Horsefly

[Charles Krebs]

Just got back from a few days in the Olympic Mtns where it seems like I was constantly surrounded by a frenzied swarm of these horseflies. So I took the opportunity to photograph these "head-shots".

[piotr]

Charlie,

Beautiful subject and composition. Amazing details. Incredible pictures. They make me want to touch the fly (even though it is very nasty).

Have you used 3D stacking program here?

Piotr
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Piotr

[Wim van Egmond]

Great!!!! Nice even illumination! I guess you used a tripod and natural light? Or a very diffused flash. I am curious because I am experimenting with flash but I think I have to get a more even illumination for that!

Wim

[S. Alden]

Whoa Charlies, that is up close and personal. Beatutiful images and love the detail.
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Sue Alden
Administrator
Repost of my images are welcome

[Charles Krebs]

They were made from "stacks" using Helicon Focus 4. I photographed them in the shade on a very clear day at about 6000 feet elevation, and the light was all from the blue sky. (I mention the conditions because with film they would have turned out completely blue unless I had used a very large amount of warming filtration. Digital sure makes it easy to handle light that would have been tough with film.)

Top two are with the Canon 65mm MP-E. The bottom is with a forty year old Novoflex 35mm (focal length) macro lens. Canon 5D camera.

[Wim van Egmond]

Charlie, I already suspected it was made in the shade. This type of light is impossible to make with a flash, except perhaps in a studio:) It is a brilliant result! The great thing about Helicon focus is that you don't have to close the aperture that much. so you can work without a flash. But of course on a tripod. I guess there should not be too much wind and the insect should sit still as well.

Wim

[Beetleman]

Unbeleavable Shots Charles...razor sharp....every hair in place...you are the "MASTER"
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Canon PowerShot S1 IS with Canon 250D closeup lens

[paul]

Absolutely stunning!
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[rjlittlefield]

Charlie,

Wow! To say the least...

Are you willing to divulge technique? How many frames per stack?

--Rik
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Reworks and reposts of my images in this forum are always welcome, as are constructive critiques.

[DaveW]

"Are you willing to divulge technique? How many frames per stack?

--Rik"

Also how much do you move the focus each frame and how quickly were you able to re-focus and take the shots? Obviously you cannot use the camera's motor to take a series of shots because you could not re-focus in between.

Perhaps we ought to get onto the major camera manufacturers to provide stepping autofocus combined with motordrive to automatically take stacks in a fraction of a second before the insect can move! I suppose if somebody could come up with a motorised focusing slide that started when the camera shutter was first triggered and moved the camera slightly through a series of motor driven shots it would perform the same function. I believe a motor driven stage is used in microscopy for this purpose? However it does not matter wether the object or camera is moved, the result is the same.

DaveW

[DaveW]

There is an article here on the subject of stacking for both microscopy and photomacrography, also some of the software listed is free!

http://www.stereo3dgallery.net/ImageStacks.shtm

DaveW

[Charles Krebs]

Rik... I checked and the number of frames used were 28, 15, and 8 respectively. I used that focus rail/focus rack set up I showed you a while back, with a flat platform out front (at C) and a "doped up" horsefly. (Actually I assembled it with these images in mind). I have put a picture of it here for others to see if interested. As it turned out I changed focus with the lens focus ring. Even though the light was very even, if I changed camera/subject distance with either rack I noticed the colors in the eye facets changed a little and I was worried it wouldn't stack properly. The biggest challange was getting a smooth series of shots with about 150 of this guys buddies buzzing around me trying to extract some of my blood (not to mention the mosquitoes!)

DaveW... this technique is used extensively in microscopy. You can see a two much smaller flies done with a microscope and stacking
here and here. Alan Hadley's CombineZ program is free and quite good. (Dramatically improved in the past year or so). With version 3 and now version 4 Helicon Focus offer a very nice solution at a reasonable price. Others programs "designed" for microscope use tend to be a part of a comprehensive software package with many other functions, and can cost well over $1000. (and for my purposes the "stacking" capability is not any better). I use both CombineZ and Helicon, as one will sometimes do a better job with certain stacks. But ultimately I probably wind up using Helicon about 90% of the time. The technology for getting these "stacks" can be as simple as manually changing focus, to very sophisticated, with one of the more novel approaches I have seen found at:
http://www.photron.com/products.cfm?id=FocusScope
They have the microscope objective connected to a piezoelectric actuator and synchronized with a high-speed camera.

[Ken Ramos]

These are some really great photos , as usual...wouldn't expect anything less from ya Charlie but I have a question about that MP. I have been thinking of getting one of those; in your photograph of the set up, is that the "entire lens as is" you are showing or are there some add-ons or adapters to the lens shown?
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Kenneth Ramos
Rutherfordton, North Carolina
Kens Microscopy
Reposts of my images within the galleries are welcome, as are constructive critical critiques.

[Charles Krebs]

Ken... the lens "section" is all 65mm MP-E. (In fact it extends a little more... 5:1. The picture shows it at 4:1). There are no additional tubes or anyting in there. It gets quite long when focused to the maximum magnification. It comes with the tripod collar shown in the picture.

[rjlittlefield]