Signs of spring

 I love spring, with its ever changing weather throwing snowstorms, rain showers and increasing sunshine, combining to give us rainbows, it seems unpredictable but we know that it heralds the promise of things to come. With frogs starting mating in our ponds, birds displaying comical courtship behaviour and other wildlife coming out of hibernation. The arrival of Hellebores, Snowdrops, Crocuses, Daffodils, Dwarf Irises certainly brighten up February and March for me and give me plenty to keep myself occupied whilst waiting for spring blossoms.

 This year I have discovered a new favourite Crocus -"Firefly" with its fresh colours, a sunny yellow centre and delicate pale lilac and white petals. Who could not be delighted with these?

Whilst its been less than favourable conditions outside for photographing plants in the garden ( too windy) I am taking advantage of our mini studio in the dining room and trying out the new backdrops Ive made, so spoilt for choice with the combinations between plants and backgrounds. This has resulted in experimenting with colour palettes and making some surprising discoveries on what works. 

The image below incorporated 5 of my textures/backdrop images.

Our outhouse has become a great holding zone for plants that are not quite ready to be planted out, or flowers that I am trying to make last longer in a cool room so that I can eek out as much use of them as possible. It looks like a cross between a florists and a garden centre with 3 types of Tulips, Crocus, Snowdrops, Primula, Hellebores, Lilies and more.

 So I am starting out with close ups and aim to include a few still life creations as I go. Below is a Dwarf Iris photographed against one of my new out of focus backdrops.

I actually had my 2nd trip out to a local nature reserve a few days ago, just a couple of miles away from home, so took the camera along too. Unfortunately my mobility scooter decided to choose that day to stop working, so we were not there as long as I hoped. I did capture some spring Catkins though and opted for creating  interesting bokeh with Catkin silhouettes in the sunshine. I think these work nicely in black and white too.

Another subject caught my eye as we passed Bullrushes with their brown velvety heads split, dispersing their seeds in the wind, set against a backdrop of sparkling waters. This gave further options for producing eye catching bokeh. I actually photographed these in black and white for the forms and shapes, but I think they work well in colour too.

 

 I recently watched a very informative webinar by Guy Edwards on fungi photography, where he explained how to achieve the silhouette shapes within bokeh - something I dabbled with last year and have attempted again, more successfully in the last week or two. This was the perfect opportunity to try the technique, you can see it in the above Catkins images and some of the images below.

 I had a brief play in the garden with the bokeh technique too, it is easier to make it work in larger outdoor spaces with bokeh through vegetation and trees though. So far it seems to work better with a longer macro lens than a shorter one, I think the blur from the item causing the silhouette is too pronounced in a shorter lens, it becomes less obvious using my 150mm. I am keen to try a longer lens to see the results. You can see from  the Grape hyacinth image below how the snowdrop used has caused quite a distracting pale blur. The bokeh was from nearby vegetation sprayed with water, hence smaller bokeh, in a larger open space where the bokeh can be further away it becomes larger, making it a bit easier.

This one is a Snakes head Fritillary using fern for the bokeh. I stuck with F2.8 for the bokeh which wasn't ideal for getting the flower fully in focus, but it was just an experiment  and there were limited options space wise and where the sun hits the garden. Definitely something I will practice more of.

Below I used my Meye Gorlitz Primoplan vintage lens plus an app on my camera which produces rays of light. With a little editing. I have added a selection of other images I have taken in the last couple of weeks.

Lockdown photography part 4 - focus stacking macro work

My Focus stacking journey 

  I have always been drawn to extreme macro photography images, revelling in their fantastic intricate details and the ability to view magnified subjects that we cant truly appreciate by eye at life size. Things like a butterflies wing, the eye of a bee or fly, the refraction of a flower within a water droplet, a snowflake. I also love to see the world from different points of view - getting down low amongst foliage to capture mushrooms, insects, flowers and a more recent interest - slime moulds. I enjoy experimenting with a wide variety of techniques from using vintage lenses like Helios and Meyer Gorlitz Primoplan, filters such as Lensbaby Omni filters or crystals, sparkling fibres, shooting through items like gauze - the list is endless. I always try all techniques in macro and close up and I focus stacking macro/extreme macro has been on my to do list for ages.

