Felt Horn Lichen

Image Critiques Macro/Close-up Critiques
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Felt Horn Lichen
Felt Horn Lichen2500×1875 1.8 MB

aka Cladonia phyllophora

Am getting serious with focus stacking so I went down the road to a path that has the most wonderful assortment of mosses, lichens and horn and liver worts. Yes, I’m crazy, but since it was bright and overcast I decided to head over with my macro gear and see what I could do.

Mostly it was for experiment & practice. Experimenting with # of steps between focus settings, bracket method and # of frames. I learned that I really need to apply the bracket method to the subject and pick my first area of focus accordingly. Basically move to a +3 for the steps in future and take more images for larger subjects. Today I experimented with 1-2 steps and 10-20 images.

I probably should have opened the lens a little more to smooth that background, but overall I’m pleased with the results.

This little bit of lichen is less than 1 inch wide and tall. Very hard to get a clean background, but I did my best with some ‘gardening’. I love that each cup has a host of little cups growing on it. You can’t really tell that with the naked eye, it just looks kind of fuzzy.

Specific Feedback Requested

Any artifacts or weird ghosting? Other oddities that I missed? I don’t do a lot of stacking so this is my learning curve! All advice welcome. Just saw the upper right horn isn’t as sharp as it could be. Bah.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: Yes
Lumix G9
Leica 45mm f/2.8 macro lens
f/8 | 1/15 sec | ISO 200
Tripod
20-image stack using Zerene - Pmax output since the Dmax looked really weird in the bg.

Initial Lr processing for color, clarity, texture and a bit of sharpening & nr. Sent 20 TIF images to Zerene, created 1 TIF that I brought into Ps for some dodging & burning, curves adjustment to reduce the red channel & smart sharpening. Quick mask for some NR. Content Aware fill to remove a big distraction then clone & healing brush to smooth traces. Holy crap - 3 software packages for one image. I hope it was worth it!

@the.wire.smith
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Wow, Kristen, I’m impressed. I haven’t tried the stacking yet, fortunate if I can get out in the yard to get a few regular shots if something poses for me. This is simply amazing to look at. Such a nice variation, and you nailed it, as far as I can tell. Again, I don’t do stacking, so I will let someone else address that. Very nice.

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Hi Kristen, that is so cool and a wonderful subject for close-ups. Very interesting to explore this miniature landscape! Especially like the enlarged version. I’m just trying image stacking myself so can’t offer a lot of advice, but the ones on the right don’t seem quiet as sharp as the left ones do. I agree a more wide open aperture may have helped blur the background a bit more. I like that you included a little foreground to show their habitat. Impressed that you can name these plants too. :ok_hand:

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Thanks Shirley & Jim.

It snowed overnight so no lichen stacks today. I have another I’m processing and have hopes for it.

I’ve always been curious to know what I take pictures of, Jim, so I have an extensive collection of field guides and other books to aid with identification. I posted about it here.

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Kris, the stack mostly looks very good and it’s a delightful subject, shown off nicely. As Jim says, there’s noticeable softness mixed into the top of the bloom cluster on the right. With a subject like this and your wide angle lens, the best way to get separation between subject and background is to get low.

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