VARIETY. (04/03/14)

I have been busy stacking again. It’s sunshine and showers here. The wind is back and the showers have hail and sleet in them; not nice at all.

Yesterday evening I went down to the loch for the sunset. It was middling. An HDR panorama. Nine shots in three groups of three. I shot these in landscape, normally I shoot in portrait but speed is of the essence in fast changing light.

This young Polish lass was struggling and came to ask for the loan of my tripod. By the time I’d taken the plate of my camera and put it on hers it was getting a bit too dark. The camera was a beautiful job. A little Fujifilm XE-1, it looked like a Leica. It was slow to operate as half the menus were hidden away and it didn’t have a view finder. I must be getting old when I admire a camera before thinking about a twenty something girl.

I have been stacking this morning, I have another twenty days free on Zerene Stacker. Time will tell if I can learn it fast enough.

  Scots Pine…..Pinus whiskius……I meant Pinus sylvestris. 12 shots at f9. Canon 100mm macro. 1:1 magnification. It’s sprayed with glycerine. Glycerine looks like water droplets but is stickier and doesn't go everywhere. That is the theory. I’m sticking to my desk, my mouse and the key board. I’ll use water next time.

This is the same thing but sixteen shots.

   For those that have a Canon this is the free EOS Utilities screen. It is three screens which shuffle about quite happily. Several software programmes have gone this way including Photomatix. I suppose it could be a glitch on my computer. This is wonderful for any close up work as it gives a full screen view of what the camera is seeing. I can adjust all camera settings through it and it will focus in little, minute or miniscule steps. Not with the MP-E though as that is like all Canons best lenses manual only. Nikon do a similar thing but I seem to recall it isn’t free. Helicon is about the same price as Zerene but they also chuck in tethered camera software. Helicon will accept RAW camera data but the algorithms are not quite as polished. If you are interested free trial both. Combine ZP was the original freeware but is a nightmare to use and I have heard it is no longer supported.

     There is an awful lot to learn when it comes to image stacking. John at MIDMARSH JOTTINGS mentioned a little row of red dots. I haven’t had this artefact before but on this image got it twice. The yellow arrow is pointing at them. I was using LEDs today and wonder if they are to blame. I’ve never noticed them with strobe lighting. I processed this using the depth map algorithm and the Pyramid algorithm I can then paste the best bits of both into one image or thought I could…see the green arrow. The chap on the video tutorial just paints away and bingo the job is perfect. I’ll have another look at the video tutorials. Haloing and shadowing are always a problem. I remember a few years ago focus stacking a Biro. It took all day, almost as long as stitching a panorama and picking anchor points. How times have changed.

Shot at f5.6 just to let a bit more light in. Canon 100mm with a 36mm extension tube so larger than 1:1. It’s thirty images and this piece of moss is 3/4” by 1/4”. I would have popped it on a cigarette packet but got abuse last time and Philip Morris still haven’t offered a years supply in recompense so bugger them.

I think it is Saint Catherine's Moss but the leaf edges look a bit smooth.

I went to the cafe for breakfast, a large Scottish full of fat. Beautiful it is. Whilst waiting for Kath the cook I downloaded Twelve Years a Slave onto my Kindle..£0.49p. YORKSHIRE PUDDING thinks it is worth a read but he is educated and can quote Charlotte Bronte. I have tried reading Charlotte’s scribbling and never got more than a page or two. I love D. H. Lawrence I read the dirty bits at fourteen, few and far between they were. The lads at Lady Manners Bakewell could have done with far more dirty bits and less waffle. I’ve read all his books at least twice since and never tire of his writing. He was a proper author like Ken Follett, Bernard Cornwall and Frances Garrood. The latter is not very prolific but when she does get her arse in gear the results speak for themselves; she is still alive so I’m living in hope of a good read.

Have fun.