Non insect macros anyone?

Sibil wrote in post #18993558
Oil and Water

Great color.

More oil on water, this time with craters and textures in the drops.

Seems I have a thing for the back side.
13 image focus stack with my Kiron 105 F2.5 Macro

IMAGE LINK: https://photos.smugmug​.com …i-hgJJMw5-XL.jpg&lb=1&s=A

itsallart wrote in post #18993637
More oil on water, this time with craters and textures in the drops.

Hosted photo: posted by itsallart in
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forum: Macro

Looks like you busted a bunch of eggs!

Seeing all of these great photos I guess it’s time to get out the macro lens and give it ago. So I have some questions. On the oil and water shots do you just have it on a plate ? And where can I learn about photo stacking?

Looks like stained glass.

skagitrat wrote in post #18993731
Seeing all of these great photos I guess it’s time to get out the macro lens and give it ago. So I have some questions. On the oil and water shots do you just have it on a plate ? And where can I learn about photo stacking?

Focus stacking is pretty simple actually. It's just a series of images where the focus plane changes. So basically you just pick the closest and farthest part of the scene you want in focus and start shooting from either the front or the back and change your focus ever so slightly till you get to the other end. Here's a Youtube video. There are tons of them explaining it pretty thoroughly.
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=2T_hczcOz70

johnfosteruk wrote in post #18994009

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forum: Macro

Gorgeous, John. Very sensuous or even sensual...

Thank you

skagitrat wrote in post #18993731
Seeing all of these great photos I guess it’s time to get out the macro lens and give it ago. So I have some questions. On the oil and water shots do you just have it on a plate ? And where can I learn about photo stacking?

There's a lot of information on line. My setup is similar to the one shown in one of the links.
https://www.photocrowd​.com …act-oil-and-water-images/
http://marcgcphotograp​hy.com …y-creative-technique-php/

1) Camera on a tripod with lens parallel to water.
2) Glass dish spotlessly clean, otherwise you will deal with too much dust.
3) Flash under glass at the correct angle will make bubbles pop. Flash or natural light from the top will make them flat.
4) Just oil on water makes the bubbles flat but a few drops of dish washing detergent will make them pop even more.
5) Different viscosity of oil will create interesting patterns.
6) CD under glass at the right angle will generate refraction and super interesting color effects.
I have attached 2 pictures to show high viscosity oil and light refraction.

Post processing is another animal. I usually blur the water surface to get rid of dust. Gaussian blur is fine but for the oil surface blur is better. Healing brush is another tool. Playing with clarity, saturation etc. in ACR is also helpful.

Hope you have fun and shoot yourself stupid

Photo from itsallart's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (785896)

Photo from itsallart's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (730818)

Another Focus stack. 12 shots I think.

IMAGE LINK: https://photos.smugmug​.com …i-hJnKKLs-X2.jpg&lb=1&s=A