catterar Loc: Angier, NC

This is my first attempt at macro. I know I have a long way to go. I don’t know what insect produced this egg case.
This is 31 focus stacked images taken with an AF-s NIKKOR 50mm 1:1.8 G and 2 extension tubes 36 and 20mm and a Neewer worm drive macro focus rail.
I notice some areas of very soft focus. I believe that I may have already been in too deep when I took the first image.
Any and all comments and suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks

(Download)

BassmanBruce Loc: Middle of the Mitten

Not bad at all for a first shot.
The egg case kinda looks like a preying mantis egg case. (Ootheca)
Is it about an inch and a half tall?

catterar Loc: Angier, NC

Thank you. Yes it is about an inch and a half, it was on our gazebo behind a wheel barrow.

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

Yes, it is an old egg case for a praying mantis.
When an image is stacked, various artifacts can be introduced because the software has limitations in what it knows to do. There are some out of focus areas, but also there is some general softening if you look really close. That effect looks to me to be caused by movement, possibly because of vibrations that were introduced during the shooting. The software tries to combine details that it sees as being in focus from different pictures, but if those details are in slightly different positions then it comes out looking blurred.
After a stack, it is common to go back and touch up a picture to resolve some of the artifacts. This would include painting in some parts from single frames of the original pictures. So when you see an artifact, you can choose one picture that has that part in focus, and paint that part into the stack, replacing a bit of the stacked picture with a bit of a single picture.
But this is still a good attempt.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

A quite interesting find of a quite interesting insect which is a favorite among many. Welcome to the never ending journey into macro focus stacking. A word of caution however.....it is very addictive with no known cure.

Mark is a master here along with others and he has offered some great advice which I'll add a bit to as well. If you are using a DSLR set your camera to the "Mirror Up" mode to help avoid vibration from mirror-slap. Use either a remote shutter release or set a delay timer if you have to push the shutter button. Again to avoid vibrations. Be aware that increasing the magnification of a lens increases the "effective aperture" and the higher the f/stop the more likely diffraction will affect the quality of the image causing softness and halos.

The light passing through the aperture comes in parallel laminar rays and when it passes through a small hole it sprays out and produces waves much like a stone causes ripples in still water when it passes through the surface. This disruption causes the pixels of the sensor to showered with waves of light that tend to overlap resulting in the diffraction of softness and artifacts.

Again, Mark gave expert advice on how to address cleaning this up when focus stacking multiple images.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Wow a lot better than my first attempt. Listen when these and other folks on this Section talk. There are several life times of information here and all are willing to help.

catterar Loc: Angier, NC

Thanks Mark, looks like I have some more to learn. This image was stacked using LR and PS. I'm a rank beginner in LR and only knew what do do in PS from you tube videos.
Thank you for setting me down the right path.

catterar Loc: Angier, NC

These were shot at f8 should I be stopping down to f4 or wider? I did use a cable release, did not think of using the mirror up mode. Will try that next time.
Thanks for the suggestions.

catterar Loc: Angier, NC

Thanks. I still have a long way to go. Will listen to the accumulated wisdom offered here.