focus stacked bee

[screamer]

Hi guys,
here is a couple of pics taken using focus stacking funcion in magic lantern and then combined with combinezp software.





and speaking about focus stacking... any news b4rt?

[Michael Zöller]

Screamer, these are magnificent. How many seperate images did you take? Was the bee sitting very still for it to work?

[screamer]

Thank you Michael
unfortunately i've already deleted the source files, but if i remember well every pic is made by something like 10/15shots (one was 13, the other probably 15) with f18 and a time of about 1/10 per shot. but with that aperture probably less shots is really needed (but i hate the out of focus slices when you don't shot sufficient slices, so i tend to shot more than i need
and about the poor bee, i found it dead on my balcony, on the floor. So really she is very still, and all the shooting session taked a quite long time. quite impossible to take a living bee this way.
But i've readed some macro photographers tips about working with insects, for example the best hour of the day is the early morning, when they are in a sort of stasys and you can take long session without a movement. Another one says that the best way is to capture the insect you want to shot, then put it in the fridge (to simulate the "fresh night" condition and to put the insect in a sort of cryogenic stasys (i don't mean to put in a subzero fride, the suggested temperatures are over the zero). But personally i havent't tried this things, find it a little cruel but everytime i found a dead insect that looks like it's living, i shot a macro

[lynmay]

Absolutely Awesome!  Detail and color are crisp.  I'm new to the ML forum and have been intrigued
by their work for quite some time. Decided to join AFTER I saw your images.  Really want to do
all that I can to get the most from my Canon 5DII.
THanks for posting these.  Keep up the good work.

[Michael Zöller]

Thanks for the info, screamer!