035 Misc Photography Crew

[steffo99]

Fallow deer.

[steffo99]

Territorial dispute I'm guessing.

[steffo99]

I was at their place alone in the morning and this one came up to me and stayed there for a bit, making faces or whatever you can call it. Neat moment.







Redid this one slightly as trying to learn and experiment more with editing:

[steffo99]

[steffo99]

[steffo99]

[steffo99]

Learning a bit at the time with/how to use the editing program (on1raw). Started with a poor file and tried to make it into something more ok.

[steffo99]

Was lucky to get these today, as they are true wildlife unlike most shots I have so far in parks. It was after sunset and wide open at f4, iso is still around 25k or so, but the D850 still gave me something to work with, even though one can't expect much like this.

I was higher up looking for some shots over part of the city (Gothenburg) in the sunset light and heard leaves and brushes making noises behind me. Turned around and got a few short moments with these guys.

An older lady came over with her smartphone camera as she saw I had something in my sights. We ended up having a longer conversation as she had many years of photo experience and recognized my Nikon right away. Turns out she lived close by and was able to give me advice on the best spots for squirrels which I always wondered about. Good day.












closeby...

[steffo99]

Birds from earlier today. Still struggling with these – hit rate of mine is pretty abysmal, at least of the ones moving around a lot. I need more of the fat and lazy ones.

[steffo99]

[steffo99]

So, went to the dog fair/ehibition here in Gothenburg (1st day of 4).
https://en.mydog.se/

Good practice for me since indoors which presents some new challanges. Used the really old 180/f2.8 (late 90's) and nikon D850. Needless to say it's low light, then the artificial light makes it tricky as it (conditions) change from one spot to another quite drastically. I have so many pictures, so just posting the first ones I worked on. Been at it since 7 in the morning and is now about 8 pm over here. Good night all.

[steffo99]

[steffo99]

[steffo99]

[steffo99]

Last day of dog exhibition here in Gothenburg. Didn't really feel it today – twice as many ppl as the first day and many ppl are just in the way. Posting some portraits first – happy with one or 2, but the rest are still ok. Then some action shots at the end.

[steffo99]

oops...

[steffo99]

Action shots indoors. These were difficult for me. Even wide open at f2.8, and 1/200 shutter gave iso 5000, and set shutter here to 1/2000 to reduce motion blur and have any hope at a decent one so it's beyond max iso mostly. Even though this D850 has been recognized for great autofocus, most shots I couldn't lock on properly. Tried 3D and group focus.

I'm thinking 3 factors, in my beginner mind, are at play.

1. My technique 2. Low light making itharder for the af system to lock on – not sure since not very technical. Would just make sense since the lower light of adding teleconverters etc screw with the af system ability. 3. I am tracking something coming at me in 3D etc, and even though good, this is a 6 yr old camera and just guessing the 3D tracking to be more of a beta version of that in the new Z8 mirrorless. I will have to test during spring outdoors in better light I think when it comes to getting a sense of camera af ability (vs me failing.)

Anyways, this was really fun practice. Now I want to see if can find more events, sports etc. where I'm allowed to shoot. Anyways, here goes.

[steffo99]

That's it. Have a good night all.

[steffo99]

Around sunrise this morning.

[steffo99]

This morning at a Gothenburg park.

[steffo99]

[steffo99]

Been sitting many hours/days now to get to this point in editing. Had to go outside on1raw to try find a decent background remover. Tested several and most did very poorly with the edges of hair on the animal, but found an ok one – AI demo version. Linking it if anyone wish to test out for themselves.
https://huggingface.co/spaces/Sankar...ge-matting-app

Original:




edit so far:

[steffo99]

Made a slideshow of my visit to Gothenburg City Museum yesterday. Hopefully the link below works, if anyone is interested. Some of the stuff, like this arrowhead, was found only minutes away from me.




https://www.canva.com/design/DAF7PN5..._source=editor

[steffo99]

Inside the "palmhouse" in Gothenburg for 5 minutes before closing time, and just outside trying some macro – handheld, no stacks – will try that when get som more gear soon. Was surpised there was even some small flowers at all this time of year. Had no flash with me, but was happy how these very tiny raindrops reflected the ringlight I put on the lens. Will go back and get more inside soon.

[steffo99]

[steffo99]

Traded in some gear and getting some different stuff.

Learning so much in a short span from this one channel by Allan Wall, a 76 yr old former surgeon - now macro photographer. Been going through many of his vids ofc and love it - he seems to function the same way as me with a clear, simple, logical process to everything and has a dry sense of humor as well. He has a vid for just about every aspect one can imagine (in macro).



I'm not the person to just jump into things, and like to be overprepared before even starting. We are all different I guess.
I have a decent 2X manual macro lens - a cheap 100 usd knockoff off laowa lens, but now I traded in a bunch of gear to get setup for macro/extreme macro in a more proper way.

