Macro-photography

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, yesterday as I was coming indoors for lunch, I spotted the little spider in the photo below, on a piece of rusty angle iron sunbathing. So I quickly went indoors, washed my hands and grabbed my EOS 40D camera and my new 35mm macro lens and took the photo, however I could only get a good view at an angle of this little chap, who as it was, measured 15mm wide by 10mm high, so if it was on a 5p coin, might just about reach the edge with all it's legs outstretched. Of course taken at an angle, it was not possible to get everything in focus.

A few days ago though, I took a picture of the sixpence that I took before with my phone camera and the clip on close up lens. This photo is also with my EOS 40D and my new 35mm macro lens and is the closest I could get while keeping it in focus. This was with the morning sunlight coming in through the window. I think it can be seen that it is a much closer photo than the other one and very much superior and more uniform.

Although these two photos have been resized, they have not been cropped or altered in any other way.

Regards Nick.

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

Nick,

Try your method on this pair.

I've swapped them left to right for parallel viewing. When I view them my (cross-eyed) way, bits of the image are in the wrong place.

Great photographs everyone.

Isn't this thread amazing?

Sam

PS – Raphael, I haven't forgotten about the bellows question.

PPS – Bandersnatch, I had to look up 'Windows Violation'. Guilty too!

 

Edited By Sam Stones on 03/06/2020 20:42:56

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Sam Stones on 03/06/2020 20:40:03:

PPS – Bandersnatch, I had to look up 'Windows Violation'. Guilty too!

 

Windows Violation simply means that some parts of the stereo view protrude forward of the stereo window. Purists tend use the term a bit pejoratively maintaining that it shouldn't be allowed.

I don't think it hurts occasionally – it can work quite well on some shots – but it can be overdone. It happened by accident on this one because of a rushed cropping job on the originals and doesn't work particularly well.

t was a stock-in-trade with old 3D movies and gained a (deservedly) bad reputation.

Edited By Bandersnatch on 04/06/2020 01:40:56

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Sam, that works fine in free view and with my stereoscope.

Regards Nick.

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Perhaps it's just me but no matter how I look at the stereo images or for how long, they just remain as a pair of images

John

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi John, I had this problem for a while and I can't seem to do it on my laptop computer. Looking at them on my phone is the best way I've found, but I had to look and relax my eyes beyond my phone but keeping the images in view. Now however, I find it easier to hold my phone up to my nose in between the images and slowly move it away while concentrating on the unfocused image in the middle until it comes into focus. Takes a little practice, but with a bit of perseverance should be doable.

Regards Nick.

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Thanks Nick, tried that until arms got tired holding phone at eye level. Unfortunately no joy. Will keep trying, I don't think my vari-focal glasses help much. Cheers

John

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

I can't do it either. the best I got was with the clock but I got three images. I had cataracts done three years back.

Roy

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by roy entwistle on 04/06/2020 10:00:09:

I can't do it either. the best I got was with the clock but I got three images. I had cataracts done three years back.

Roy

.

Three images is correct for free-viewing, Roy

Now you need to concentrate on the middle one and ignore the other two.

MichaelG.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 02/06/2020 13:40:28:

Greater fleas have little fleas,

Upon their backs to bite 'em.

Little fleas have lesser fleas,

And so, ad infinitum.

(Swift – I had to check to get the right adjectives!)

Neil

A couple from one of my Flickr albums;
Black and Orange Banded Sexton Burying Beetle – Nicrophorus investigator (with mites)

Taken with a dual head flash on one of our local moth nights
Olympus E-M1 Mk1 40-150mm F2.8 @F10 85mm with 10mm+16mm extension tubes

Bill

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

MichaelG You are quite right but I find that I keep looking at the outside ones.

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

My eureka moment.

Never having tried free (parallel) viewing of a stereo pair, and pondering over the difficulties experienced by various members, I realised (as has probably been explained earlier) that the centres of the two parallel viewing images need to be about the same distance apart as our eyes.

It then dawned on me why Nick’s method of displaying the images on his phone worked.

I took a screen snapshot off my PC monitor with my phone, practiced a bit, and was delighted to see the 3D image slide into view. Backing off was necessary in order to achieve sharp focus.

