I was at the gardens again looking for the angle I wanted to try a stack on.
Specific Feedback Requested
I find that when stacking part of the plant was in the same line of sight as I was. So the leaf on the right is soft. That may be just the way things end up sometimes. This photo was the angle I was looking at when I took it
Technical Details
R7 rf 100 f/2.8 set at f/4 1/200 sec iso 1250. 50 photos stacked with Zerene DMAP and needed to use Photo AI for the background noise. I masked out the background, however I would like to see a smoothing that Helicon has which does take out the noise. ISO is high because the plant was in the shade.
Dean, I’m enjoying your poinsettia shots. This could make a Christmas card. I can’t help you with the stacking. Hopefully some of the others that are into it, like @Kris_Smith can give some guidance.
Hi Dean, I’ve never tried AI stacking but I suppose it’s coming up and I’m sure it will be much easier than the manual stacking I used to do.
This stack was well done IMHO and the composition is nice too.
Red can be a difficult color even with modern cameras but you got it right.
Sorry I couldn’t be helpful with the stacking but focus looks like it’s everywhere it needs to be.
I agree with @Shirley_Freeman, this would make a nice Christmas Card!
Oh this is an ambitious subject for stacking! Overall it is pleasing and I like the fact that the reds look vibrant, but maybe a tad clipped in spots where the detail drops off. I wonder about a couple of things - why the high ISO? Was it windy? I assume you were on a tripod. The other is shooting so wide open. Is there a reason you did that? Normally I try to stop down at least a little so that sharpness from corner-to-corner improves as almost no lens is at its sharpest wide open. Oh and finally, did you do any retouching with the DMap? That is to say, did you also try a PMax for some better detail in the leaves?
Thank for the comments, @Shirley_Freeman, @Merv, and @Kris_Smith. I am setting the camera for 50 images with a focus setting of 1 which is the lowest. I think auto ISO was one so that may be why it was 1250. Kris has a good point about aperture so maybe f/5.6 is better. I have heard that 3 stops down is a good rule so maybe even f/8. The shutter was at 1/200 and there was a very slight wind, but the 50 shots are so fast, I don’t think anything moved when looking at each frame.
I did use Helicon and it does a much better job on noise than Zerene, but the color is Zerene is better. That is easy to fix but if Zerene is taking care of that why bother. The DMAP and PMAX were just about the same except PMax was a more noise in the image. Noise is not really an issue since it is easy to remove.
