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I certainly isn't something to write home about, for those who are skilled in macro and micro photography - and i have seen absolutely astonishing critter images... turning into bizarre looking monsters, strange armored beings or exotic looking "landscape like" creatures. So astonishing how little beings like that can look like, often not more than a few millimeters large...
The critter I took image of here, was perhaps 4 mm small
The delight of an amateur is, that when you make your first successful images... it often is a delight while making the heart beat a notch faster. This is my first (focus stacked) image of a living critter who was freely roaming around, on one of my plants at the balcony. For a start, it turned out nicely, i think.
The combo of a 4x macro
(equivalent to fullframe) and the focus bracketing/stacking technique, giving me more details visible in insects, than i ever was able to show. The few times in the past, i used a macro lens I mean, where often done very sloppy: with wide open aperture, based on a single image. Usually ending up soft and slightly blurry.
Surely, that too can at times look nice, kind of romantic. However, i have never been able to make so fine details in an insect visible before. So, for me, it is really a wonderful feeling, to get such different images compared to what I have done in my past in terms of "macro" photography. I am not even sure if i can call it "macro" to begin with. Close-ups would be a better term.
The Tale of a little critter
It almost seemed to stand portrait for me. First was in the middle of a leaf - and when I spotted it, I decided to take a few focus bracketed images of it, handheld with the OM System ED 90/3.5 IS PRO lens. However, to do this hand held didn't really impress me (and i have to exercise on this a lot more). Instead, i took out a tripod. The critter was still there. As camera and tripod were all ready, the critter moved to the edge of the leaf - giving a much nicer perspective to photograph. There at the edge, it rested all still.
Not until i took a row of 14 images (I only used 6 images for the final focus stacking / blending) - I thanked the critter standing portrait for me :-) ... and then it flew away.
Kind of cool, when you think about it.
Zerene Stacker
I have now a license for the Zerene Stacker software, I can easily make good stacked images. Because Photoshop is very sloppy when it comes to locally smaller areas, which often have lower contrast - it renders it like areas of blur. The final results look kind of strange, not really so good. That's when i decided to buy the Zerene Stacker license for 1250 SEK.
Yeah, they put Swedish Internet 25% tax on the price... Brave new world, for us worker bitches. Western governments need taxes for war and weapons, remember. It is after all us, the tax payers, who will have to pay for ALL of that sort of shit on top of everything else. A weird "logic". One only sociopaths and psychopaths can come up with...
I think Zerene Stacker does a splendid job where it really counts; overall as well in the fine details - without creating strange blurry areas in between. The handling of the program however (interface) feels like a Mac from 1993 - kind of clumsy, poor and roundabout - utterly outdated. Having to click away popups / confirmations, without being able to use the keyboard for it - uh - it is such an ancient interface handling... Brrrr.
But, Zerene Stacker does what it does, splendidly and with high quality. That is still, what really counts.
The little dots on the leafs
are pollen. Which are all over my plants this year. Like yellowish powder spread across, well, on everything on my balcony.
Hasselblad Simulation
In the following 3 images I took with the Olympus OM-1 camera, I used the Photoshop AI Beta - but only for expanding the images with empty space - using the "generating fill in" so to speak by transforming the originally vertical image, to a larger quadratic one. Then I added and old "Hasselblad" frame from 2011 negative, - simulating as if it would have been taken with a classic analog 6x6 Hasselblad camera.
Photoshop AI beta, did a very good job with the generative fill-in function. The background remained in exactly similar style, includring blur and degtails which did not exist, but got simulated in an outmost natural style (which in othre photos does not always work so well. It all depends). And of course, you have to test with alternatives.
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