Friday, February 5, 2010

Macro Flower Photography

We’ve all admired those awesome closeup shots of flower blossoms.  In fact, I spend a good deal of time in the garden crouched over the camera on a tripod trying to get that perfect image of a blossom with fresh raindrops.  Or, taking a macrophoto of a bloom that presents it in a different perspective, such as this one of a cosmos:

cosmos

But , I would like to introduce you to a photographer who has taken macrophotography to a whole new level.

Brian Valentine, of Worthing W. Sussex, UK, uses a technique called ‘stacked focusing’ to achieve incredible detail of a flower blossom perfectly refracted in a dew drop.  Here’s an example of his work:

dewdrop Photo by Brian Valentine

Thanks to digital photography, getting a shot like this is now possible with the help of stacked focusing software.  Here’s how it works, according to Brian’s tutorial on Flickr: The camera takes a series of shots with precise focusing through the depth of the object being photographed – the dewdrop, in this case.  The resulting images are then fed into the computer software program where they are ‘stacked’, and a single image is produced with the entire dewdrop in perfect focus.  And so is the image of the blossom within the dewdrop.  In the photo above you can see the out-of-focus bloom that is being refracted in the dewdrop.

For some more eye-popping images like this, visit Brian’s web site.  It’s incredible!

18 comments:

  1. That stacked focusing photo is pretty amazing. I love your photos too!

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  2. Dear Hank, Your postings are always a delight to me on account of the wonderful images you include and the way the composition of them shows great artistry.

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  3. very interesting hank, so are these two photographs that are merged or "stacked" into one photo...i'm very interested in this technique...thanks alot for sharing this, amazing work!

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  4. I will check out Brian's web site. That's an incredible photo!

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  5. Those pictures are perfect, from a technical point of view, but, in Dutch I would say: 'ik word er koud noch warm van', I stay unmoved... For me, the emotion has gone, the pictures on that website have an artificial feel for me...

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  6. Wow... that blows my mind. Although I think your cosmos shot is beautiful, too, and has perhaps a touch more charm. ;)

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  7. That is amazing! I have always liked extreme close-ups; microbiology was one of my favorite subjects in college. I've never had the skill or technology to do such work, but I admire those who do!

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  8. Both images are stunning, and a the stacking is a very interesting technique. Great post!

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  9. Thanks for this - really helpful. Really appreciate the tips that you give here.

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  10. I'm not sure I'll be trying that technique, but it was interesting to read about.

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  11. Thank you so much. Beautiful photos. Macro is something I am continually working toward.~~Dee

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  12. Now that is really cool...amazing, in fact. I love macro although I am by no means knowledgeable with it...I mostly have fun. There is so much to learn!

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  13. Brian's photos are very clever and beautiful, though I don't think I'll try this myself. I'll stick to the standard 'peering into the centres of flowers and leaves' sort of thing that I can manage without too much trouble.

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  14. Amazing combination of technique and good old artistic vision. Wow!

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  15. Wow! That is so stunning Hank! I am not sure about the technique but his artistry receives great applauds from this viewer! Thanks for the inspiration! Carol ps... I thought I had commented on this?? ;>)

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  16. Hank, very informative post, remarkable images. Thanks

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