Foxglove
This is a focus stack of a foxglove blossom from my yard.
This is a focus stack of a foxglove blossom from my yard.
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Mar, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This flower was in my garden at home.Time
Mid-afternoon.Lighting
There was not direct sunlight hitting the blossom, but the light was reflected off the side of my house.Equipment
Camera: Olympus E-5 with Olympus Zuiko 50mm f2 Macro. Camera was mounted on a macro sled and a tripod. It is a focus stack, and the shot consists of an estimated thirty-two images compiled in Zerene Stacker software.Inspiration
I love these plants, after doing medical research using a very inportant drug (Digitalis) derived from this plant when I was younger. I do a lot of macro work, and enjoy trying to creatively capture interesting patterns that run through my subjects. This was an early attempt, and I think its appeal comes from the cave-like effect that resulted.Editing
I shoot in Raw, and at the time, was post-processing with Lightroom, then importing the jpeg images into Zerene for focus stacking. I likely tweaked the compiled image in Photoshop to finish it.In my camera bag
I now shoot with an Olympus m4/3 E-M1 mk2. For this kind of work, I now have two macro lenses, and use both of them pretty regularly - the older Zuiko 4/3 50mm f2.0 that I used for this shot, with an adapter for the new camera, and the more recent Zuiko 60mm f2.8 macro designed for the new camera, which has internal focus stacking and focus bracketing built in, that only work with the new lens. I also carry around the same macro sled and a small tripod that I used for this shot. I also have a cable release, a flash unit, small reflectors and a few homemade flexible rod clamps to secure my subjects when it is windy. Occasionally, I like to bring my long telephoto lens too, and use it at its closest focus point, which is about six feet. Great for insects, and places where I can’t set up right in front of the subject.Feedback
Be patient, push yourself to try different approaches and always think of this stuff as a learning process! I usually come back from a shoot never expecting to get results that achieve what I hoped for. It is nice when I do get there!
