Brian Valentine - SmugMug Artist-in-Residence

[Andy]

Dgrin's Lord Veterinari, Brian Valentine, is one of SmugMug's Artists-in-Residence.

Brian is an amazing Macro shooter. We're lucky to have him here! Here in this thread is where we'll announce new discussions, the details on the monthly roundtable, and more.

Stay tuned...

Brian's Macro Learning Series

Macro Exercises #1 DOF, Aperture and diffraction

Macro Exercises #2 FOCUSING

Macro Exercises #3 FOCUS STACKING

Macro Exercises #4 Lighting

Definition of MACRO - What's a Macro?

Some earlier references and resources:

Macrophotography Tips & Links

More Macro Tips & Links

Yet more!

[Ephemeral]

Wel done Havelock. :)

[Lord Vetinari]

Thanks - I think
Brian V.

[BigAl]

Fame at last

[Awais Yaqub]

Ooo wow what a great photographers

[Skippy]

Originally Posted by Lord Vetinari

Thanks - I think
Brian V.

Well we keep telling you how good you are ya duffa
Congratulations Brian, you are indeed an incrediably amazing Macro Photographer, who is always willing to share your knowledge with the rest of us and I for one thank you for it hooray for you ..... Skippy

[andymillson]

Congrats Brian, well deserved!

[DavidTO]

And we learn his full name!

Fantastic.

[wxwax]

We need an insect smilie for Lord V.

[Lord Vetinari]

Thanks everyone :)
Whilst I'm finding out from Andy what's entailed in this function, I'd be grateful for any ideas from you macrophotographers out there what you'd like to see me do here on a regular basis.

Brian V.

[wxwax]

The most common problems I see with less-than-perfect marcos are:

Depth of field (usually too shallow)
Lighting
Composition
Backgrounds

[andymillson]

Originally Posted by Lord Vetinari

Thanks everyone :)
Whilst I'm finding out from Andy what's entailed in this function, I'd be grateful for any ideas from you macrophotographers out there what you'd like to see me do here on a regular basis.

Brian V.

How do you keep those darn bugs still enough to take a couple of shots so you can focus stack them?!

I have had no luck with that side of things, they always move between shots

[Lord Vetinari]

Originally Posted by wxwax

The most common problems I see with less-than-perfect marcos are:

Depth of field (usually too shallow)
Lighting
Composition
Backgrounds

Thanks for the ideas Sid - will see what we can do- mind you I'm still fighting with most of them :)
Brian V.

[Lord Vetinari]

Originally Posted by andymillson

How do you keep those darn bugs still enough to take a couple of shots so you can focus stack them?!

I have had no luck with that side of things, they always move between shots

Agree can be difficult and is more often than not, luck. I normally try to get a good first shot- eyes in focus etc and then try to do another one or two shots fairly quickly after. Sometimes after getting the camera in reasonable focus distance on the bug, I just watch it through the viewfinder to see what it's doing rather than taking a pic- you can then often see them settle down and know it's then a good time to try a stack.
All this of course depends on the bug and what it's doing when you spot it. Bugs sunbathing are normally good for trying a stack but obviously if they are actively hunting food or cleaning themselves then you don't stand a chance. Oddly mating bugs are often good for stack shots.
If you find in the stacked shot that the bug moved a feeler or a leg so there are ghosts in it, you can often clone these out in PS or go back to the original shot with the item in sharp focus and do a manual cut and paste job with it.
One big advantage of at least trying to get a focus stack is that you will normally at least get one pic with the focus exactly where you want it.- Sort of manual version of focus bracketing.

Brian V.

[wxwax]

Just explaining your focus stacking technique would make a great discussion.

[tmlphoto]

Congrats Brian. Thanks for sharing your photographs and your knowledge with us.

[pathfinder]

Congratulations, Brian.

We are all looking forward to learning from your expertise!!

Your shots are always outstanding

[Lord Vetinari]

Originally Posted by wxwax

Just explaining your focus stacking technique would make a great discussion.

Quick focus stacking tutorial.

One of the major problems in macrophotography is lack of DOF. This can be partially overcome by using small apertures but this comes at a price. Shooting at apertures smaller than about F11 at 1:1 magnification causes diffraction softening of the image resulting in good DOF but loss of detail in the shot.
One way to overcome this is to use focus stacking of a series of shots taken of the subject from the same point of view (POV) but at different focus depths and then use software to combine the "in focus" parts of the different images.
The software I use is freeware and is the combineZ series. The latest version combinezm is available here
http://www.hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder....al/Install.htm

This latest version will handle the High res jpg picture size from a canon 400D (ie 10mpx)

I normally take the shots whilst handholding the camera but often either I'm resting the lens on something or I'm leaning on something- when using this method I focus on the nearest part of the subject take a pic but mentally note where the next nearest OOF part of the image is- I then physically move the camera till that part of the image is in focus and take the next shot. This process is repeated until you have covered the required depth. I normally take betwen 2 and about 6 shots like this.
The other method is to use a tripod and either use a macro slider to focus or just use the focus ring to focus on the next slice. This is more reliable as whilst the software is very good at re-aligning pics in the sequence, it will not correct any rotational errors in the shots.
The technique does take a while to master but it's worth persevering.

Below is a quick slightly trivial example I did this morning of a clothers peg.
I took five shots for the stack but have only included the first shot, last shot and final stacked image. The shots were taken at F11 with my 300D and 105mm EX macro lens and ETTL flash.

Brian V.

camera flash setup




First Image in stack



Last Image in stack



Stacked Image

[GraphyFotoz]

Oh hail KING MACRO!

Your Da Man for Macro Brian....lots to learn from you!
Congrads on the fame!
Can I get your autograph?

[Dalantech]

Congrats Brian!