Copiapoa tenuissima

This is one of the focus stacks that was salvaged for my crashed hard drive. I have noticed are several more that I will post as I find them. Hope you enjoy

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The background was turned black in post processing wasn't it? Makes me wonder what is under there The flowers look impressive. As for macro shots, I prefer them closer.

Froggr wrote in post #3620817
The background was turned black in post processing wasn't it? Makes me wonder what is under there The flowers look impressive. As for macro shots, I prefer them closer.

Thanks for your comments Froggr. Actually, the backround was not the result of post processing. I was using a 180mm and chose a dark background.

Irwin

Lovely flowers Irwin
This shot seems to be a bit soft compared to your norm ?
Brian V.

Hi Brian. Thanks for you comments. I agree. It does look a little softer than usual. A few spines are blurred. I think this is a result of the program getting confused and not knowing the foreground from background and mixing the two. I would love to rerun the stack and hand layer the spines in. But I can't find the slices due to my crash. O well...

I normally don't sharpen my stacks. but as a partial cure, I applied some sharpening. Do you think it helps.

Irwin

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Hiya Irwin,

Great shot, I definately prefer your Sharpened version as it has greatly enhance the texture of the petals in the foreground, that as technical as an ol country lad like me can get

Hope Robin had as good a time as pos. under the circumstances

Cheers for now & hi to Robin
Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the ol country wisdom. Take care, I pm'd you earlier today.

Irwin

Irwin- yes think the sharpened version is better?
Does Helicon sharpen the final stack like combinez does (well it uses a high pass filter) ?
Brian V.

LordV wrote in post #3627925
Irwin- yes think the sharpened version is better?
Does Helicon sharpen the final stack like combinez does (well it uses a high pass filter) ?
Brian V.

Brian, thanks for your eagle eyes on the sharpening. Helicon does have a little sharpening, I believe. But I think it seems to have been toned down substantially in the later versions. There are only a few times when I go to a specific layer that the sharpness of the in focus portion of the layer is not as sharp as the comparable portion of the composite. I suspect that occurs primarily when the point of actual sharp focus lies between the focal point of the two layers. I am getting beyond my limited knowledge here, but I suspect it is Helicon sharpens because it averages (in some fashion) the readings between the layers. I have read some comparisons between Helicon and Combine that have said that Helicon does not uses a high pass filter; but, being a computer illiterate who does not know what a high pass filter is, I may be just spreading internet fiction.

The last time I printed 16" x 20" I did use some subtle sharpening on my hand layered Helicon images to good effect. Given what I have seen by layer peeping and my experience in hand layering, I don't see any problem in some slight sharpening of an image that is substantially hand layered. In the future, i will experiment with it more.

As an aside, what manner of sharpening do you use?

Take care.

Irwin