Using the zoom of the phone screen to adjust the centres of the two images to about 7cm (the centre distance of my eyes), didn’t work so well. It worked better when the two phone images were about 5cm apart.

On this basis, it is now clear (to me) why parallel viewing won’t work when the centre distances of the two images don’t (roughly) match our eye separation. I suppose if you can do ‘wall-eyed’ then viewing a large screen (tablet etc.) is also achievable?

Sam

Edited By Sam Stones on 04/06/2020 22:09:47

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

We found a Bird Pellet in the garden … Probably from a Little Owl, by the look of it.

These two photos show the full frame from my Micro Four Thirds camera, with the Minolta close-up lens attached, and the 14-45mm zoom lens at 45mm and f16. The grid is 4mm squares

Shown here to demonstrate the coverage at closest focus distance and the reasonable absence of barrel or pincushion distortion.

If anything interesting is found, on dissection of the pellet, I will do some close-ups.

.

Click the images for larger display.

MichaelG.

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

Purchased a considerable time ago, the primary use for a bellows was to get up close and personal with sectioned samples.

Electronically coupled between the lens and camera (predating digital), the bellows was an excellent adjunct to my Canon kit. At the time, it was particularly useful for displaying the results of how the screw threads of plastics lids, caps, and closures matched the respective threads and lips on bottles and containers.

To digress further from the ‘Macro’ theme, here’s a typical situation where a cap is screwed onto a bottle.

It can be only be surmised how the cap actually fits on the bottle. Inverted and potted in resin however, examination in detail becomes possible.

With some of the vagaries of crystalline polymers, aspects of shrinkage could result in small changes of thread profile etc. The ‘quality of fit’ was often a matter of torque tests versus leakage. Potting and sectioning could expose design and tooling errors; sharp notches are a significant cause of premature failure.

This was also an issue with the fit of snap-on container lids. By their very nature, thread profiles (and undercuts) of softer plastics could readily take up their own position during capping. With that degree of uncertainty, a way of accessing their actual position (after assembly) was not easy.

To gain access (after torquing), it was necessary to remove a portion of the bottle near the neck. Inverted in a suitable container, the epoxy resin was drizzled into the space. A vacuum removed trapped air. To avoid an excess of adiabatic heating and the consequential softening of the plastics components, it was important to minimise the volume of epoxy for any one pour. Several ‘pours’ becoming necessary for larger items.

After the epoxy had cured, it was my usual practice to machine the assembly; across the centreline with a capped bottle. Smoothed and polished, I then photographed the prepared face at a macro-level.

Returning to the bellows,

with an extension range between 50mm and 126mm, the bellows can take over from a typical set of extension tubes of say 12mm, 20mm, and 36mm that would only stack to 68mm, or 80mm as with your set Raphael. I have no doubt that both tubes and bellows could be stacked for even greater extension. Others here could perhaps comment upon the limitations, e.g. depth of field, etc.

Here are a couple of earlier images taken with my Canon EOS 300D camera, through the Novoflex bellows and a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM.

As with a variety of stuff accumulated over the years, I have to admit that the bellows is seldom in use these days.

Having ventured into stereo pairs, I intend to find a subject which will feature both the bellows and macro lens while providing a bit more 'fun' for us who are cross-eye 'gifted'.

Sam

PS – I'm looking forward to seeing any interesting bits you find in the bird pellet Michael.

Edited By Sam Stones on 05/06/2020 22:47:03

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Having mentioned the Minolta Achromatic close-up lenses

Here is a copy of the instruction leaflet: **LINK**

http://photojottings.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/CloseUpchart.pdf

… useful for general reference.

MichaelG.

[Raymond GriffinParticipant @raymondgriffin40985]

Another stereo pair showing blood vessel in kidney. I am having trouble deciding how to present these. My slides are bound up as pairs for projection. I take them apart and scan in the Nikon scanner. The one labelled right is on the right in my projector with the emulsion side facing the lens of the projector. Could be different when viewed as photos. Raymond

[Raymond GriffinParticipant @raymondgriffin40985]

PS Left is top and right is bottom

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 07/06/2020 09:54:59:

Having mentioned the Minolta Achromatic close-up lenses

Here is a copy of the instruction leaflet: **LINK**

http://photojottings.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/CloseUpchart.pdf

… useful for general reference.

MichaelG.

