Rodney Campbell's Blog

My intention with this large bright orange flower was to focus stack and attempt to blur the large fern fronds growing just behind the flower more. The problem here was that the flower head was quite large and you’d need a reasonably small aperture to cover the whole flower head but then the ferns close behind would not blur enough and would be distractingly just out of focus. The stacked result worked to an extent – see at the bottom.

However what soon interested me more were the bees feasting on the abundance of bright orange pollen on the flower heads. I quickly took the camera off the tripod and switched to bee target practice mode – it’s surprisingly difficult to get a good shot of the bees in flight. Just getting them standing on the flower itself is hard enough because they are always darting about and once in flight it’s ridiculously hard to follow and focus on them – patience and timing is key.

Here I was glad to be using the Nikon AF-S 105mm rather than my Tamron 90mm because the Nikon focuses much quicker (which doesn’t really matter for macro but does for insects in flight :)). I upped the shutter speed and gradually closed down the aperture and pumped the ISO as I progressively moved closer and closer to frame tighter shots of the bees on the flower.

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

I took well in excess of 50 frames to capture a few nicely sharp and decently composed images – the favourite of which is this one

Target Acquired

NIKON D7000 + 105.0 mm f/2.8 @ 105 mm, 1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400

and these of the bee collecting pollen on the flower

This is MY Flower!

NIKON D7000 + 105.0 mm f/2.8 @ 105 mm, 1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400

Feast

NIKON D7000 + 105.0 mm f/2.8 @ 105 mm, 1/2000 sec at f/8, ISO 640

and here is a wider shot showing the bee in relation to one of the huge flowers (and they were very large) it was collecting from

NIKON D7000 + 105.0 mm f/2.8 @ 105 mm, 1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400

and finally the original intent – the focus stacked flower I first took – 10 frames [1/640 sec at f/4, ISO 100] – which it has to be said is far less interesting now 🙂

NIKON D7000 + 105.0 mm f/2.8 @ 105 mm, 1/640 sec at f/4, ISO 100

After showing some of my focus stacked images to a few of my work colleagues they decided we should all go out shooting together in the Royal Botanic Gardens one lunchtime.

Early on in the day it was looking good with overcast skies and relatively still conditions – by the time lunchtime arrived however it was clear blue skies and a little windy 🙂

About half a dozen of us headed across to the gardens with our cameras and gear and looked for suitable subjects – for this trip I borrowed a friends AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens (essentially because the front doesn’t extend with focus). I was still looking for subjects to focus stack – here are some early samples…

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

The stacked image of this tulip using 12 of the 19 frames I took [1/160 sec at f/3.2, ISO 640] (again wind was a factor here with the stem swaying in the light breeze – still the software has done a remarkable job of auto aligning the subject for me)

Red

NIKON D7000 + 105.0 mm f/2.8 @ 105 mm, 1/160 sec at f/3.2, ISO 640

and here is one of the individual frames for comparison

NIKON D7000 + 105.0 mm f/2.8 @ 105 mm, 1/160 sec at f/3.2, ISO 640

I’m really surprised this next one turned out at all – this stem was swaying around quite considerably and I had little hope of it stacking at all – however both sets of images I stacked worked – here this is the stack of 19 images [1/160 sec at f/4, ISO 1000]

Mauve

NIKON D7000 + 105.0 mm f/2.8 @ 105 mm, 1/160 sec at f/4, ISO 1000

and for comparison a single frame at 1/15 sec at f/11, ISO 800

NIKON D7000 + 105.0 mm f/2.8 @ 105 mm, 1/15 sec at f/11, ISO 800

One further tip I have with focus stacking is this – I stack the images to produce the result with a much sharper main subject with vastly increased depth of field but I then generally blend back in the softer and smoother background bokeh from one or more of the source images (often the nearest focused frame). Sometimes the stacking process produces a slightly ugly background which is mostly a reasonably soft blur but some edges can get enhanced/sort of sharpened by the process. Basically the buttery soft bokeh background from the source frames are generally much nicer.

