Bee on Sunflower Head
This is a three image focus stack, where there is slightly deeper depth of field (range of focus) than in a single image. I also kept a copy of just the center frame of the stack to compare. When stacking in the field there is always a risk of enough movement that a focus stack will not work well. The single frame in this instance looked pretty good with almost as much of the bee in focus. Where the difference really became obvious was the sharpness of the ray florets (yellow petals) and the disc florets (the little tubular things).
Focus stacking is just a tool, where you can extend your sharp range of focus under the right condidtions. Having said that just because one can get deeper depth of field doesn't mean it will be better, or should be used. I think each scene and or subject has to be looked at individually before one can decide upon which settings and tools to use.
Here, I do like that there is more in focus than the single frame, so i feel that using the focus stacking as being successful and was a good choice to try.
Note: This guy was pretty still, and it was a calm morning. We had had some heavy rain the night before. I believe he spent the night on the flower. Parts of his fuzzy bits still appeared wet. I felt lucky to get a focus stack in the field. View large if you can for best detail as this one is about detail more than composition.
Bee on Sunflower Head
This is a three image focus stack, where there is slightly deeper depth of field (range of focus) than in a single image. I also kept a copy of just the center frame of the stack to compare. When stacking in the field there is always a risk of enough movement that a focus stack will not work well. The single frame in this instance looked pretty good with almost as much of the bee in focus. Where the difference really became obvious was the sharpness of the ray florets (yellow petals) and the disc florets (the little tubular things).
Focus stacking is just a tool, where you can extend your sharp range of focus under the right condidtions. Having said that just because one can get deeper depth of field doesn't mean it will be better, or should be used. I think each scene and or subject has to be looked at individually before one can decide upon which settings and tools to use.
Here, I do like that there is more in focus than the single frame, so i feel that using the focus stacking as being successful and was a good choice to try.
Note: This guy was pretty still, and it was a calm morning. We had had some heavy rain the night before. I believe he spent the night on the flower. Parts of his fuzzy bits still appeared wet. I felt lucky to get a focus stack in the field. View large if you can for best detail as this one is about detail more than composition.