Getting the "new" tamron 90 mm 1:1 from 2016 (delivered monday or tuesday)
Have the raynox 250 snap-on filter, and getting af extension tubes delivered next week as well, so this will be my base outdoor gear giving 1X-3.2X. This setup also has great image stabilization from the lens, allowing slower shutterspeeds, an easier time to focus in a stable live view etc. Then getting a small cage for it if want to use at times so can mount extra lights, a larger screen/monitor to check focus, etc etc. And use the focus shift function of the D850 for stacking pictures (up to 300 images). Only 0.1-0.3 mm or so will be in focus at times so need to use helicon program to merge many images. Tried it a few times already, but no expert.











This pretty much allows me to position camera/cage anywhere (I hope), not just inside the legs of the tripod, but out to the side and move in most directions etc
Then got a bunch of other small stuff to get ready - nose spray bottle, needles etc. Think I will even get one or 2 dead bugs to to be able to practice at home first.


ebay bug


If I understand it correctly from what Allan explains, once you go over 3X or so on camera lenses you will run into a wall/physics law almost....due to diffraction occuring at those "real" apertures getting over f20...image quality will be degraded." Real aperture at close distances - the 1-3x for normal a macro lense with accessories, times (1+ aperture) . This means you need to stay at f4 or f5.6, or the real aperture will cause bad diffraction. 3+(1+5.6) = 19.8 real aperture.
Kind of makes sense after checking reviews of the higher magnification macro lenses (up to 5X), and seeing that image quality degrades after 3.5X. Physics then I suppose.

Then planning for setup above 3X according to vid above with microscope objectives. Will stay in the 1-3X though for a while first to get my feet wet.


Then trading in a few items to mpb (my place is to trade to german location) - it was so easy and seamless on their website, even arranging for DHL to pick my stuff up and ship to them for free - and exchanging for a nikon 24 mm for landscape etc. I sold a bunch of gear here locally in the past weeks and regret it now, cause this place offers much better prices on average. The stuff I trade to them, the swedish vendors didn't even want.

Then waiting for a response from a local listing of the tamron 85 mm/1.8 - some guy has it listed for half the price of what one can find on ebay, and this seems to be the sharpest lens I can get atm for the D850. According to DxO mark it has a resolving power that maxes out the 45 mp on my D850 if understand it correctly. Hoping for some luck here. Figure I can use it for so many things - indoors, close up encounters at the zoo, portraits, and some landscape pano stacks as well.

Anyways, just typing thoughts and excited to get into new areas with new possibilities and gear– sorry if boring to you. WIll make it up to you later by posting ok pics.

Edit: Still can't believe I had to pay 500 bucks almost for a memory card and reader. Could get an ok used camera for that. But tech is just to great and allows so many fast shots when time to stack many for macro etc.

[ChazWood]

Holy snappers yur keeping well busy Steffo! Bravo Dude!

You've elevated your craft technically as well as in framing and subject. Some of your captures are completely wonderful and would hold up to seasoned professional caliber, IMHO.

So awesome to see you with so much enthusiasm, Dude. I know I'm not alone in saying that I dig seeing your shots so keep 'em coming!

This shot melted my heart.

[steffo99]

Thanks, Chaz! You're much too kind, good dude sir.

Just picked up the Tamron lens and new memory card mentioned previously - feels heavy and nicely built. Then looking at camera screen - says I can take over 10K of these 46 MB pics - that just seems insane. I remember my imac in 98 had like 1 GB, so this card has 1000x that. Can't wait to get started more with macro now, but suspect spring will be a better time. Feels like a great complement to doing the wildlife thing, so that when no animals around one can start exploring the forest floor instead.

Thanks again to anyone checking this thread - feels a bit strange being the sole poster for a while, but I don't have any other social media presence yet to share anything. Maybe I should get a webpage this year, just to have it and learn/experience that as well.

Have a good day/evening.


Edit: Ok, grabbed about 30 different little accessories for macro etc off amazon and aliexpress - been thinking about it and going through it for a few days.

Some fun things and ideas I haven't seen anyone else do after going over a bunch of macro vids and channels, but I need to try now that came up with the ideas, lol. Once out in the field, wearing my forest camo like a badass, I quickly pull out this little suction gun and trap any poor bug(ger) in sight. Ladies love bug trappers as well.







Then figure I can have this transparent box ready, filled with soil/dirt, just adding a pebble, leaf, or twig from the environment - drop the bug in and force it to pose for me for a bit. Think I can shoot through that plexiglass thing without deterioration (not 100% about that.)

This could be great or work out terribly - I'll find out for all of us.

Then getting this sweet ride for eye-level forest riding.




