Wasted session, or maybe not.. Just spent several hours shooting some stacks with my new sear setup, or at least I thought I had... I am shooting with a new 7DII, and a Canon 100L...

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Just spent several hours shooting some stacks with my new sear setup, or at least I thought I had...

I am shooting with a new 7DII, and a Canon 100L macro lens, using a light tent and controlling it all with a CamRanger, remotely from my Kindle...

In theory, it is great, but I found a few issues. The camranger does not return every image in the stack to the tablet, so you can't see the stack progressing. You get to set the number of steps, and whether they should be small, medium or large. However, just *what* those sizes refer to is not specified. Because my desk is also my 'studio', I have to pack everything down in order to check out the results on the computer.

I was running stacks of 20 images, with a small step size, but apparently this is a *very* small step size, since the focus plane never reached the back of the item in almost every run. I tried a few using 10 images at medium, and they seem a bit closer. However, having dismantled everything in order to get back on the computer, I am not really in the mood to set it all back up again. So, that will be a test for another day...

Ok, after saying all that, I spent some time in photoshop and managed to get some stacks, more or less.

The first 2 are a block of Jasper, with blue azurite circles, originally from the region of K2 in the Himalayas. There are also some good crystals on the corner of the block, but I don't think these images show that very well.

The second 2 are Bornite, with Atacamite crystals, or so the sales blurb says... The last one, I kinda blanked out the surroundings in PS rather than fiddle around trying to process out all the creases in the background. I guess I need to find my iron and press the background sheet or something...

There is no flash used for these shots. I have 3 3-watt led lights pointing at the sides and top of the light tent. SOOC the images are way too dark, but a bit of processing really brought out some of the colours. As always, I am still refining and learning the techniques here, so my next attempt will probably be different! Because of the change in my process, I didn't take 2 different sets this time...

Jasper with Azurite circles

(Download)

Jasper, view 2

(Download)

Bornite with Atacamite

(Download)

Dixiegirl Loc: Alabama gulf coast

Phil, each one looks sharp and clear to me, and the colors are beautiful. IMO this session certainly wasn't wasted.

DOOK Loc: Maclean, Australia

All four are excellent shots, Phil. Your stacking technique seems to be working well for you. :thumbup: :thumbup:

tomvanb Loc: Anthem, AZ

Bloke wrote:

Just spent several hours shooting some stacks with my new sear setup, or at least I thought I had...

I am shooting with a new 7DII, and a Canon 100L macro lens, using a light tent and controlling it all with a CamRanger, remotely from my Kindle...

In theory, it is great, but I found a few issues. The camranger does not return every image in the stack to the tablet, so you can't see the stack progressing. You get to set the number of steps, and whether they should be small, medium or large. However, just *what* those sizes refer to is not specified. Because my desk is also my 'studio', I have to pack everything down in order to check out the results on the computer.

I was running stacks of 20 images, with a small step size, but apparently this is a *very* small step size, since the focus plane never reached the back of the item in almost every run. I tried a few using 10 images at medium, and they seem a bit closer. However, having dismantled everything in order to get back on the computer, I am not really in the mood to set it all back up again. So, that will be a test for another day...

Ok, after saying all that, I spent some time in photoshop and managed to get some stacks, more or less.

The first 2 are a block of Jasper, with blue azurite circles, originally from the region of K2 in the Himalayas. There are also some good crystals on the corner of the block, but I don't think these images show that very well.

The second 2 are Bornite, with Atacamite crystals, or so the sales blurb says... The last one, I kinda blanked out the surroundings in PS rather than fiddle around trying to process out all the creases in the background. I guess I need to find my iron and press the background sheet or something...

There is no flash used for these shots. I have 3 3-watt led lights pointing at the sides and top of the light tent. SOOC the images are way too dark, but a bit of processing really brought out some of the colours. As always, I am still refining and learning the techniques here, so my next attempt will probably be different! Because of the change in my process, I didn't take 2 different sets this time...

Just spent several hours shooting some stacks with... (show quote)

Hi Phil, they all look great to me. Did you have a big fight with your new tent to get back in it's pouch?? Tom

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

tomvanb wrote:

Hi Phil, they all look great to me. Did you have a big fight with your new tent to get back in it's pouch?? Tom

I *knew* I had spoken to someone on here who had one! I had a struggle getting it *out* to start with... It popped up, but only 2 sides. Took me ages to figure out how to get the third side to pop out. Then, when I was done, it actually popped down flat really easy, but that was as far as I could get it. I have seen these 'pop-up' things before, and I know that it takes a twisting motion to get them back in, but I was scared of bending the frame or something. Eventually, I did get it down, but it doesn't look quite as neat as it did when I first took it out!

