Bart_van_der_Wolf
pro member
Hi all,
I've recently decided to get (even more) serious about delving into the micro-cosmos, and I acquired the above mentioned lens. While familiar with the specifics for macro photography, I also anticipated that it would require some 'getting used to' that particular lens and its particularities.
I also knew beforehand that the limited DOF would pose some challenges, but there are software solutions that allow to tackle that.
So, I confronted both challenges, and these are my first results:
This is a composite of 6 images at different focal positions, blended together with "Helicon Focus". Because the total DOF at the optimal aperture (f/8.0) is only something like 0.14 mm (or less, depending on several factors), it requires the stacking of multiple focus plane shots to get a reasonable DOF coverage, and Helicon Focus is one of those applications that makes life a lot easier if you have to do a lot of focus stacking.
The tiny seeds shown (I've yet to identify the weed/plant species), imaged at almost 5x true size on sensor array, measure something like 1.4 millimetres in length and 0.31 mm in width. The hairs will allow for airborne transportation.
As for the artistic merit, the seeds reminded me of the Sentinels in the "Matrix" sequel, so I deliberately chose the layout as shown.
Another example of a focus stacked image is the following composite of 17 images:
This is quite a dirty version of a meat fly, dirty due to the fact that it was dead and recovered from a corner of a room that was over-due to be cleaned ...
I deliberately limited the potentially full (stacked) DOF coverage, because I wanted to simulate a 'fly in flight' situation (maybe I should also add some motion blur).
This micro-cosmos is almost as (if not more) challenging as the super-tele range. The slightest movement is magnified multifold, and there is very little light available at these extreme magnifications (5:1 magnification leaves only 1/36th of the incident amount of light), so a dedicated flash system is almost un-avoidable.
Bart
I've recently decided to get (even more) serious about delving into the micro-cosmos, and I acquired the above mentioned lens. While familiar with the specifics for macro photography, I also anticipated that it would require some 'getting used to' that particular lens and its particularities.
I also knew beforehand that the limited DOF would pose some challenges, but there are software solutions that allow to tackle that.
So, I confronted both challenges, and these are my first results:

This is a composite of 6 images at different focal positions, blended together with "Helicon Focus". Because the total DOF at the optimal aperture (f/8.0) is only something like 0.14 mm (or less, depending on several factors), it requires the stacking of multiple focus plane shots to get a reasonable DOF coverage, and Helicon Focus is one of those applications that makes life a lot easier if you have to do a lot of focus stacking.
The tiny seeds shown (I've yet to identify the weed/plant species), imaged at almost 5x true size on sensor array, measure something like 1.4 millimetres in length and 0.31 mm in width. The hairs will allow for airborne transportation.
As for the artistic merit, the seeds reminded me of the Sentinels in the "Matrix" sequel, so I deliberately chose the layout as shown.
Another example of a focus stacked image is the following composite of 17 images:

This is quite a dirty version of a meat fly, dirty due to the fact that it was dead and recovered from a corner of a room that was over-due to be cleaned ...
I deliberately limited the potentially full (stacked) DOF coverage, because I wanted to simulate a 'fly in flight' situation (maybe I should also add some motion blur).
This micro-cosmos is almost as (if not more) challenging as the super-tele range. The slightest movement is magnified multifold, and there is very little light available at these extreme magnifications (5:1 magnification leaves only 1/36th of the incident amount of light), so a dedicated flash system is almost un-avoidable.
Bart