This page is worth bookmarking as well re. supplementary macro lenses

http://fuzzcraft.com/achromats.html

I've a couple of Sigma ones.

Bill

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Excellent link, Bill … Thanks for sharing it.

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Raymond Griffin on 07/06/2020 13:53:46:

[...]

I am having trouble deciding how to present these.

[...]

.

Your presentation is absolutely fine, Raymond … and the images are astonishing

Anyone with an interest in Stereo should be quite capable of pairing them to suit personal preference.

MichaelG.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 07/06/2020 15:57:42:

Posted by Raymond Griffin on 07/06/2020 13:53:46:

[...]

I am having trouble deciding how to present these.

[...]

.

Your presentation is absolutely fine, Raymond … and the images are astonishing

Anyone with an interest in Stereo should be quite capable of pairing them to suit personal preference.

MichaelG.

I don't know how others see these, but I always see 3 images, with the centre one being in 3D
I was struggling to work out how to easily view vertically stacked ones in a forum thread on a PC screen.
It's only just dawned on me that I could use my second screen.

That one's set up in vertical/portrait format. I can just drag or copy this tab over to the other screen, and then swivel it back to landscape.
Unlike a phone, there's no auto sensor, so is shows the forum displayed at 90°.
I can't read the text easily, but the 3D image pops out beautifully.

It rather remind me of tales about my Mum years ago, when she was working at the local TSB to prepare for decimalisation.
She'd been getting headaches, which was eventually diagnosed as being due to a lazy eye, so she was given some eye exercises to complete. One of these was two partially drawn rabbit images, that she had to stare at until the popped into a single complete rabbit. (the picture was really designed for kids).
From a colleague taking the mick; – Which one of the two little bunnies are you looking at today Dorothy?
Mum, without really thinking – The middle one of course.
Much laughs and they still let her count the money.

Bill

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, while listening to Tina Turner's greatest hits this afternoon, I took a few photos with my Canon 40D and my new 35mm Macro lens. Two photos of my late elder brothers dedicated Austin leather key ring fob and two photos of his gearstick knob that he never got to fit. He probably bought them from our local K.J. Shortis store, I found the in a tin in my collapsed shed last year and have suffered the savages of time, the ring on the fob is not the original though as it was very rusty and I discarded it. The first one is with the right hand lens light on half light, and as it was taken in portrait, and is lighting it from above.

This next one is with natural daylight and is a bit closer and with depth of field setting, as you probably will observe.

I think underneath the scratch after the figure 1, was an 8, but he had an 1100 and it looks like he tried to scratch an extra 1 in. The next photo is the top of the gearstick knob again with a half lit right lens light, some degrading of the logo can be seen.

This last one is the gearstick knob looking at it from what would have been the drivers side, and also with the right hand half light on and depth of field setting, while the finish on it is remarkably good, the wood has shrunk and split over the metal threaded insert.

A couple of simple things, but I thought the might be interesting macro photos.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 07/06/2020 19:07:37

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

Raymond, I took the liberty of placing your fascinating pair of kidney images both ways.

Five minutes was all it took me in Photoshop.

Here is the pair for free crosseyed viewing …

And now the pair for free (or stereoscope) parallel viewing …

As I have realised, if the distance between this second (parallel) pair is greater than your own eye separation, it can't be free-viewed.

I think I've got that right. If not, can someone correct me.

It doesn't seem to matter that there is a slight vertical difference. Once the images are 'locked' I can tilt my head slightly either left or right and the images stay locked. 

Sam

Edited By Sam Stones on 07/06/2020 20:44:25

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

This picture is another break from true macro.

My main reason for showing it was that it was photographed through my macro lens; a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM, also described as a medium telephoto lens.

A pleasing feature of this lens is the ultrasonic auto-focus. It is both extremely fast while being very quiet. There is no doubt I would not have captured this shot without the high speed focussing. As those who know, this bird keeps its eyes level during flight, so I have to admit that I’ve tilted and severely cropped this picture for more drama.

By diving at me from various directions, the spur-winged plover was protecting its young. Each ‘attack’ was ‘called off’ with a sharp disconcerting swerve about two metres in front of me.

Although it seems possible, there is no evidence to show they use those spurs to cause injury.

Sam

[Brian O’ConnorParticipant @brianoconnor49474]

Picked this little chap off my dog

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