I really should dig out my iron, and press the background sheet. Otherwise I spend ages trying to PP out the creases later. The size is just about right - certainly the 12" would have been too small. I guess I could really use one that was about 18", just to give me a bit more space to work around it. If you could see the cramped conditions I am working in, you would never believe it. And that is before the cat gets curious and comes to investigate. I am standing the tent on top of my printer, which is between the PC tower and my monitor. That is usually his perch, where he sits to look out the window. This thing *fills* the space!

I am not convinced yet about the lighting... With these little LED lights on, it *looks* bright enough, but the SOOC images are really dark, especially on the Kindle - maybe that is why I wasn't able to see that the focus wasn't complete. Maybe I still need to use flash, firing into the tent, perhaps...

I have watched videos on youtube of using a slide-device to do focus-stacking, and they set the front position and the back position, and then specify the shift for each step. That would be better, but with the camranger, you focus the start yourself, then tell it how many, and which of the 3 sizes you want the steps to be. It doesn't download each image to the tablet as it takes it, just displaying the first shot all the time. You can download and look at the last one afterwards, but it just wasn't possible to tell that the focus plane hadn't reached the back of the item. I need to do some kind of test, and figure out just how big the 3 sizes of step are, I guess. Either that, or else shoot hundreds of steps and just trash the ones which focus past the item...

It is a real pain having to basically take everything down in order to upload the images to the PC... By the time I could see that most of the stacks were not usable, it would have been a real chore to set everything back up again. The other side of the coin, of course, is that if I carry on shooting all afternoon, and *then* find out that none of it is any good, I would be a little bit disappointed...

Oh well, learning all the time, as they say!

Chuckwal Loc: Boynton Beach Florida

Cool Set
liked
chuck

tomvanb Loc: Anthem, AZ

Bloke wrote:

I *knew* I had spoken to someone on here who had one! I had a struggle getting it *out* to start with... It popped up, but only 2 sides. Took me ages to figure out how to get the third side to pop out. Then, when I was done, it actually popped down flat really easy, but that was as far as I could get it. I have seen these 'pop-up' things before, and I know that it takes a twisting motion to get them back in, but I was scared of bending the frame or something. Eventually, I did get it down, but it doesn't look quite as neat as it did when I first took it out!

I really should dig out my iron, and press the background sheet. Otherwise I spend ages trying to PP out the creases later. The size is just about right - certainly the 12" would have been too small. I guess I could really use one that was about 18", just to give me a bit more space to work around it. If you could see the cramped conditions I am working in, you would never believe it. And that is before the cat gets curious and comes to investigate. I am standing the tent on top of my printer, which is between the PC tower and my monitor. That is usually his perch, where he sits to look out the window. This thing *fills* the space!

I am not convinced yet about the lighting... With these little LED lights on, it *looks* bright enough, but the SOOC images are really dark, especially on the Kindle - maybe that is why I wasn't able to see that the focus wasn't complete. Maybe I still need to use flash, firing into the tent, perhaps...

I have watched videos on youtube of using a slide-device to do focus-stacking, and they set the front position and the back position, and then specify the shift for each step. That would be better, but with the camranger, you focus the start yourself, then tell it how many, and which of the 3 sizes you want the steps to be. It doesn't download each image to the tablet as it takes it, just displaying the first shot all the time. You can download and look at the last one afterwards, but it just wasn't possible to tell that the focus plane hadn't reached the back of the item. I need to do some kind of test, and figure out just how big the 3 sizes of step are, I guess. Either that, or else shoot hundreds of steps and just trash the ones which focus past the item...

It is a real pain having to basically take everything down in order to upload the images to the PC... By the time I could see that most of the stacks were not usable, it would have been a real chore to set everything back up again. The other side of the coin, of course, is that if I carry on shooting all afternoon, and *then* find out that none of it is any good, I would be a little bit disappointed...

Oh well, learning all the time, as they say!

I *knew* I had spoken to someone on here who had o... (show quote)

Hi Phil, well I not sure if this learning is fun and sometimes frustrating or frustration and sometimes fun. I do wish I had got the 20" tent. Ironing the background sheets is on the plan for today. I have not used them yet but I'm sure they will me a bit more flexibility. I don" know about stacking photos in this kind of photography but I was into astronomy until last fall, due to being my wife's caretaker, I'm just to beat to play telescope come star time. I have used a stacking program on the moon etc. I gave it a try with some of my pictures but was not happy with the results. The program is RegiStax 6. I have not given up on it yet. Glad you were able to get your tent back into the pouch. Tom