ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Friday 8 July 2011

THE HEAD IS SPINNING (08/07/11)

Boys and toys, old man and toy in this case. Today is showery so I played with the macro plate and focussed stacked so many images for crystal clear shots………..now all I have to do is persuade a Dragonfly to sit still for an hour.

Here are the results of todays labour………………………….

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA              This didn’t work out too well but I did manage to fit the laundry in. I have no idea what it is…………..Help!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA                 This is a Clover of some sort.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA                 And again………………I’m pleased with the DOF here.. ….The stem could have been included but taking twenty to thirty shots of the same subject makes my head spin.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA                 Again I’m afraid I don’t know what it is………I do like this one………..perchance it could do with a bit of a contrast shove but it’s okay.

All these images are built up in Helicon Focus………no haloing, no strange artefacts, I’m happy. I shot in JPEG and saved the files as TIFFs before dropping them back in Photoshop for sharpening and other malarkey.

As I said big kids toys……………you all have a great weekend.

All the very best.

19 comments:

  1. Brilliant Adrian. Worth every last brass farthing. You've cracked it. I'm really jealous of those results.
    Fascinated by the video clips. Is that a feature in Photoshop?

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  2. Hi Adrian, Lovely photos. Top one is greater burnet Poterium sanguisorba (indicator plant of old, unimproved grassland), I think the bottom one is field scabious.

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  3. Beautiful flowers, well clever Adrian.

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  4. John, it is a balls aching job, good for wet days!
    They were shot at 2mm intervals at f8, with mirror locked up on the plate and cable release. Next time 1mm. This software is brilliant. I have bitten the bullet and bought Helicon that does the 3D.....and animations. For you it can focus step Cannon and Nikon if you plug into the computer. Olympus is excluded so it's twiddling a £75.00p knob for me. Live view helps but it does take ages.
    Remember? A year ago I was pleased with a Biro!
    How do you get Youtube to show full screen.

    Phil many thanks for the IDs My wee Collins field guide is not good enough. I picked the flowers and shot them in the van...........something I never normally do. I do put insects in the fridge, I think this macro plate is the way to go. Again many thanks.

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  5. Pics are simply gorgeous as always!

    Have a lovely weekend.

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  6. Bob, not me but software. Composition flies out of the window when I start concentrating.

    Cluadia, you have a good weekend. I am enjoying the Macro playing.

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  7. I wonder how or where you pick up the code for the YouTube videos.

    If you go to your YouTube account and click on the video you want it should play and under it will be some buttons.

    Click on SHARE then click on EMBED
    Under that a box should appear with the code to copy. That should include the word 'allowfullscreen'.

    When I went to your latest videos on YT it worked just as I set out above and included the fullscreen instruction.

    Hope this makes a modicum of sense to someone,

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  8. Thanks John, I'm a dumb cluck. took me ages to get Youtube to upload. Good it works. The video is in the wrong CODEC and the wrong size but I'll sort it given time. Many thanks.

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  9. Click on one of the outline boxes under the box with the code to choose your size, or put the width in the right hand box and it will fill in the height - which is what I do for wide screen videos. I enter 500 for the width.

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  10. Excellent shots Adrian. That bit of kit is producing very impressive results.

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  11. Truly astounding. Well they astounded me. And I don't think I'm an easy person truly to astound (note careful avoidance of split infinitive so as not to corrupt your blog!).

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  12. That's quite an amazing bit of polishing. You have far more patience than I, Adrian.

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  13. I have to say that this gives a completely new dimension to a clover flower i have to say! Love it!

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  14. Well Adrian, I don't know how you did this but I think that macro lens is the big discovery of the century ...ha ha
    Magnificent images!
    If I could have this kind of lens for sure I will quit my job and run away on the hills to catch all the dragonflies.Forever.
    Sorry for my english, again!
    I wish you a happy youtube time!
    My best regards from Romania!

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  15. Amazing images...it's a nice skill you have with your kit.

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  16. Awesome images Adrian, The method of macro photography is just amazing. You go my friend, have fun and keep playing.

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  17. John, I'll try and sort it today.

    Keith it is good but only for static subjects. Where's the fly spray?

    Graham, thanks......it takes an age but with practise I'll speed the job up.

    Hilary, almost anything beats walking in the rain...........Almost!

    Dee Bee, I enjoy looking at things close up. Amazing how beautiful common things become.

    Wind, thank you. Next time I do this I'll take a picture of the set up. The Macro plate would'nt work for Dragonflies as it takes about half an hour to get all the images.

    Andrew, it is an excellent aid to sharp images.

    Horst, thank you........I'll keep playing.

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  18. Wow! When I have finally got the hang of HDR I'll have to have a go at this! Don't know if I can stretch to both a macro plate and Helicon though. Just found this article (http://www.laurieknight.net/article/view/7) which compares several different packages. I might start by giving "CombineZP" a try.

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  19. George, John Charles at Midmarsh Jottings is brilliant at this. He builds rigs from old computer disk stepping motors. I have to go manual cos I'm thick. John can understand Combine but it is a pain to me. Helicon is free for a month and a year ago focus stacking provoked interest........not much, mind. I got a biro in focus end to end...........almost. A year on... a macro plate and a super lens. These will print A3 or even biggerer. they aren't cropped. I'm still learning. Slow learner..Nah! Special needs.

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