Ah.... Macrophotography....

I was looking back at my posts here and noticed the last time I wrote specifically about macrophotography was in August 2018 - Still-Life Macro Photography with the Vello Macrofier and Product Review: Vello Macrofier for Canon EOS (UPDATED!). I have re-visited the world of macro over the past year and it has opened up a whole new world for me.

I am using the term macro to include close-up; the true interpretation of macro means 1:1 (or lifesize) or greater magnification. I am including images here that do not quite fit that constraint but are close. I do not own a "macro" lens, both of my zoom lenses have a maximum magnification of 1:4. I achieve macro utilizing extension tubes, specifically the Vello Macrofier.

Outdoors

Pholiota aurivella or Golden Scalycap
85mm (136mm)
1/200th @ f/16

I love being outdoors and immersing myself in the beauty of nature. When I started my photographic journey many, many years ago I mostly took photos of people - specifically family. It didn't take long for me to turn my lens to the natural world; that is when the fire was lit and I became passionate about photography. My work consisted mostly of grand landscapes, sunrise/sunset, and seascapes and I was very happy. When the pandemic hit and the world shut down in March 2020 my landscape was limited to what I could find outside my front and back doors at home - that sparked my "Backyard Discoveries" project.

17 image aperture stack
135 mm (216mm)
1/15th @ f/5.6 thru 2 seconds @ f/36

Earlier this year I started a serious trek into macrophotography and spent much of my time around the yard looking for suitable subjects. One of my favorite outdoor macro subjects are mushrooms - they are also the most elusive. If you have ever attempted macrophotography "in the wild" I think you would agree that even the slightest breeze can ruin you day. When you get up-close-and-personal any movement is magnified, combine that will smaller apertures and corresponding longer exposures life can become more of a waiting game. A single-image is challenge enough, add to that focus-stacking, things get really challenging. I also learned a new technique for achieving greater depth of field; normally I would use "focus stacking", recently I learned about "aperture stacking". I am not going to take space here to explain the differences, check the section below.

The Golden Scalycap is a mushroom that I found on a dead log in the woods next to my house. It was part of a group of three (3) mushrooms but I got in as tight as I could to single out this one. The image is a three (3) exposure HDR or exposure blend with the light being supplied by a speedlight with softbox. I moved the light around between exposures to highlight different parts of the mushroom. I could have used a reflector for a more subtle effect but didn't have one with me. The other mushroom was found in my back yard; it is the first time I tried "aperture stacking", using Helicon Focus¹ to combine the images. The only light came from the sunlight coming through the few leaves still on the trees and the camera mounted under the tripod. In this instance I set the exposure mode to "aperture priority" and let the camera choose the shutter speed since the exposure will be changing with each image.

Indoors - Studio Still Life

Rook Coffee Beans
135mm (216mm)
1/1250th @ f/6.3

When I was outside looking for compositions I came across some interesting leaves but current conditions were not cooperating. I picked up the leaves and brought them inside with the intention of bringing them outside when conditions permitted. There came a time when I decided I was tired of waiting and began doing some still-life work. I follow many photographers on YouTube, some of which specialize in studio photography and macro photography. I learned a lot watching the videos, now I had a good reason for putting that new found knowledge to work.

Gummi Bears
135mm (216mm)
1/160th @ f/16

I had done some studio still-life but hadn't done any macro work - it was time to start. I grabbed some coffee beans to play with and found one lighter colored bean in the handful I grabbed. This is one case where a shallow depth of field in a macro image is a good thing. I used the narrow view to help make the odd bean really stand out, I also highlighted it a bit in post-processing to accentuate it's uniqueness in the group. I also have a focus stack image of the same composition that I will include at the end of this article, along with other images.

Oak leaf and acorns
87mm (139mm)
1/200th @ f/16

The Gummi Bears were left over from Halloween; I put them on a piece of glass, set the flash with softbox underneath and made this image. I "cheated" a bit and created the black background in Photoshop. (I have since bought some black card stock and will use that in the future.) This image brings me back to my high school years - back then, in the dark ages, Gummi Bears weren't widely available and we could only get them when a classmate visited the PX at the local Army post.

