If a problem cannot be solved, enlarge it.

So I love the beach, I love the ocean, I love every aspect of both. I was laying on the couch watching a film and looking at photography websites online and I saw one of a microscopic picture of sand grains. I did some research and they used a technique called 'Focus Stacking'. Focus Stacking is also used in macro photography so I decided to give it a try. This also came with trying out the application that comes with my camera that lets me control my camera from my computer. The first picture here is the finished picture.

As you can see, short of a few minor spaces, the whole remote is in focus. This specific compilation required 11 contributing images. I used manual focus through the Canon EOS Utility to adjust the focus for each section of the remote. Even with the Aperture set to allow the deepest depth of field, macro photography doesn't work well with keeping the whole image in focus.

Here are two other images that show the limited depth of field in the original contributing photos.

I used 11 photos to attempt to keep each section in the sharpest focus possible. I could use a dozen more images to fix a few minor spots, however this is my first attempt at focus stacking and using the Canon EOS Utility application.

If my laptop didn't weigh 10 lbs, I would just carry it around and use this application with it. Tomorrow I play to try out the time lapse photography option in the software which means setting up my laptop for it anyway. Lets hope that the camera battery holds out for a full day of shooting time lapse. There is more to come.

Long Time, No See

OK, so it's been six months since I posted. Lazy me. Really I've had other things to focus on, work, car, Jip, etc.

So I have jump started my photography again by installing new firmware blah blah blah (Insert geeky mumbo jumbo here) So essentially what I did was do something to improve the quality of the HDR images. Well, I can't be sure of that just yet, but I've been assured that it will improve my HDR shots so why don't we give it a try.

Quick and dirty of it. New firmware lets me take 9 shot HDR instead of the standard 3 shot HDR that my old firmware allowed. I won't get into the details, but it's pretty nifty, although the GUI isn't as pretty.

So First we start with the 9 shot. Tone Mapped and here it is. Got some Chromatic Aberrations, and it's got some blurry spots.

Next we try the 3 shot standard which is how the camera came. 0, -2, +2 standard. Same processing settings as the 9 shot.

OK, so, as I see it, the 9 shot gives better detail, pulls more detail out of the shadows, however it tends to get blurry if there is even a slight wind or ANYTHING moves. Lot's of ghosting which means more time to process into a great shot. Next we will try something a little different to get this new firmware to make itself worth the hassle of installing. HDR 0, -3, +3 maybe? not sure, or maybe just 5 shot instead of 9.

Let me know what you think of the 9 shot? Kind of a mess I think.