Repost - Experiment in Taxidermy
Jun 23, 2019 08:15:00 #
Pardon me if this comes up twice however at times I post late in the evening and I don't see it the next day.
This is my experiment in taxidermy where I mounted a preserved black ant onto a branch of a twig. Below is a picture of the setup and a view of the "ant on a stick" compared to the size of a dime and the rig that I used.
The picture of the setup does not show the translucent drink cup diffuser that I most often use. The "thing" on the end of the camera lens is a black felt paper glare-shade that I put over the lens to keep fugitive light from affecting the lens and camera's light meter. The round LED light is a work light that I turn off when shooting.
The two flexible gooseneck pipes on the right are the fiber optic light source. The two flexible gooseneck lamps on the left are the IKEA LED work desk lamps.
The lens used in this shot is a comprised of a Schneider Kreuznach Componon-S 50mm f/2.8 reverse mounted lens mounted onto a Raynox DCR-150 reverse mounted lens attached to extension tubes.
Settings at f5.6 @ 1/4 second focus stacked image processed in Zerene Stacker Pro.
Thanks in advance to all who view and for any comments and critique.
This is my experiment in taxidermy where I mounted a preserved black ant onto a branch of a twig. Below is a picture of the setup and a view of the "ant on a stick" compared to the size of a dime and the rig that I used.
The picture of the setup does not show the translucent drink cup diffuser that I most often use. The "thing" on the end of the camera lens is a black felt paper glare-shade that I put over the lens to keep fugitive light from affecting the lens and camera's light meter. The round LED light is a work light that I turn off when shooting.
The two flexible gooseneck pipes on the right are the fiber optic light source. The two flexible gooseneck lamps on the left are the IKEA LED work desk lamps.
The lens used in this shot is a comprised of a Schneider Kreuznach Componon-S 50mm f/2.8 reverse mounted lens mounted onto a Raynox DCR-150 reverse mounted lens attached to extension tubes.
Settings at f5.6 @ 1/4 second focus stacked image processed in Zerene Stacker Pro.
Thanks in advance to all who view and for any comments and critique.
Jun 23, 2019 09:13:32 #
I play at micro photography and stacking but not enough to be proficient. It is a diversion when I can’t get outdoors. I liked seeing how you set up your gear and good to see that it is not really necessary to have expensive lighting. I have started to migrate from Nikon to Olympus because of the internal automatic interval focusing that Olympus has. Still have to stack the individual images in post editing. It is fun but for me still very challenging. Enjoyed your images as well as the description of the process.
Jun 23, 2019 09:27:50 #
Thanks for viewing my posts for sharing is as enjoyable as doing. Here's a link to an article that got me started on this path and my entire setup (less camera of course) was under $50 and it opened a world that I had never seen or imaged before.
https://www.closeuphotography.com/seventeen-dollar-plan-4x-objective/
This works on any interchangeable lens camera for focus stacking and it need not be an expensive one either. I can't speak highly enough of the AmScope 4X Plan Achromatic lens. It's about $20 and its detail is mindblowing sharp although extremely shallow depth of field so focus stacking is a must with it.
The IKEA LED JANSJO desk lamp is the gold standard for most tabletop macro photographers and they are only $13 each. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00385941/ They too are something that I can not praise highly enough.
From that adventure I moved on to other objectives and combination of old enlarger lenses.
https://www.closeuphotography.com/seventeen-dollar-plan-4x-objective/
This works on any interchangeable lens camera for focus stacking and it need not be an expensive one either. I can't speak highly enough of the AmScope 4X Plan Achromatic lens. It's about $20 and its detail is mindblowing sharp although extremely shallow depth of field so focus stacking is a must with it.
The IKEA LED JANSJO desk lamp is the gold standard for most tabletop macro photographers and they are only $13 each. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00385941/ They too are something that I can not praise highly enough.
From that adventure I moved on to other objectives and combination of old enlarger lenses.
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Jun 23, 2019 13:58:01 #
Looks interesting. I have an old microscope so i could use the objective lenses but the lighting system is even more interesting. Thanks
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