One of my first ever stacked images - taken March 2009 - droplets on a peacock feather using a Canon 300D and Canon 60mm lens

Below- Another of my early stacked images of droplet refractions taken using Canon 300D plus Canon 60mm macro lens and possible macro filter added. June 2009

Below is a handheld stack of about ten images obtained using a Sony A7ii plus Sony 90mm macro lens plus 32mm extension tubes plus Raynox 250. Jan 2021

The last time I tried focus stacking macro images must be about 10 years and I didn't exactly make a proper informed effort. Since then it has been something I have fancied trying but never got around to, partly because I did not have the equipment ( macro rail) nor a camera that takes focus shift images to stack. More recently my partner turned to focus stacking macro images and is building up his equipment and set ups. So I ended up borrowing one of his macro rails which allows me to take images by altering the focal plane by the turn of a dial. I don't have a camera that takes multiple images focus shifted so it was a case of getting everything set up with camera on a mini table top, sturdy tripod, ensuring my subject was placed well and would not move at all, attaching my shutter release cable to avoid any movement then taking the individual images - turning the dial on the macro rail a fraction, waiting a few seconds to ensure no movement, pressing shutter, then repeating until the whole subject was photographed. 

Below is one of my stacked images from 2012 - I manually stacked these myself in photoshop.

Focusing is key here, I had to use manual focus and took advantage of my cameras peak focusing feature so I could see which areas where in focus using my live view. But despite the painstakingly slow and careful procedure I found I was still getting the tiniest movement from adjusting the macro rail - whether this was due to my tripod as well I am unsure. So on stacking my images in Helicon software there were just too many errors/blurred sections. I found this whole method just was not precise enough with both the distance between each image and with the movement due to my set up. After numerous attempts I found I just was not getting the results I wanted. I did also try the handheld stacking method of setting my camera on high speed burst as I slowly rocked forward - this gave some reasonable results for larger macro subjects when a smaller aperture was used.

Below is an image of a Parrot waxcap mushroom - about 2 inches tall, I took just 10 images and stacked them in Helicon, with a fair bit of fixing in photoshop.

These Tulip stamens were taken with Sony A7ii plus 90mm macro lens plus 20+12 macro extension tubes, plus a Raynox 250. Each image is created by stacks of 36 or 38 images stacked in Helicon. I was using a manual focus rail here and there were a few gaps, artifacts and blurred areas that I needed to correct in photoshop, despite trying different settings with the three different rendering methods in Helicon. I was reasonably pleased with one of them but still found that the detail and accuracy was lacking - I want to produce really fine detail. Lighting wise I was using my 2 Studio lights with various diffusers/softbox/white brolly and a speedlight with a mag mod sphere to diffuse.

Below- Taken with a macro lens plus two macro extension tubes plus a Raynox 250. 18 images stacked to get the whole drop in focus. A tiny droplet on a tendril, placed in front of an Anemone.

More images from using Sony A7, Sony 90mm macro lens plus Extension tubes ( 12+20) plus Raynox 250

In the meantime my partner was constructing his own set up with a better macro rail which he attached to a piece of a heavy wooden block to help it stay stable, this kept his camera absolutely still. He also purchased a little microscope stand which adjusts height with the tiniest fraction with the turn of a wheel and gave it a diy platform for his subjects to sit on - this came with two tiny lights attached to bendy arms. Michael owns a Z6 which can be set to take up to 300 images using a focus shift system, moving the focus a miniscule amount between each one - all easily set up with just a few clicks. He purchased a few tiny continuous lights from IKEA at just £2 each, on bendy arms, allowing flexibility - these just plug into our phone charger. With a little ingenuity, a few pieces of paper, and polystyrene cups the light can be diffused. Michael was getting some fantastic results so I asked him to teach me how to use his camera and set up - he has a few different options with lenses, reversing lenses, extension tubes, Raynox filter and another super macro lens - a Componon S50mm 2,8 which he uses reversed coupled with a 70-300 lens or macro lens . Images below show my partners set ups and equipment that I borrowed ( just quick phone snaps to give an idea)

It only took a couple of attempts using Michaels kits to get the hang of it, and whilst using the tiny continuous lights works, it does not give the effects that I can obtain using multiple of camera flashes so this is an avenue I want to explore with Michaels equipment. I know I can get my studio lights and our various speedlights working with his camera, however Michael found that they only fired three times when he attempted using them with his focus stacking set up - so we need to get this working, with intervals allowing flash and triggers to recharge - although I am unsure how they will cope with 300 shots! But this is my aim lighting wise.

And a crop to show details at 100%

Above is a Tulip stamen only my 3rd attempt using Michaels camera and focus shift option, a stack of 300 images taken with my partners Z6 plus 105 macro lens, extension tubes and Raynox filter - I probably only needed about 180 images. I placed a miniature daffodil about an inch or two behind the stamen to get the lovely glowing yellows. I used F8 to get the best sharpness from the lens, which gave enough detail to aid stacking whilst still giving a blurred out of focus backdrop. Stacked in Helicon, then minimal cleaning up in photoshop.

Below is a photo of a Scarab beetle approximately 1cm across. It is a stack of 380 images stacked in Helicon. F8, ISO 400, shutter 1/5. Nikon Z6 plus 105 macro lens and extension tubes ( 29mm) plus Raynox 250 filter.

