouts) macro achieved with the bellows and an extension tube on the regular 85mm lens, as described below.
Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 85mm, ƒ/1.8 S lens, 35–mm Fotodiox Pro extension tube, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Artificial lighting. Composite shot made up of 5 focus-stacked exposures, set manually using the Novoflex Castel XQ II focusing rail. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.
Well, there could be quite a story to tell also about, not really this photo, but its subject, i.e., my trusty Citizen watch, the best there is in the world. This watch is so astounding and perfect I wouldn’t part with it for any other (and I’ve owned a Rolex and still own a Cartier Tank for formal occasions!).
However, I will not bore you with a detailed praise of its many qualities (unless you ask me, of course...
). I’ll just say this is a 10:1 (or thereabouts) macro achieved with the bellows and an extension tube on the regular 85mm lens, as described below.Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 85mm, ƒ/1.8 S lens, 35–mm Fotodiox Pro extension tube, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Artificial lighting. Composite shot made up of 5 focus-stacked exposures, set manually using the Novoflex Castel XQ II focusing rail. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.
Blue439
New member
Lighting this was difficult as the flashes would tend to “steal the show”, take the life away from the matches’ flames. I tried at least five or six times before I found an acceptable balance between lighting the shafts and the tips well enough, and keeping a natural look to the little flames. I used a handheld black card to block the flashes’ blitz from bleeding too much over the open flames.
Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Artificial lighting. Single exposure.
Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Artificial lighting. Single exposure.
Blue439
New member
Macro with a nifty fifty —and an extension tube! My feeling at the time (2019) was that the reproduction ratio was very close to 1:1, and even maybe a little bit beyond.
Buttons and thread on fabric, all borrowed from my wife’s workshop for the purpose of a macrophotography, sewing-oriented still life...
Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 50mm ƒ/1.8 S lens, 15-mm Fotodiox Pro extension tube. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Artificial lighting. Composite shot made up of 30 focus-stacked exposures, using the built-in function on the Nikon Z7. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.
Buttons and thread on fabric, all borrowed from my wife’s workshop for the purpose of a macrophotography, sewing-oriented still life...
Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 50mm ƒ/1.8 S lens, 15-mm Fotodiox Pro extension tube. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Artificial lighting. Composite shot made up of 30 focus-stacked exposures, using the built-in function on the Nikon Z7. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.
Blue439
New member
Macro and super-macro, a set of two:
A few days ago, back in the Tabletop thread, I showed a photo where I used as a prop to the main subject a Baccarat crystal champagne cup from the early 20th century that has been in my family since then. The crystal is impossibly thin (those guys don’t go in the dishwasher!), and on top of that, it is engraved by hand (there was no other way back then, anyway!) all around the rim, as the first “normal” macro shot shows. This I believe is around 1:1.
Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens, FTZ adapter. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Artificial lighting, single exposure.
To show more in detail how amazing the engraving is, I took a second photograph, this time using the bellows. This photo is probably something around 5:1.
Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens, FTZ adapter. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Artificial lighting, single exposure.
A few days ago, back in the Tabletop thread, I showed a photo where I used as a prop to the main subject a Baccarat crystal champagne cup from the early 20th century that has been in my family since then. The crystal is impossibly thin (those guys don’t go in the dishwasher!), and on top of that, it is engraved by hand (there was no other way back then, anyway!) all around the rim, as the first “normal” macro shot shows. This I believe is around 1:1.
Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens, FTZ adapter. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Artificial lighting, single exposure.
To show more in detail how amazing the engraving is, I took a second photograph, this time using the bellows. This photo is probably something around 5:1.
Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens, FTZ adapter. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Artificial lighting, single exposure.
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Robin W
Senior Member
The art of craftsman ship has really gone downhill. Wonderful work on their part and yours!
Blue439
New member
A 4:1 (roughly) shot of: on the left, a French Legion of Honor rosette (the highest French decoration), meant to go on the lapel; and on the right, a cornflower pin that is the French equivalent of the Anglo-Saxon poppy: a sign of commemoration for the soldiers who died during World War I. To give you an idea, that pin is about one centimeter in diameter.
This is what is often called a “flat lay” in tabletop photography, meaning the camera was in zenithal position above the subject.
Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 85mm, ƒ/1.8 S lens, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Artificial lighting, single exposure.
This is what is often called a “flat lay” in tabletop photography, meaning the camera was in zenithal position above the subject.
Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 85mm, ƒ/1.8 S lens, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Artificial lighting, single exposure.
Blue439
New member
Having fun with the bellows... Aristocratic Montblanc fountain pen and humble Pentel Sign felt-tip pen. The reproduction ratio was approximately 8:1 on this photo, and the necessary depth of field was achieved by tilting the front and back standards of the bellows, as the general photography lens I used has no tilt-shift capabilities. The lens was only stopped down to ƒ/5.6 and its native depth of field would have been a hairline at such close proximity to the subject. This took the best part of a half-hour to set and focus, and only 1/500 second to shoot!
Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 85mm, ƒ/1.8 S lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Artificial lighting, single exposure.
Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 85mm, ƒ/1.8 S lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Artificial lighting, single exposure.
Dawg Pics
Senior Member
Was that insect just stuck in the sap? Cool image.
Dawg Pics
Senior Member
I like that there in blue ink on this instead of a pristine nib. Pretty.
Blue439
New member
Thanks, Dawg !
Legion of Honor medal, detail
The Legion of Honor is the highest French decoration. This one was awarded to my great-grandfather during World War I. The ribbon was replaced, I believe, during the 1980s, but the medal itself shows its age here and there. It is the 1870 model, for that was the one still in use when this was awarded. They have slightly modified it since then, maybe after World War II. This is a detail macro shot taken with the bellows and an ordinary 50mm lens. Reproduction ratio is approximately 8:1. Below is the whole medal.
Created by Napoleon, the Legion of Honor used to be only awarded for military reasons, at least until the end of World War II. My grandfather also received one, although he never was a soldier but a doctor, and was shot by a Nazi firing squad in late 1944 for having helped and treated Resistance fighters. He was one of the very first non-combatants to be awarded one, although it was still deemed à titre militaire (“for military reasons”), as he was also awarded the envied qualification of mort pour la France (“dead for France”). Nowadays, they award the Legion of Honor to Olympic champions and famous actors and singers...
Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 50mm, ƒ/1.8 S lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Artificial lighting. Composite shot made up of 35 focus-stacked exposures, using the built-in function on the camera. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.
Legion of Honor medal, detail
The Legion of Honor is the highest French decoration. This one was awarded to my great-grandfather during World War I. The ribbon was replaced, I believe, during the 1980s, but the medal itself shows its age here and there. It is the 1870 model, for that was the one still in use when this was awarded. They have slightly modified it since then, maybe after World War II. This is a detail macro shot taken with the bellows and an ordinary 50mm lens. Reproduction ratio is approximately 8:1. Below is the whole medal.
Created by Napoleon, the Legion of Honor used to be only awarded for military reasons, at least until the end of World War II. My grandfather also received one, although he never was a soldier but a doctor, and was shot by a Nazi firing squad in late 1944 for having helped and treated Resistance fighters. He was one of the very first non-combatants to be awarded one, although it was still deemed à titre militaire (“for military reasons”), as he was also awarded the envied qualification of mort pour la France (“dead for France”). Nowadays, they award the Legion of Honor to Olympic champions and famous actors and singers...
Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 50mm, ƒ/1.8 S lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Artificial lighting. Composite shot made up of 35 focus-stacked exposures, using the built-in function on the camera. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.