I love exploring the “innards” of flowers close up, while enjoying the radiating lines and symmetry that nature designs. This amaryllis last bloomed Christmas of 2020, so she’s running a bit late this year, but it was worth the wait.
Specific Feedback Requested
This is the product of one of my few attempts at focus stacking. I began by focussing on the anthers then gradually moved my focus point to the rear, for a series of 8 separate frames. Used the stacking process in the software I prefer, ACDSee Photo Studio, and it was a smooth and quick operation. Would including more frames improve the final image?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Sony A77M2, ISO 200, f/32, 4s, -1.00 EV, 150mm (35mm equiv), one daylight-balanced light source.
You were very careful with the settings, Jim, and it paid off. I’ll leave comments on the stacking to the experts, but to my eye the composition is excellent. The five stamen tips (?) are a great counterpoint to all the well-controlled reds. And the cropping of the petal edges adds to the interest. Have you considered a sequel, taken sideways-on to the stamens?
A dramatic view and a good-looking stack! For a small sensor, f/32 is theoretically running into softening due to diffraction, but sharpness looks good here. Reds look good. I find the composition in the frame a bit disconcerting, though, with the bottom of the frame feeling too “expanded”. If you have a wider view, I think it would be interesting to compare one with the lower part of the frame distorted inwards a bit.
Oh dramatic! The yellow sure does stand out against the deep red. Possibly f/32 was a bit much for this subject and it looks a bit soft to me in the petals. Generally with focus stacking you want to stay within the sweet spot of the lens, which is mostly in the middle of your aperture range. Given that you’re going to combine several images with individual focus points, it’s more important to have overlap of those focus points than it is to have the most DOF. I think the number of frames is good for this, but you might need more if you open to a wider aperture. It’s the stamens that need it more than the tips of them or the petals since the plane of focus for each of those is relatively flat.
I don’t see any stacking artifacts or anything odd. You could use another light source to highlight some of the structures within like the back curve of the stamens and the slight color difference in the petals. I’d also back the red channel off a tiny bit and see if the colors look less run together. It doesn’t need much though. This is very striking and well worth the effort. A side view would be cool, too.
@Kris_Smith , @Mike_Friel , @Diane_Miller , thank you all for your positive and helpful comments. Using an aperture more in the middle range certainly makes sense, even if it means adding a few more focus spots. I actually tried some sideways frames but wasn’t impressed enough with what I saw…the amaryllis just isn’t as “graceful” sideways.
Jim, I love the red in this flower. So rich. I haven’t yet tried focus stacking, so can’t help you there, but others have here, and will be able to provide helpful comments, I’m sure. For me, I like the composition the way you have it. I sure like the 5 stamen tips all lined up.
Jim, this is an outstanding look deep into this Amaryllis. The stack looks very good with no artifacts and no significant softareas (which would indicate insufficient overlap between slices). I really like the bluish strip between the darkest center and the main petals and the tendrils of lighter color in the center. While you are likely to have some diffraction softening at f/32, its should be subtle enough so that a post at NPN sizes will not show any softness. You can easily test your lens by shooting something thats flat with lots of fine lines using a tripod and trying each f-stop from f/16 to f/32. Then look at the results at 100%. BTW, going to f/32 makes it likely that you don’t have what I call overlap artifacts, which the laws of optics require unless both front and rear bits are in focus in the same frame. (I talked about that in my NPN stacking workshop.) Diffraction is strictly a function of the lens, it has nothing to do with the chip size, although you may see it easier with a higher megapixel chip.
Hi @Mark_Seaver , thanks so much for your positive comments. That sounds like a great lens test you suggested and easy enough to do so will have to try it.
