CalevPhoto » depth of field http://calevphoto.com Photographing the Earth, one millimeter at a time… Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:49:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 My first attempt at combining macro shots http://calevphoto.com/2008/09/06/my-first-attempt-at-combining-macro-shots/ http://calevphoto.com/2008/09/06/my-first-attempt-at-combining-macro-shots/#comments Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:47:04 +0000 calevphoto http://calevphoto.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/my-first-attempt-at-combining-macro-shots/ Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Recently I have been thinking a bit about combining shots to achieve a greater depth of field.  When I noticed that some of the shots I took today of a spider with its prey were similar but had different parts in focus, I decided to give it a try.  The following is the end result.

Continue for more on how I did this.

The following are the two shots I used to make it.

In this shot, the spider is in focus but not the prey.

In this shot, the prey is in focus but not the spider.

I would have liked to use a program like CombineSZ, but the problem is the shots are not aligned.  Therefore I used the following steps to combine them.

1) I copied the entire shot with the OOF spider.

2) I then pasted it over the shot with the IF spider, creating a new layer in the process.

3) I then reduced the opacity significantly of the new layer, enabling me to see through it.  Using this mode I aligned the spider and prey as best as possible.  The spider had moved a bit so I made more of an attempt to align the prey than the spider.  When finished, I changed the opacity back to 100%.

4) Using a small eraser, I carefully erased the OOF spider in the top layer, which had the effect of displaying the IF spider underneath it.

5) I then merged the layers and concentrated on the areas (particularly of the web) that looked a bit strange.

6) I used the cloning tools in replace mode to redo the parts of the web near the feet.

7) I had some problems with the right foot, so I copied the foot from a third image not displayed here.

 

I’m sure there are better ways to do this, but this is my first attempt and I rather like how it came out.  This isn’t the first shot of a spider with prey that I have taken (these spiders are very common around our house) but it is the one with the best depth of field.

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]]> http://calevphoto.com/2008/09/06/my-first-attempt-at-combining-macro-shots/feed/ 2 Trying my hand at flowers http://calevphoto.com/2008/06/10/trying-my-hand-at-flowers/ http://calevphoto.com/2008/06/10/trying-my-hand-at-flowers/#comments Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:10:40 +0000 calevphoto http://calevphoto.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/trying-my-hand-at-flowers/ Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> While taking pictures of insects yesterday at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens, I noticed that they had lots of pretty things on the plants that sometimes the bugs would crawl on.  As most of you know, I spend most of my macro efforts taking pictures of insects, but the major reason for that until recently has been the fact that the MP-E 65 isn’t the greatest lens for flowers.  Many flowers do not need 1:1 magnification so the MP-E 65 was often too close.  This is not the case with the 180L.  Therefore I put away my flash and took out my tripod and attempted a few flower shots.

This is a cranesbill flower, related to geraniums.  The interesting thing when taking this picture was I had the opportunity to use a rather shallow depth of field.  I kind of like the effect here.  One can still make out the leaves but the stem is not visible.  I could blur the leaves more in Photoshop, but I rather like the effect out of the camera.  I took this at f/5 – which I wouldn’t dare think of for most insects.

I tried a number of different shots of this one flower.  Here’s one where the flower is a bit smaller in the frame.

 

Here’s another viewpoint with two different shots.  The first was taken at f/11 while the second was taken at f/7.1.

In general I like the shallower depth of field shot more, but I wish I had used an even shallower depth of field.  Here are some other shots I took that day.  The second shot was actually taken with my MP-E 65.  It does a good job of getting closeup shots like this, but in general I think the 180L is the king when it comes to flower shots.  I just need to practice a bit more.

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