Then got some stuff for indoors, more controlled environment - like this little soldering station I can use to hold and manipulate subjects, Hold lights etc.





Realizing I'm a bit silly getting all this before even starting, but that's just me I guess.



Edit, March 1:





Hey again,

Greg asked about the lights, so posting here what got going so far.

The armlights do not have any flash, but a various settings. At max setting at night and at kitchen table, 1/200s, I got the iso down from 8000 to base of 64. And it allows for the whole focusing in darker conditions, which a regular flash doesn't help with.

The little monitor allows easier view and focusing – it has focus peaking as well – showing the in-focus sections in color. Step size or each slice in focus will for my gear and settings only be 0.08-0.5 mm, depending on magnification.

Still waiting for some optionals that can mount to cage (still has 3 cold shoes, and a bunch of ¼ holes left).

Articulating arms with clamp – can hold subject in place against the wind or just to get separation from the background. Can also hold a small white diffuser umbrella to block harsh sunlight.

Have flash already.

Then getting the nisi 200 rail to place under cage, so that smallest possible increment is 0.01 mm steps.

And waiting for tripod boom arms so can move cage anywhere as far as angles and away outside of tripod legs – by a bush with a tiny flower higher up or even swing it down to the ground level.

Found a nikon table for recommended setting in it's focus shift function and based off that calculated approximate step sizes for it's smallest step at 5.6 as table gave. Noone seemed to have actual numbers and just guessing what will work.



For an inch (2.5 cm) subject at 5.6 (which I plan to use) the table at smallest size 1 (1-10) recommends 130 images. That's 51-52 images per cm (10mm), which would the mean step size of 0.195.

http://extreme-macro.co.uk/focus-stacking/#calculator
http://extreme-macro.co.uk/raynox-ad...es/#calculator

Assuming that is the minimum step of the focus shift in the D850 and plugging that into the step calculator etc above, it would seem that would allow for a max of 1.9X magnification.

This means I cannot use the Raynox 250 snap-on filter for my tamron 90 mm when relying on the D850 focus shift function, as this give a 2.44X and would require smaller steps. But the 68 mm of AF extension tubes should be good as get 1.76X with those.

Glad I got to some of these insights before starting so not spend hours and hours wondering why things came out sub par.

F5.6 for my setting also just keep effective aperture under 20 to avoid degradation due to diffraction, and is supposed to be the sharpest setting for my specific lens.

I can probably skip most of these extra aides when just out and taking shots at 0.5X-1X, but getting in closer really make things tricky for sure.

Have a good day.


Edit:

This is madness, but got an ultrasound cleaner, 17 random bugs from insect-trade.eu, needles - straight and curved, some tack and a tea filter thing so can attach tack and needle to it then attach bug - then lower it into the ultrasound cleaner whithout it touching the walls etc. Hopefully gets rid of small particles. The Decon90 (recommended at extreme macro uk) solution at 20% in water to restore some bugs (used by museums) is not sold here so thinking about that one.

[ChazWood]

Thanks again to anyone checking this thread - feels a bit strange being the sole poster for a while, but I don't have any other social media presence yet to share anything. Maybe I should get a webpage this year, just to have it and learn/experience that as well.

Have a good day/evening.

Lovin' the solid update, Steffo Dude. I'm happy to swing by here to checkout whatchu upto butt u mabe should consider utilizing a more optimal platform to exchange and engage with fellow photographer peeps or whatever. To which I have no idea what ppl are using these days so regrettably I'm no help there.

I was a fashion photographer dude in a previous chazwood OS platform. Def not financially successful at it butt I got plenty of good memories stored from my 20's in the 90's going up and down the east coast.

I'm diggging following yur photography journey vibes and enthusiasm. Awesome to experience - let it flow, Brother!

Edit: Ok, grabbed about 30 different little accessories for macro etc off amazon and aliexpress - been thinking about it and going through it for a few days.

Some fun things and ideas I haven't seen anyone else do after going over a bunch of macro vids and channels, but I need to try now that came up with the ideas, lol. Once out in the field, wearing my forest camo like a badass, I quickly pull out this little suction gun and trap any poor bug(ger) in sight. Ladies love bug trappers as well.

Haha! I didnt even know such a thing existed which shows how out of touch I am. I will say that plexiglass/acrylic only looks good the moment you peel off the protective cover. From that moment on, every abrasive object in the Universe is drawn to it or waiting patiently to scratch it. Don't even get me started on evil freakin' plexiglass!


cough Getting back OT, here's a pic I took with my phone of my favorite dog being her awesome self.

[steffo99]

Thanks for the feedback, Chaz. Beautiful doggo there. Just knew you were into some ghey stuff in the 80's. No seriously, fashion photography and at that time - you must have some good memories.