15
Votes
mike turtle's picture

Yellow dungfly macro

Stacked photo of one of my favourite flies to photograph.

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7 Comments

Great work! How many images were stacked?

Usually 80 to 100.

Many different things. Good vision helps. Obviously a macro lens with at the minimum of 1:1, a lot including myself go beyond that. Mine is only 1.5:1, but its still got that .5. Then most stack their images which in the end results in photos like what Mike posted. I have yet to start stacking my photos and have macro in my portfolio of one picture non stacked.

Its best to use a tripod if possible and an aperture between 6 and 22 which really helps with DOF in macro, depending on lighting and background as well as a manual lens. Its also best to use your live view instead of a timer alone. By using live view the mirror flips into place and doesn't create more camera shake after the shutter is pressed. I use an app on my phone that connects through wifi to my camera.

However, most if not all of my Macro photos were taken while holding the camera, using the view finder and rapid shots and I just choose the best.

I'm still very much an amateur, this is just what I've figured out so far.

Hey Mike, Great photo!

Mind telling me which stacking software you use? Up till this point all my macro pics are one picture as I haven't yet began to stack my photos.

I guess another reason I have began to stack my photos is because I can never manage to take that many pictures of a bug that can fly. They always move and I can never line up that many shots exactly.

Zerene stacker, free trial for 30 days then about £60 one off payment.
The lens used was from an old minolta film scanner mounted on an even older set of russian bellows - the scanner was about £40 on ebay. It doesn't have to be expensive. Before buying extreme macro equipment have a look at the sites and forums on the net, I learnt a lot there.

Thank you.
I'll check it out.

Very nice!