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White flower, Heesch, Netherlands Another example of a focus shift stack done on a tiny flower taken from our garden. Unfortunately, I have no idea what type of flower it is. In this case I used a high key process to get rid of halos, although you can still see some traces of it.<br /> <br /> Some more experiments done on this day:<br /> <figure class="photo"><a href="https://www.jungledragon.com/image/62997/blue_passion_flower_macro_heesch_netherlands.html" title="Blue Passion Flower macro, Heesch, Netherlands"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.jungledragon.com/images/2/62997_thumb.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=05GMT0V3GWVNE7GGM1R2&Expires=1759968010&Signature=MbuJEHxFAl4ngTvxlicDsk7PZQ0%3D" width="200" height="126" alt="Blue Passion Flower macro, Heesch, Netherlands About 2 weeks ago, I noticed how our neighbour&#039;s passion flower plant, which grows several meters during a single summer, has made an entry into our garden by &quot;climbing&quot; over the fence. Great, because they are wonderful flowers. I made a note to myself that as soon as I have time, I will try a focus shifting stack on one of the flowers. As I was rather busy, each day I would just observe if the flower is still there, because a single flower was blossoming. <br /> <br /> Yes, it was still there each day for the whole 2 weeks. Except that it wasn&#039;t, because I&#039;ve now learned that passion flowers bloom for a single day. In other words, I was looking at a different flower every single day. Quite a mindf***?<br /> <br /> Anyway, bear with me a little as I am inexperienced in focus stacking. I&#039;ve made tons of mistakes and I&#039;m still not happy with these results, but you have to start somewhere. This is an in-house scene (every outdoor shot failed horribly due to wind) with the flower on a clamp, and a flash light for top lighting. My camera is flat on the table and I&#039;m using the Nikon D850&#039;s inbuilt focus shifting mode, where you simply enter the number of steps and the size of each step. The background was initially not this dark yet I had to apply some brushes due to halo effects as part of the stacking process. <br /> <br /> And oh yes, about passion flowers. As said, they bloom for a single day. Another remarkable fact is regarding the mimicry of some species. Butterflies using this flower as a host plant to deposit eggs, first check if another butterfly did not already deposited eggs, to avoid cannibalism. The passion flower has a brilliant defense: it contains a mimic of these butterfly eggs: small, orange round bulbs that looks like eggs, but are purely a misleading appendage. <br /> <br /> Some different crops:<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63001/blue_passion_flower_macro_-_ii_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63002/blue_passion_flower_macro_-_iii_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> <br /> Different experiments:<br /> <br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63005/white_flower_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63007/flower_stack_heesch_netherlands.html Europe,Focus Shift,Focus Stack,Heesch,Netherlands,Passiflora caerulea,World" /></a></figure><br /> <figure class="photo"><a href="https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63003/blue_passion_flower_-_core_heesch_netherlands.html" title="Blue Passion Flower - core, Heesch, Netherlands"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.jungledragon.com/images/2/63003_thumb.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=05GMT0V3GWVNE7GGM1R2&Expires=1759968010&Signature=tMW4WWA9T0pBwPkcvrE4Ust8A28%3D" width="200" height="134" alt="Blue Passion Flower - core, Heesch, Netherlands A focus shift stack of just the stem of a passion flower. Held in a clamp in a diagonal angle towards the camera, back-lit by a flash light, bottom-lit by UV light (which does nothing on passion flowers). Closer:<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63004/blue_passion_flower_-_core_ii_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> Here&#039;s another stack from another angle:<br /> <br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63001/blue_passion_flower_macro_-_ii_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> <br /> Setup:<br /> https://scontent-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/37235550_10156480611577692_1420255666567643136_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&amp;oh=1fe828d163b5a711b1c4be6552ba64d9&amp;oe=5BEA5C43 Blue Passion Flower,Focus Shift,Focus Stack,Passiflora caerulea" /></a></figure><br /> <figure class="photo"><a href="https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63007/flower_stack_heesch_netherlands.html" title="Flower stack, Heesch, Netherlands"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.jungledragon.com/images/2/63007_thumb.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=05GMT0V3GWVNE7GGM1R2&Expires=1759968010&Signature=Q2%2FTBn5OhyYtPsxOm63U8VcGxcU%3D" width="200" height="162" alt="Flower stack, Heesch, Netherlands Another example of a focus shift stack done on a tiny flower taken from our garden. Unfortunately, I have no idea what type of flower it is. I really love the lighting in this one, but as you can see it suffers from strong halo effects around the edges. In this case it was too difficult to clean up. Halo is a result of focus stacking software being inaccurate in trying to determine which part of a single shot in a stack is sharp. <br /> <br /> Some more experiments done on this day:<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/62997/blue_passion_flower_macro_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63003/blue_passion_flower_-_core_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63005/white_flower_heesch_netherlands.html Europe,Focus Stack,Heesch,Netherlands,World" /></a></figure> Europe,Focus Shift,Focus Stack,Heesch,Netherlands,World Click/tap to enlarge

White flower, Heesch, Netherlands

Another example of a focus shift stack done on a tiny flower taken from our garden. Unfortunately, I have no idea what type of flower it is. In this case I used a high key process to get rid of halos, although you can still see some traces of it.