Maple Leaf
52mm (83mm)
1/250th @ f/16

This year seems to be the "Year of the Oak", everywhere I turn in my yard I see oak leaves and acorns. For the image shown here I put a piece of glass on top of a black keyboard mat in order to get a nice reflection. The lighting was provided by a single speedlight with a softbox. Using a high shutter speed and small aperture made the gray seamless paper background go black. Some of the leaves had some really interesting twists and holes in them - you will find those images, along with another view of the maple leaf, with the other images at the end of this article.

The maple leaf was a surprise find. I had been outside to take a quick look at something, camera was left inside, and came across a leaf with some dappled lighting that I thought would make a nice image. I went inside to get my camera but when I got outside I couldn't find the leaf, what I found instead was this maple leaf. The way the light was shining on it made the back side of the leaf look almost pure white, I brought it inside to be shot at a later date. I shot the maple leaf during the same session as the oak leaves and acorns, using the same surface and lighting.

Focus stacking vs Aperture stacking

Aperture stacking is a new technique for me, one that I learned about while watching a macro-related video on YouTube. I have done a lot of focus stacking, combining anywhere from two (2) to thirty (30) or so images. I will briefly describe each technique here and provide links to other resources if you wish to get more in-depth information.

Focus stack

Focus stack is the most common technique used for maximum depth of field in all (most) disciplines of photography; I have used it in my landscape photography, in addition to my macro work. The process is quite simple, you take multiple images - changing the focus point for each image. I like to start at the closest point and then towards infinity. The number of images required is more of an art than a science, it depends upon the focal length, aperture, magnification, and how much you want in focus. It is best to overestimate the number of images - it is better to have more than you need because you cannot go back if you miss something. The images are then opened in Photoshop (or Helicon Focus) as a stack, the software will then mask each of the images to show the sharpest portions of each image.

Aperture stack

Aperture stacking is an interesting technique and is somewhat easier than focus stacking. This technique is different in that the focus point remains constant throughout the stack - the aperture, and therefore the shutter speed, changes. I started by focusing on slightly in front of the mushroom and set my aperture at f/5.6 with my camera set to "aperture priority" mode. I then took a series of images, closing down the aperture in 1/3 stop increments until I reached f/36. I did a quick, basic, edit of the images and then sent them to Helicon Focus to do the stack. Once the stack was complete, I finished my edits in Lightroom.

The Results and Conclusion

I found that each method produces satisfactory results and was happy with the results using each. One of the advantages of aperture stacking is that I can do it "blindly", meaning I don't have to focus between images which makes ground-level shooting much easier. A big downside when shooting outside is that light can change quickly meaning that the exposure can be considerably different between images. Of course, you could set exposure manually but that makes in quite a bit more work.

Focus stacking is still my "go-to" technique - I like to work from front-to-back. Focus stacking requires changing the focus point between images while keeping the exposure consistent throughout. As I mentioned previously, the number of images and focus points of each image is more of an art than a science. You can make your guesswork a bit more scientific if you calculate the hyperfocal point for a lens/aperture combination and then set the focus point. When working with macro the depth of field is so shallow - fractions of an inch - that hyperfocal distance is all but ineffective.

The is another technique used for focus stacking but it is one that I have never used - I mention it here for the sake of completeness. The technique requires a macro focus rail, it is a geared platform that sits on a table or attaches to a tripod and moves the camera in small increments. To shoot the stack, you focus on the closest point, make the image and then move the entire platform slightly closer to the subject, thereby changing the point of focus. Once you have all of the images, the process is the same as the other two methods.

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Notes:

Helicon Focus is a widely used shareware package used for combining focus stack/aperture stack images. I have used Photoshop to do my focus stack work but find that it can be hit-or-miss when I combine more than three (3) or four (4) images - Helicon Focus provides more consistent results with large stacks.

Technical information: