Damith Danthanarayana

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Extreme macro photography: behind the scenes (01)

Damith Danthanarayana

Subject:

  • A robber fly specimen (from my garden)

  • That specimen was washed (for cleaning and rehydrating the eyes) and cleaned by using a magnification glass and a small painting brush.

Final output:

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Equipment list:

  • Sony A6500

  • Laowa 25mm f/2.8 2.5-5X Ultra Macro

  • MJKZZ Ultra Mini-Rail Kit (incl. IR-Controller)

  • LED Lights (strip light and a panel) with a light box

Post processing:

  • Settings: f/4, 1/20 sec, ISO 160, around 3X magnification

  • Used Helican Focus software for focus stacking (63 Raw files).

  • Used the same software to remove the duct particles of the stacked photograph.

  • Used Lightroom software to adjust the colors and sharpness.

  • Used Photoshop to resize the output as per my requirements (Ex: Save for web, save for Facebook quality, etc.)

Behind the scenes:

  • Used a LED strip light as the main lighting source.

  • Fixed the LED strip inside a light box. And covered by a tracing paper.

  • Light box with the LED strip light (after modification)

  • Pinned and framed the insect specimen as per my requirement (within the focusing range)

  • Tested the background by using a yellow color A4 sheet. Distance from the subject to this background was around 200mm.

  • Tested the background with a yellow color A4 sheet. Not satisfied with the output.

  • Used two color papers as my background. Distance from the subject to this background was increased (about 500mm).

  • Final background with the used two A4 sheets (Green and yellow)

  • Fixed the focusing range by using the MJKZZ mini rail and the controller.

  • Set the starting point (first photograph), end point (final photograph), time duration between two photographs, depth between two photographs (around 0.05 mm) by using the IR controller.

  • I will explain about this values and calculating methods by a separate blog article.

Focus stacking with Helicon Focus:

https://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconsoft-products/helicon-focus/

Conclusion:

  • I got lot of un-sharp outputs with ghosting edges when I used normal flashers for stacking photographs.

  • So I decided to try with this LED light system.

  • One of my friends (Gabriel Rodriguez) helped me by sharing his past experience and knowledge.

  • I got lot of experience during this process.

  • At the end, I don’t 100% satisfy with the final output (Ex: lack of 3D look). So, I did several changings since my next stacking (will explain in a separate blog articles).

Advices:

  • I have spent a considerable time period to recover this dead specimen by removing its debris and dust particles.

  • So, please don’t do any harm to the insects for your photography purposes. And please avoid using any type of live baiting to capture/ hold the living insects for your stacking purposes.

  • If you walk in your garden, you may find a specimen for your practicing. Or else you may try with another type of subjects (Ex: a needle head, a coin, a circuit board, a tip of a pen.. etc.).

Sony A6500:

https://www.sony.com/ng/electronics/interchangeable-lens-cameras/ilce-6500-body-kit

Laowa 25mm f/2.8 2.5-5X Ultra Macro

https://www.venuslens.net/product/laowa-25mm-f-2-8-2-5-5x-ultra-macro-2/

MJKZZ-Ultra Mini-Rail Kit (incl. IR-Controller)

https://www.mjkzz.de/products/ultra-rail-kit-small-incl-mjkzz-ir-controller?variant=18447788212339

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