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Scales

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted February 20, 2016393 views6 comments

As an exercise in using Helicon Remote I took this cone as a subject. Soon I got more interested in the subject itself... Using natural light, one day the cone had a beautiful glow. With HR taking control of the focussing it is possible to take very small steps in a consistent way. Much better than doing this by hand. The image is combined by Zerene from a stack of 27 images. The free version of HR only allows jpg, usually I shoot in raw. However Zerene does not read raw images which can be circumvented by converting to tiff. So just skipping all that, processing is done in jpg. I don't think the result is that bad, but it is not for me to judge. For me HR and Zerene is a good combination, but I still have to try outside in the field. C&C very much appreciated of course.

Canon 40D, Sigma 150 mm, f/9, 4 sec, iso 100, CPL, tripod

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on February 20, 2016 at 9:16 AM

Igor,
Very cool composition with the light and shadows, detail and color pallet all combining to make the wonderful pattern of the scales very intriguing. Looks to me like you exercise is a success,
Well done . . . devil

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments

Comment posted by Roel Wijtmans on February 20, 2016 at 12:36 PM

Dang, that is really cool! Love the light you captured here, and this really makes me want to have a go at cones myself. I love Zerene, but I must say that I have never tried anything else but manually adjusting the focus. Works ok, but the results will probably be better the way you do it. I would not look forward to carrying a laptop in the field though, haha. No nits for me, love the sharpness and crispness of this shot!

Registered on September 30, 2012, 116 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on February 21, 2016 at 9:20 AM

Excellent details and a finely captured pattern here, Igor. The gentle glow towards the tops of the seeds is a fine addition. I do wonder how this would look as a vertical with the seeds pointing up. Yes, at this magnification, getting overlapped images with manual focus is quite a challenge. One advantage of Helicon is the ability to process raw images in your choice of color space directly (or sent from Lightroom, which is how I do it).

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Igor Hoveijn on February 21, 2016 at 4:45 PM

Thanks very much for your comments.

@Roel, I have Helicon Remote on my smartphone, so fortunately no need to carry a laptop.

@Mark, thanks for the suggestion of a vertical. In fact I do have a vertical of another take in B+W, which I might post too.

Registered on November 2, 2015, 18 Posts, 192 Comments

Comment posted by Balan Vinod on February 22, 2016 at 1:44 AM

Beautiful comp, and some great light and detial. The fine shine makes this image. very well done

Balan Vinod

Registered on March 20, 2006, 889 Posts, 2312 Comments

Comment posted by Marylynne Diggs on March 14, 2016 at 8:39 PM

Spectacular patterns in this, and the warm tones of the cone are just so inviting. It's amazing how much work it takes to get deep dof in a macro shot, eh? In this case, it totally laid off. Nice job.
ML

Registered on December 14, 2010, 122 Posts, 1034 Comments