View allAll Photos Tagged focusstacking.
the same fruit in last october:
www.flickr.com/photos/wolfgang-kynast/39368773011
Now the fruit is open and ready to sent the seeds into the wide world.
Fruit width ~25mm / 1"
Focus stack
This appears to be rough precious opal, most likely Ethiopian hydrophane opal from the Welo/Wollo area, shown as a close-up pile of uncut pieces with attached host matrix. Confidence: moderate. The strongest visual clues are the translucent to milky body, irregular rough fragments, attached pale/tan matrix, and the strong play-of-color flashing blue, green, orange, red, and violet across many pieces. Ethiopian opal is well known for this kind of hydrophane, play-of-color rough.
Description
The image shows a dense assortment of raw opal fragments ranging from milky white to pale blue, lavender, and translucent honey tones. Many pieces retain rough, chalky or rocky host material on their surfaces. The most striking feature is the vivid internal iridescence—broad flashes and patches of spectral color that shift across the stones, especially blues, greens, purples, and orange-red fire. Opal is a hydrated silica mineraloid rather than a true crystalline mineral, and precious opal displays this color effect because of its internal structure. Ethiopian hydrophane opal can also change appearance when it absorbs water, sometimes altering transparency and color intensity.
Closest alternatives / look-alikes
Less likely possibilities are:
Australian rough precious opal: also shows play-of-color, but this image looks more like the translucent hydrophane-type rough commonly associated with Ethiopian material.
Common opal or opalite glass: unlikely, because the image shows genuine-looking irregular play-of-color and natural matrix attachment rather than a uniform man-made glow.
Just some macro fun with an orchid I have in a flower pot.
My first attempt with focus stacking using Zerene Stacker.
Tried several times using Adobe Photoshop CS5 with completely useless results. Downloaded Zerene Stacker (trial) and it worked flawlessly on the first attempt. Go figure :-)
Not completely sure whether I'd prefer to have more light from the top, but I really like the dramatic light from the bottom. :-)
Strobist info:
Key: naked SB-800 with grid, directly below subject
Fill: SB-800, shoot-through umbrella, 45 degrees above subject, camera left
Testaufnahmen mit LED-Fotolampe - danke an das "Kamisori Harnisch" Team für die scharfen (!) Objekte - Verbandskasten lag bereit!
Test shots with LED photo lamp - thanks to the "Kamisori Harnisch" team for lending the sharp (!) objects - first aid kit was ready!
Eschscholzia californica.
While many wild California Poppy plants are without flowers in late fall into early winter, we have a few plants that have come up in pots in which other plants grow and they are flowering actively in late December. This one was drooping with the weight of the rain.
Identification (most likely components)
Spotted cream stones (top left/center)
→ Dalmatian stone (Dalmatian jasper)
Cream/tan base with black spots
Igneous/microcrystalline quartz material
Light blue-green stones (top right)
→ Amazonite (microcline feldspar)
Characteristic milky turquoise/green color
Often slightly cloudy or streaked
Dark green banded pieces (center)
→ Malachite (likely real or imitation)
Distinct darker banding typical of copper carbonate mineral
Iridescent green shell fragment (center-right)
→ Abalone shell (Haliotis sp.)
Nacre with strong green/blue iridescence
Organic (not a mineral)
Translucent pink/orange stones (bottom left)
→ Likely dyed glass or “opalite”-type material
Uniform color, internal bubbles/flow lines visible
More consistent with glass than natural agate
Orange translucent piece (far right edge)
→ Carnelian or dyed agate (uncertain)
Needs closer inspection; could also be glass
Porous white fragments (edges)
→ Coral or limestone fragments
Pitted structure suggests marine origin (coral skeleton)
Description
A curated grouping of mixed tumbled materials combining:
Natural minerals (amazonite, dalmatian stone, possible malachite)
Organic shell (abalone)
Marine fragments (coral/limestone)
Man-made or dyed elements (pink/orange glass)
Visual characteristics:
Strong color contrast: turquoise/green vs warm pink/orange
Mix of matte (stone/coral) and high-gloss (glass/polished minerals)
Texture contrast: smooth tumbled vs porous skeletal fragments
Pattern contrast: spotted (dalmatian), banded (green), iridescent (shell)
Assessment
Aesthetic strength: high (color and material contrast)
Material authenticity: mixed (natural + decorative glass)
Photographic value: strong due to:
translucency (pink pieces)
specular highlights
surface texture variation
note:
The green banded pieces could be fake malachite (common). Real malachite shows irregular, non-repeating banding.
The pink stones are almost certainly glass, not natural rose quartz or agate (based on uniformity and internal texture).
The orange piece could be natural (carnelian) but needs backlighting to confirm.
I must have missed a point in my photo stacking because 'Canon' on the camera isn't as sharp as it should be.
© Anvilcloud Photography
Subject: Mixed U.S. coins (macro photograph)
Types visible:
Lincoln cent (penny) – copper-colored coin with Abraham Lincoln portrait.
Jefferson nickel – coin showing Monticello on the reverse.
Likely additional nickels and cents stacked or partially visible.