I pretty happy with the two results above, the level of detail obtained using this equipment is phenomenal. I need to learn how to get the best out of Helicon by experimenting with the 3 rendering options and altering smoothing/radius, plus I need to work on correcting and fringeing and artifacts that are produced. I may try a trial of Zerene stacking software to see how effective it is and if it produces any less fringeing etc. The option of using Michaels equipment has allowed me to improve on any results that I have been able to produce previously and I feel like I am getting closer to producing the image quality that I am after. My next steps are to practice and to work on lighting and improve in editing.

Below is the eye of a Preying mantis ( I keep them as pets and this one died of old age last year - I kept it to photograph) Unfortunately my stack stopped after 80 images so it is incomplete and something I need to retry. Equipment used is Nikon Z6 plus extension tubes, a 70-300 lens plus a reversed Componon S 50mm lens as close as I could get. Definately room for improvement, not concentrating on composition, simply practicing getting extreme macro.

 

This last image is my favourite yet, taken with Michaels camera and focus shift option, a stack of 180 images - Z6 plus 105 macro lens, extension tubes and Raynox filter, F11, ISO 400, shutter 1/15 plus 6 lights. It took hours in photoshop correcting the many minor problems from stacking in Helicon.

Lockdown photography - part 2

Ideas to photograph at home

 A few more ideas to get the creative juices flowing whilst we are spending most of our time at home. My brain isn't functioning well enough to go into detail of how to do each one so please excuse that, but hopefully the ideas will prompt further exploration and search engines will help you find full instructions. I have included some useful links to help.

Liquids

 Oil on water

This is a fairly easy one, although can be a bit fiddly setting up and getting everything just right- take a glass container such as a casserole dish and stand it across two stacks of books, with a gap underneath ( so it looks like a bridge)  or other sturdy props so that you can place something colourful underneath ( I use a tablet with colourful photo). Or use a tall glass/measuring jug and fill it with water and stand that on your chosen colourful backdrop. Once everything is steady and you feel you have the right height of water to get the background you desire then pop in drops of oil and stir gently. Make sure your glass container and stirring item are super clean with no dust. Photograph from above- a tripod can be useful for this and takes a good deal of work out of it - setting the focus up and locking it, then shooting on live view means you can do this more comfortably. If using a macro lens and getting quite close then you can often get away with closing down your aperture to get the drops of oil nicely in focus whilst the backdrop is out of focus due to  close up work. It will take trial and error to get your distances and amounts of water right. One drop of washing up liquid added to the water when everything is still and set up will help with your droplets.

This image below was photographed by a lovely online friend Kathryn Willett - she used an ipad below to get this look. ( Kathryn also produces wonderful animal photography)

Soap bubbles/soap suds - lit up to show irridescent rainbow colours - here is a link to show how to obtain these colour abstract images. Soap bubble technique

Or try photographing bubbles full of smoke by holding an incense stick underneath the bubble blower that comes with a little bottle of kids bubbles liquid. Smoking bubbles  Smoking bubbles 2

Refractions in Droplets on wire or stem/flower 



Raindrops or spray on glass ( or other surfaces) - Handy as textures but also can make wonderful abstracts. This one below is just water sprayed on glass with flowers underneath.



Droplet Splash or droplet collisions
I've not done this in about ten years, so excuse the low res pics. You don't need expensive equipment - some aquarium tubing and a valve to sort drops out, its not so easy getting the collisions this way but I did manage some. Best to read up how to do this for good results - I used to set up in a dark room to avoid ambient light causing issues and adding various substances to your water/liquid can help get more interesting results ( I seem to remember a lot of people used to use something called Rinse aid). A couple of flashes that work at 1/128 speed are very handy too. Its fun and addictive. Try using a a CD for colourful reflections for something unusual or add milk to the water dripping into the bowl. I used to challenge an old friend to produce more creative droplet collisions giving him the idea set ups as he was so much better at it then me - from wine glasses, coffee cups to a boiled egg shell or mushroom. 






Liquids jumping due to vibrations
Another thing Ive not tried myself but would love to. If you type in "Paint on speaker " into your search engine or youtube you will get to see pics and videos. They're very eye catching.


Liquids in bottles or glasses and dripping ink/paint/milk into water
Check out the wonderful creative splash art by Mark Hunter for some creative inspiration using glasses, bottles and much more Mark A Hunter Photography He has also put together info on mixing liquids for photography liquid photography



Ice cubes or containers of ice with items frozen within



Reflections - either at home or on a walk



Items being dropped into water or actually submerged in water - this is a really old pic - I will post a better one soon


Abstract images using ink/paint and alcohol ink or nail varnish floating on water
Make it rain - spray water in a scene and capture the droplets falling either frozen still or using long exposure
Droplets on top of a CD ( Another old pic from about ten years ago just to give an idea) 


Freezing bubbles in the snow or in the freezer can give fun effects
How to photograph bubbles in the snow