Some more experiments done on this day:

Blue Passion Flower macro, Heesch, Netherlands About 2 weeks ago, I noticed how our neighbour's passion flower plant, which grows several meters during a single summer, has made an entry into our garden by "climbing" over the fence. Great, because they are wonderful flowers. I made a note to myself that as soon as I have time, I will try a focus shifting stack on one of the flowers. As I was rather busy, each day I would just observe if the flower is still there, because a single flower was blossoming. <br /> <br /> Yes, it was still there each day for the whole 2 weeks. Except that it wasn't, because I've now learned that passion flowers bloom for a single day. In other words, I was looking at a different flower every single day. Quite a mindf***?<br /> <br /> Anyway, bear with me a little as I am inexperienced in focus stacking. I've made tons of mistakes and I'm still not happy with these results, but you have to start somewhere. This is an in-house scene (every outdoor shot failed horribly due to wind) with the flower on a clamp, and a flash light for top lighting. My camera is flat on the table and I'm using the Nikon D850's inbuilt focus shifting mode, where you simply enter the number of steps and the size of each step. The background was initially not this dark yet I had to apply some brushes due to halo effects as part of the stacking process. <br /> <br /> And oh yes, about passion flowers. As said, they bloom for a single day. Another remarkable fact is regarding the mimicry of some species. Butterflies using this flower as a host plant to deposit eggs, first check if another butterfly did not already deposited eggs, to avoid cannibalism. The passion flower has a brilliant defense: it contains a mimic of these butterfly eggs: small, orange round bulbs that looks like eggs, but are purely a misleading appendage. <br /> <br /> Some different crops:<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63001/blue_passion_flower_macro_-_ii_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63002/blue_passion_flower_macro_-_iii_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> <br /> Different experiments:<br /> <br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63005/white_flower_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63007/flower_stack_heesch_netherlands.html Europe,Focus Shift,Focus Stack,Heesch,Netherlands,Passiflora caerulea,World

Blue Passion Flower - core, Heesch, Netherlands A focus shift stack of just the stem of a passion flower. Held in a clamp in a diagonal angle towards the camera, back-lit by a flash light, bottom-lit by UV light (which does nothing on passion flowers). Closer:<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63004/blue_passion_flower_-_core_ii_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> Here's another stack from another angle:<br /> <br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63001/blue_passion_flower_macro_-_ii_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> <br /> Setup:<br /> https://scontent-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/37235550_10156480611577692_1420255666567643136_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=1fe828d163b5a711b1c4be6552ba64d9&oe=5BEA5C43 Blue Passion Flower,Focus Shift,Focus Stack,Passiflora caerulea

Flower stack, Heesch, Netherlands Another example of a focus shift stack done on a tiny flower taken from our garden. Unfortunately, I have no idea what type of flower it is. I really love the lighting in this one, but as you can see it suffers from strong halo effects around the edges. In this case it was too difficult to clean up. Halo is a result of focus stacking software being inaccurate in trying to determine which part of a single shot in a stack is sharp. <br /> <br /> Some more experiments done on this day:<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/62997/blue_passion_flower_macro_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63003/blue_passion_flower_-_core_heesch_netherlands.html<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/63005/white_flower_heesch_netherlands.html Europe,Focus Stack,Heesch,Netherlands,World

    comments (6)

  1. View Christine Young's profile
    Christine Young
    Lion
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    Really impressive. Posted 7 years ago
  2. View Claire Hamilton's profile
    Claire Hamilton
    Lion
    View Lion class
    All of them stunning Ferdy, perhaps you should have them printed and framed, great art work! Posted 7 years ago
    1. View Ferdy Christant's profile
      Ferdy Christant
      Lion
      View Lion class
      I don't think they are good enough yet, Claire, but thanks so much for the encouraging words. Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago
      1. View Claire Hamilton's profile
        Claire Hamilton
        Lion
        View Lion class
        Always our worst critic!! Posted 7 years ago
        1. View Ferdy Christant's profile
          Ferdy Christant
          Lion
          View Lion class
          Sorry, can't help myself. It's not all negative, I do like some of these results, it's just realistic to say there's a lot of room to improve and much to learn. I personally look up to this person:
          https://inglesphoto.com/View-Photos-and--Prints/Flower-Photographs/1/thumbs

          But that's just flowers. For insects, experts go several steps further. I don't really like the dark backgrounds in focus stacks, but it seems almost a neccessity.           Posted 7 years ago
          1. View Claire Hamilton's profile
            Claire Hamilton
            Lion
            View Lion class
            Oh wow, I see what you mean, they are amazing. Posted 7 years ago

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By Ferdy Christant

All rights reserved
Uploaded Jul 15, 2018. Captured Jul 14, 2018 15:52.
country flag of Netherlands Explore Netherlands 8,314 2,306 0
  • NIKON D850
  • f/4.5
  • 1/60s
  • ISO64
  • 105mm