[Magnus Angus]

Excuse me - experimenting with an image - I wanted to see what this looked like here

[Hamish Young]

Looks nice and also like it would float all day - plenty of CDC in there

H

[Mike Barrio]

Nice one Magnus

Cheers
Mike

[Magnus Angus]

Ok chaps, check the next two images - any preferences?

[Magnus Angus]

and the next

[Mike Barrio]

and the next

Both great ...... but liking this one for the detail

Cheers
Mike

[Sandy Nelson]

I think i prefer the lighter/brighter? one, as well.
But there is not much in it, what are you experimenting with?

Sandy

[Magnus Angus]

Hi Sandy...or Snady as I like to think of you...my typing gets worse!

The difference is slight but Mike pointed to it. The first of the pair is a single exposure - normal closeup picture with a typical depth of field - blurred bits near and far, the shank in focus. The second is a stack made using several close-up pictures, combined in processing, the end result is a deeper depth of field, artificially deeper but I can't see anything artificial about it. Takes a bit of time to shoot this way, much more processing for one picture, but means I can shoot with the best aperture for the lens....

Slightly geeky stuff, long and short is I'm trying to work out if the result is worth the effort.

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Magnus! To answer your question ..... yes the result is worth the effort

My Nikon is supposed to be able to take multi shots at different settings and process them into one photo, but I haven't read the instructions or tried it yet though

I'm guessing that what you're doing is a step beyond that though?

Cheers
Mike

[Magnus Angus]

Hi Mike

I dunno what we can do in-camera with multiple exposures - I think my camera can do that too - I sort of assume the pics will not be aligned, so if I take a sequence of a caster I get the pics superimposed with the moved positions showing?

I stack these in PS6, the critical part is alignment. Even with everything locked down tight the camera and subject move fractionally between exposures - plus changing the focus alters the image size on the sensor. PS seems capable of taking all that into account in processing and has me impressed so far!

(BTW Just bought a 35mm f1.8 DX Nikkor - plasticy and not as solid as my old lenses but cracking image quality!)

[Sandy Nelson]

The difference is slight but Mike pointed to it. The first of the pair is a single exposure - normal closeup picture with a typical depth of field - blurred bits near and far, the shank in focus. The second is a stack made using several close-up pictures, combined in processing, the end result is a deeper depth of field, artificially deeper but I can't see anything artificial about it. Takes a bit of time to shoot this way, much more processing for one picture, but means I can shoot with the best aperture for the lens....

I can see the difference , but only just , worthwhile for the detail and i guess what i percieve to be a brighter image is one that is slightly more defined.

Cheers

Snady ( i do it all the time and correct it afterwards )
 

Sandy

[Mike Barrio]

The Blurb said "In-camera HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode will tame high contrast situations by automatically capturing multiple exposures of the scene and combining them for vastly improved contrast and low noise", but I've yet to explore this.

The 35mm 1.8 sounds great

Cheers
Mike

[Rob Brownfield]

Magnus, reference the slight movements between shots, are you using a remote release? This should cure that problem instantly.

Also, I hope I am not teaching you to suck eggs, so please forgive me if I am, but to get greater depth of field on shots, decrease aperture and decrease magnification.

With a quality camera, depending on what your final shots are for, it can be worth stepping back for the photo and then taking that photo with an extremely high resolution, and then cropping it so the subject feels the frame. This should leave you with a useable photo for magazine work.

lastly, have you considered using Photoshops HDR "voodoo magic"? It can turn flies into the most amazing images through the way it processes colours. They really do leap out at you.

Having said all that, the images you put up look great.

[Rob Brownfield]

Ah, I see Mike mentiond HDR too.

Here is a comparision with HDR on the right. Remember, this was applied to an existing image, using a RAW image in PS 6 gives amazing quality.

[Magnus Angus]

Hi Rob

Yes there is more than a touch of trying to teach egg sucking there. Would you like me to detail all the ways I disagree with your post?