Category: Techniques

‘Tis the Time of Fungi…

June 21, 2015
Close-upFloraMacro
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A few hours walking along the side of a road not far from home offers a range of Fungi different from the Chalet de Darriwell. Quite a few I’ve not seen before.

Armed with my new CamRanger, the trusty Nikon Micro 200mm F4, D600, mini tripod and iPad, I took a jaunt up Fisken’s Road on the suggestion of a Neighbour. I wasn’t disappointed (see Flora), I can easily spend another trip there just as enjoyably. I was treated to a variety of new Fungi, most of it Mushrooms. Late Autumn and early Winter can be just as “fruitful” as Summer.

Ode to Fungi…

June 18, 2015
Close-upFloraFurbagsMacroSoftware
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Here’s a couple of shots done using the Focus Stacking technique not by hand, but rather using the Camranger & it’s associated software for the iPad. Click on each to see a better resolution for the photo.

From one side trying to pickup the back curl.

 

Saffron Milk Cup

From another side trying to follow the curve along the gills.

OrangeMushroomAlternate

 

Unfortunately for this mushroom, seconds after I finished shooting, it was broken in half by two furbags, one in hot pursuit of the other. All in fun, but not fun for the poor old fungi!

Calibrated and On Course…

June 17, 2015
FloraMacroSoftware
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Well at some point when printing photographs you become concerned about the differences in printed media to the scene as edited on the screen. To that end I’ve bought a device for calibrating the monitor. To be able to see the difference I went and had a few recent shots printed at my usual Photography Store, and brought them back to compare again before calibrating. Upon doing so I must say I was concerned that in particular these shots looked considerably less vibrant than I expected.

Interestingly after calibration there was little difference between what I’d had printed and what I saw on the screen. In summary that means I will have to re-edit most prints that I’ve marked for printing or have up for sale. But enough talk, let’s look at examples.

Here is the first print. After the Calibration there was a definite correlation between the screen and the physical print from my photography store print.

Puffball

Then follows the same photo, re-edited after calibration to be about what it appeared on screen to me BEFORE calibration. There’s considerable difference, and although I’ve yet to have this printed, I am fairly confident now that the physical print will match much more closely from now on.

Puffball Pre Calibrated Monitor to Printer

I’m looking forward to reprinting some of my favourites! And, I’m actually glad I’ve yet to make a sale so far from the business, because now I’m much more confident in the quality of the print that someone will be buying. I know now that they will be getting my best.

Stacking It On…

May 23, 2015
FloraMacro
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More practise with the Focus Stacking technique in mind this afternoon. Had Stefan drop over and while he was experimenting with his new Fisheye lens, I was crawling on the ground with the 200mm Micro and mini tripod while lying on a blanket to keep the dampness off myself. The toughest parts so far are making sure to overlap the DoF outer range, and getting the shots done in a quick enough time so lighting and other exposure factors in the environment don’t change too noticeably.

So for a couple of hours shooting this afternoon, which admittedly was pleasurable in itself, I really only came out with 5 shots overall that I’m happy about the end result.

Cold Autumn Afternoon

May 22, 2015
FloraMacroSoftwareUncategorized
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Cold Autumn afternoons are still full of opportunities if only one can muster the effort to get out there with the Camera and seek the beauty that’s present even in such weather. So while I’m out shooting in the backyard, the Furbags come out for some exercise instead of getting fat lying on the slab in the study!

This afternoon I had my first real session of practising shooting with Focus Stacking in mind for the shots later. This is a technique I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. Today I took shots with that technique in mind for the post processing. I have to say that my first impressions have left me in awe of the opportunities this opens for my Macro shots in the future.

This first shot

is around about what I’d normally at F8 using the Nikkor Micro 200mm fairly close to the subject.

This next shot is a “composite” of six shots with slightly different focal points and all exposure factors the same.

Of course there’s a nifty bit of software involved to make this happen, called Helicon Focus, not cheap but works damn well. The above is not necessarily a great shot or perfect image, but it’s enough to demonstrate the technique. Over time I’ll become more practised and the shots will become better. But still a good afternoon’s work was done. I’ve some others to work on later, this was just the first to confirm how to make it work.

Maintenance Time…

May 16, 2015
Close-upFaunaFurbags
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Well I was up serious about an early morning shoot to get back into the swing of things with a tryout of the Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 lens. But after a 5 minute wander outside at 05:30 I decided my cold infested lungs that felt like I had razor blades & ball bearings in the bottom of them were not up to the challenge. I’d stay inside and come up with something else. So I decided to do what I’d been intending to do all week since the arrival of said addition to the kit. This was create a new car kit, and review everything since I’d originally put it together as quite a few things have changed.

Gone is the D3100 that was tucked in there, I gave that away to a friend a couple of months ago after getting the D810. The D7000 now becomes the all reliable “yes you have a camera in the car”! It’s had a sensor clean, and I’ve given it the small backpack I was using as I’ve recently purchased a new manfrotto pack with more room for the larger lenses I’ve gained over recent times. So it was a shuffle of camera, lenses, cards, batteries, flash, remotes, and other peripheral gear between small pack, vest for other gear, and some for the larger back.

The D600 got a sensor clean, it’s needed one for a while, but finding quality cleaning gear cheaply is not easy. However it came up magnificently again, and is shooting as it did when I bought it. Those who know about the D600 know it was notorious very quickly for a defect where lubricant collected on the sensor. I had hoped I’d bought from a batch where the problem had been “silently” fixed as Nikon seems to be somewhat fond of doing in recent times. But in the last couple of months it seemed not so at some point it was going to require regular cleaning. I’ll see how it goes, it’s still a great camera despite this manufacturing defect. I took a chance, I was aware of the issue, and it seemed like as time went on your chances of getting one that didn’t have the issue seemed better. But that’s the crumbling cookie as they say. Anyway after the clean I had just enough light to run a quick test of the Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 and see what I was paying for in a big way.

And the attached Tiggakat is a nice start.

Autumn is Indeed Here…

April 19, 2015
Close-upFlora
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Wild and erratic temperatures, and from calm to gust in minutes. “Old Man” Winter is not far away, but there are “strands” of time standing still.

A Moment that Needs No Words…

March 10, 2015
Close-upFaunaFurbagsHandheld
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I have nothing to add that this photo doesn’t say without me.

Real Glass at Last…

February 28, 2015
Close-upFaunaMacro
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Well I know I will pull better with this as I go, but I will definitely say I’m happy with the Glass. My Nikkor AF Micro 200mm F4D IF-ED arrived yesterday. It’s going to prove magnificent with more practise. The focus is wonderful and sensitive, feels responsive and solid. A pity I was lacking subjects today, light a bit on the poor side while I was trying to get used to it.

Still I was lucky enough to see some native bees, Nomia I think, out the front yard for something different. Challenging shoot though because the little fellows were continually moving. I had to open the aperture enough to be able to get a high enough shutter to freeze the action, and balance precariously on the tripod to be close enough to make it worth the shot!

The Cat Made Me Do It…

February 17, 2015
FurbagsMacro
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Well if yesterday was spoiling myself, today is definitely spoiling myself with double spoil! I just bought a AF Nikkor Micro 200mm F4 IF-ED! This definitely means I won’t be buying another Macro lens in the foreseeable future.

I have nothing else to say except “the Cat made me do it”.