The coins show corrosion, oxidation, and patina, especially on the copper-based coins.
Description
A high-magnification macro photograph of overlapping U.S. coins arranged in a loose pile. The composition emphasizes surface textures—scratches, ridges, corrosion, and metallic reflections.
Key visual features:
Copper pennies display brown oxidation and patches of blue-green corrosion.
Nickels appear silver-gray with dull wear and faint tarnish.
The blue-green areas are typical verdigris, a corrosion layer that forms on copper alloys when the metal reacts with oxygen, moisture, and environmental chemicals.
Verdigris ranges from turquoise to deep green and develops as copper oxidizes and forms copper salts on the surface.
The coin edges and relief details (lettering, Lincoln portrait, Monticello columns) are sharply defined, suggesting a macro or focus-stacked photograph emphasizing texture and detail.
Photographically, the image highlights:
metallic reflectivity
corrosion color contrasts (brown copper vs blue-green patina)
overlapping geometric forms
fine surface relief from minting
Materials
Pennies: copper or copper-plated zinc
Nickels: copper-nickel alloy
Copper in these alloys is responsible for the green patina when oxidized.
Visual/Conceptual Themes
Aging and oxidation
Everyday objects in extreme detail
Money and material value
Industrial textures
Color contrast (copper brown / turquoise corrosion / silver nickel)
Focus stacking generally gives great results - with a tripod. Not having a tripod I thought I'd give it a try. I set the camera on manual focus and swayed my body in and out. This didn't come out too bad because it was in the middle of the frame. Moving away from center produced ghosting (17 images). Probably f/5.6 and half the images would have been better. Fewer images equal fewer processing issues to resolve.
V4 edited per comments from Alan and John. Focus stacked in Photoshop. See v6 for improved detail using Zerene Stacker.
Sea glass (beach glass) — tumbled fragments of man-made glass weathered by water and abrasion.
Likely sources: bottles, jars, tableware, cosmetic containers
Formation: decades of tumbling smooths edges and creates the matte “frosted” surface
Color assessment (from your image)
Dominant hues: cobalt blue, cornflower/soft blue, aqua
Minor variation: one deeper violet-blue piece (possibly manganese-tinted glass or thicker cobalt)
Interpretation:
Cobalt blue: typically from medicine, cosmetic, or specialty bottles
Aqua / light blue: often from older bottles, jars, or insulators (pre-1920s glass formulas with iron content)
Purple tones: sometimes “sun-colored” glass where manganese reacted with UV over time
Description
Smooth, rounded fragments with consistent marine abrasion
Frosted surfaces with slight translucency; some pieces retain semi-gloss patches (indicating partial weathering)
Shapes: irregular but softened—no sharp edges
Thickness variation suggests mixed origins (bottles + possibly thicker tableware fragments)
Arrangement emphasizes tonal gradient from pale blue → saturated cobalt → violet
Quality / Grade (visual estimate)
Mixed “fine” to “very fine” grade
Mostly well-frosted and rounded
A few pieces show minor shine or flatter faces
Rarity (general, not location-specific)
Aqua / soft blue: uncommon
Cobalt blue: uncommon to rare (depends on region)
Purple: uncommon
(Blue family overall is less common than clear/green/brown sea glass )
Continuing the Pselaphinae series, here is the type species of the type genus of this subfamily. It was described by the German entomologist Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst in 1792. I've found it with the help of amateur entomologist friends, sifting the litter of a marsh. Body length is about 1.5 mm.
Studio stack based on 46 exposures taken with the Mitutoyo BD Plan APO 10x microscope objective. Find live beetle shots in the comment!
Focusstacking met de OM-D E-M1 Mark II uit het handje. beestje zit vast in het spinrag. gaat alle kanten op. veel wind en toch dit resultaat. Ik ben verbaasd dat het kan. voor alle duidelijkheid is dit een stack van in totaal 8 beelden.
This is just an image from the in camera focus stacking of a small pink flower I saw on the side of the road.
Common moths have scales over their whole body, the wings are almost entirely made of scales. Quite fascinating from up close.
Focus stacked with Olympus E-M5 II and 60mm macro
Cute but stinky flower (think garbage can on hot summer day). Focus stacked image of 6 different frames.
Can a man admit that he is intrigued with red balls in nature?
El Chorro Regional Park,
San Luis Obispo, California
When I did a little homework I saw this described as "fuzzy marbles on a string."--Virginia Tech Dendrology
And, in a bit more scientific parlance: "The trees are monoecious, i.e., both male and female flowers, although on different stalks, are together on the same tree."--Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Focus stacked from 5 pics
see www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/189241767/
www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/189241768/
for other shots in this series
Biorhiza pallida (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) agamic female (prepared, dead specimen). Length: 6 mm
Last work closing the year 2011. Hope the next will be more fruitful for every Flickr contact of mine. 90 exposures taken with the Mitutoyo BD Plan APO 10/0.28 microscope objective @ 11,7x. Single flash light diffused with white office paper cylinder. Combined in Zerene Stacker (PMax). Picture is uncropped, but resized to 3000x2000px.