We had a number of relatives visiting Sydney and they all stayed in a large apartment in Chatswood. They were staying on the 26th floor and had uninterrupted views East, South and West from Chatswood towards North Sydney, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the CBD.

I’d never tried shooting a city scene from way up high before and the view was so good that I went there one late afternoon so I could photograph sunset, twilight and the night views from their large balcony. I took both single shots as well as sequences of vertical images covering about 180 degrees to stitch into large panorama’s.

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

The single shot just (about 5 minutes) before sunset as the late afternoon sun was raking across the buildings and trees. The Sydney CBD is pretty much straight ahead directly in the middle…

Sydney Skies

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 13 mm, 1.3 sec at f/11, ISO 100

This is a panorama stitched from 7 vertical frames (18mm, 1.6 sec at f/11 and ISO 100)

Sunset Panorama

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 18 mm, 2.5 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Towards the end of twilight (about 40 minutes after sunset) but before night really settles in, using a long exposure we get both the city lights on, light trails from the cars in the streets and still some deep colour in the sky (just barely lit from the sun over the horizon) – it’s a magical time to shoot

The single shot

Sydney by Night

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 13 mm, 30 sec at f/8, ISO 100

and the panorama stitched from 6 vertical frames (14mm, 30 sec at f/8 and ISO 200)

Sydney by Night Panorama

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 14 mm, 30 sec at f/8, ISO 200

Whilst walking the paths through the Royal Botanic Gardens I found this plant on the side of the path in deep shade with these really interesting clusters of flowers about to be born. Basically it looked like a long thick stem with this ball shaped blob of blue at the end. This is lit with the LED macro ring light.

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

Firstly here is one of the individual images taken as part of the sequence for the stack – all taken at 1/100 sec at f/4 and ISO 500 (as you can see not a lot in focus and very limited DoF)

NIKON D7000 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 1/100 sec at f/4, ISO 500

and this second is the result of focus stacking 34 exposures of 1/100 sec at f/4 and ISO 500 – whilst not perfect (some stacking errors still exist) it’s a much improved result don’t you think…

Blue

NIKON D7000 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 1/100 sec at f/4, ISO 500

Straight after our sunrise shoot at Macquarie Light House we headed to nearby Diamond Bay Reserve on the coastline on South Head to see what the location was like.

We followed the path around the clifftops above the bay to check out what we could see. Just off the boardwalk at the southern end we followed a small trail down onto the cliff and found a fisherman on the rocks on a cliff ledge way below. The old path down was about as precarious as it could be, with narrow exposed steps and some rotten looking logs bridging a gap where the cliff had likely fallen away followed by some more steps and then a ladder down to the ledge where a small stone hut perched above the raging waves. Not for the faint of heart – and yes those fisherman are certifiable 🙂

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

This isn’t the best composition but was taken lying down and hanging slightly over the edge of the cliff looking down…

Fishermans Hut

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 1/100 sec at f/9, ISO 100

From here we could also see some fishermen on lower ledges of the cliff on the other side of the bay along with some ladders and ropes along the bottom of the cliff. We headed back around the top of the cliff with a view to finding a way down. After scrambling down a narrow gorge Gerry and I made our way to the bottom and took some shots from the rocks (which were getting nicely submerged (and almost me along with it) as some waves came crashing in)

It’s amazing the sorts of buildings they allow perched right on the headland cliffs – I’d be interested to know if you like the mono or colour (or neither) view of this composition…

Raging Water and Skies

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 1/6 sec at f/11, ISO 100

The Block

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 1/5 sec at f/16, ISO 100

I wasn’t really sure this image using the ten stop ND has worked but I’d be interested to see (the original in colour is also pretty interesting – with really blue skies and turquoise water and slightly aqua fog on the rocks)

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 60 sec at f/16, ISO 100

Lastly for kicks – there were two wrecked cars in the gorge crying out for some HDR treatment…

Your Car

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 4