Violet Ground Beetle (Carabus violaceus)

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georgedingwall
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Violet Ground Beetle (Carabus violaceus)

Post by georgedingwall »

Hi there,

I found this dead beetle outside my backdoor last night. It is about 1 inch long. The small white objects stuck to it look like eggs under the microscope, but they might also be fungal spores.

It's made from a stack of 13 images using the new version of Helicon Focus V4. This version seems much more accurate and works a lot faster than the previous version. It also has a much better interface.

Image

Nikon D200 + Sigma 150mm Macro
1/250 sec at f11
3 flash heads
13 frames stacked in Helicon Focus 4
Finished in Photoshop CS2.
George Dingwall

Invergordon, Scotland

http://www.georgedingwall.co.uk/

Carl_Constantine
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Post by Carl_Constantine »

Boy he sure looks mean. Hate to meat him in a dark alley.

You said the image was created from 13 stacked images. did you take 13 pics or something with different DOF settings? Can you explain this a bit more and why you would do this?
Carl B. Constantine
http://photo-op.ca/

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georgedingwall
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Post by georgedingwall »

Hi Carl,
Carl_Constantine wrote:Boy he sure looks mean. Hate to meat him in a dark alley.

You said the image was created from 13 stacked images. did you take 13 pics or something with different DOF settings? Can you explain this a bit more and why you would do this?
I set up the camera with the closest point of the beetle in focus and the lens set to it closest point of focus. So the jaws parts are at 1 to 1 on the sensor.

I then took 13 individual images of the beetle, moving the point of focus back between each image until I had taken a shot with the farthest part of the body of the beetle being in focus. I decided to leave the back pair of legs out of focus.

I adjusted the focus manually by turning the focus ring on the lens.

This gives me 13 images each with a part of the beetle in focus.

I then use Helicon Focus V4 to stack these 13 images. The program builds a composite image from the "in focus" part of each image.

The result is an image with an almost unlimited depth of field. The jaws of the beetle are at life size on the sensor and the depth of field on this image is approximately 3/4 of an inch. In the raw image, the depth of field of the first image in the sequence starts at the tip of the jaws and does not extend all the way to back of the head section.

So by stacking the image you are achieving a depth of field not normally possible in a single exposure.

I'm not sure if I used all the correct technical terms, but I hope this clarifies things a bit.
George Dingwall

Invergordon, Scotland

http://www.georgedingwall.co.uk/

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Beetleman
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Post by Beetleman »

Very nice stack George and a very beautiful beetle. I have been trying to do some stacks but none have come out good enough to post yet. My camera has a tricky manual focus (does not use a focus ring) (I want a new camera :cry: )
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
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Canon PowerShot S1 IS with Canon 250D closeup lens

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Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

Fantastic image George! :D A lot of folks are using these stacking programs now and are getting, like yours, excellent results with them. I have not as yet used them, guess I just old fashioned. :lol:
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Carl_Constantine
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Post by Carl_Constantine »

The only downside to this approach is a live bug would rarely cooperate enough to take a lot of shots of it but I see the appeal for macro objects that don't move a lot.

Thanks for the description George.
Carl B. Constantine
http://photo-op.ca/

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georgedingwall
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Post by georgedingwall »

Hi Carl,
Carl_Constantine wrote:The only downside to this approach is a live bug would rarely cooperate enough to take a lot of shots of it but I see the appeal for macro objects that don't move a lot.

Thanks for the description George.
I think there are enough bugs in the world that a few will not be missed to enable this sort of image to be taken. I'm sure I must kill hundreds of insects every time I cut the grass. I would not knowingly kill anything that is endangered.

I also take some single frame images of insects. I'm happy to use both methods. Here is a link to one such image taken handheld in my garden this summer.

http://www.georgedingwall.co.uk/images/Fly_03.jpg

There are sometimes when the shallow depth of field is quite appealing.

Bye for now.
George Dingwall

Invergordon, Scotland

http://www.georgedingwall.co.uk/

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