Concrete's Pic Thread

concrete

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Yeah it is! Takes a good bit of trial and error with different lighting and viewing angles.
I generally prefer lighting from overhead, slanted to one side or the other or even slightly back-lit. But the purples seem to come out best when the lighting angle more nearly matches the viewing angle in my experience.
Yes that was my observation as well. I took a whole pile of test shots and the only time purples were really visible was when I tried matching the viewing angle of the camera by keeping second flash right underneath or above the lens. Still doesn't do this spider justice though it's definitely one of those species that has to be seen in person.
 

viper69

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As soon as I saw these, I knew Michael was involved!!! These are gorgeous. Are you using the same setup as Micheal?
 

papilio

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As soon as I saw these, I knew Michael was involved!!! These are gorgeous. Are you using the same setup as Micheal?
Mirza's actually the one who got me started deep-stacking live subjects for the first time -- till I tried it I wouldn't have thought it possible, or that it would at least be beyond my patience threshold! :)
 

viper69

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Mirza's actually the one who got me started deep-stacking live subjects for the first time -- till I tried it I wouldn't have thought it possible, or that it would at least be beyond my patience threshold! :)
You know that's pretty funny, because Leica Microsystems has a setup for this. Mind you a stereomicroscope (they make the world's best stereomicroscopes), and their software does a good job at this type of imaging. When I first saw it though I hadn't considered putting a T under it, until I saw your pics Michael.
 

concrete

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As soon as I saw these, I knew Michael was involved!!! These are gorgeous. Are you using the same setup as Micheal?
Thanks :) Michael is indeed a great teacher. He gave me some recommendations on equipment but I don't believe that we are using the same stuff. Even about a year ago when I first started taking photos his equipment was more advanced then mine so unless he has downgraded since... ;)

Mirza's actually the one who got me started deep-stacking live subjects for the first time -- till I tried it I wouldn't have thought it possible, or that it would at least be beyond my patience threshold! :)
Hehe and I was doing deep stacking because I kept shooting at wide open and didn't know any better! :D Definitely an exercise in patience. I also didn't realize that Zerene allows you to edit using either type of stack or individual slices. This is the first time I've used that option and it makes a huge difference. I managed to reduce a lot of artifacts and halos that I just accepted as inevitability before. Fairly time consuming but very much worth it!
 

viper69

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Concrete....What gear are you using? I've seen Michaels on Flickr.
 

papilio

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Hehe and I was doing deep stacking because I kept shooting at wide open and didn't know any better! :D Definitely an exercise in patience.
That's why I was so amazed at the quality of your images right off the bat! :)


I also didn't realize that Zerene allows you to edit using either type of stack or individual slices. This is the first time I've used that option and it makes a huge difference. I managed to reduce a lot of artifacts and halos that I just accepted as inevitability before. Fairly time consuming but very much worth it!
Glad you discovered ZS's retouching methods. Rik has built some amazing capabilities into his software!

Rik is also the Admin on http://www.photomacrography.net/ (if you haven't discovered it yet). Since I joined the forum I've learned so much -- an extremely useful method is the slabbing approach. About 20 images are stacked at a time with PMax, each of these slabs overlapping the previous one by about 5 images. Then the slabs are stacked with DMap. A lot of work sometimes but it really suppresses the artifacts while leaving you with an image which is overall like a nice soft DMap stack but with the cleaner appearance of PMax.


Nikon D5100 camera, Tokina AT-X pro macro 100 F2.8 D lens, SB-600 and SB-700 speed lights, and a cheap tripod and rail. And a very specialized studio...

Hehe, looks pretty familiar! ;)
 

viper69

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So you aren't use a microscope objective then..interesting.
 

papilio

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So you aren't use a microscope objective then..interesting.
Right, that's not necessary for stacking -- I only use it for very high-magnification images of very small slings, etc. More often I use the 2:1 Raynox dcr-250 or, with juvies and adults, just the macro alone. Most of my rig is just to make the higher power shots of never-sit-still slings a little bit less challenging. ;)
 

concrete

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Most of my subjects are big enough not to require a microscope objective as long as I utilize stacking. I don't really shoot tiny things, like an ants head, in insane amount of detail...like Michael :) Although some of those shots have got me tempted hehe
 

viper69

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Thanks guys...This gives me a good start. Well I love going in close, so doing both is something I would want to do. These are gorgeous images. The close ups you guys do really show off the colors more so in some cases. Though it also depends on the light too. But close up, I see more subtle colors than I had expected with just my own eyes.
 

papilio

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But close up, I see more subtle colors than I had expected with just my own eyes.
I think that's part of the reason that I like high power photography so much -- the more magnification, the more surprises show up once I see the images up on the monitor! :D
 

viper69

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I think that's part of the reason that I like high power photography so much -- the more magnification, the more surprises show up once I see the images up on the monitor! :D

Time for you to get a 20x obj, so you have 10x mag..heheh
 

papilio

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Beautiful spider and photos Mirza!! :D

I see that you got your new lighting setup! How do you like it? The photos look wonderfully soft to me and the carapace hairs are so colorful, no blown highlights. :)
 

concrete

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Beautiful spider and photos Mirza!! :D

I see that you got your new lighting setup! How do you like it? The photos look wonderfully soft to me and the carapace hairs are so colorful, no blown highlights. :)
Thanks Michael! Yeah I've had the setup for a while now but I was waiting for hot shoe adapter to arrive. Finally came in Friday. I'm not noticing a huge difference in light quality myself vs speedlight. Yes it's slightly softer and there's less hotspots. I also like the preview capability with the built in bulb which gives you an idea of what the lighting will look like once flash fires. It's also nice not having to wait for speedlight recharge when stacking and having to carry a truckload of replacement batteries in the house. Definitely has a lot of bonuses and I'm glad I got it but I'm not getting that super soft light I'm seeing in your newer shots. Guess it goes to show you that it's not about the gear but about skill level of the photographer. I'll keep playing around with it and hopefully improve.
 
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