Spikasaurus...

[Remorhaz]

Found this cactus covered in hard translucent spines in the succulent garden in the Royal Botanic Gardens and nestled within it's heart were these tiny buds. A helpful friend held a tri-grip diffuser overhead whilst I composed and took the shots for focus stacking. No issues with this "flower" swaying in the breeze - I was lying on the ground with the tripod legs spayed out horizontally and these buds were probably only a few centimetres above the ground level.

The result of stacking 12 frames [1/125 sec at f/4, ISO 110]



and for comparison a single image taken at 1/4 sec at f/22 ISO 100



I also found this Green Village hiding in a Purple Land (the heart of a Bromeliad I think) - this shot pretty much straight out of camera

[stubbsy]

Rodney

I quite like the last. Is there a focus stacked version?

[Remorhaz]

Rodney - I quite like the last. Is there a focus stacked version?

Unfortunately no - this was one of the few images I didn't stack - at the time I was going for the shallow dof look

[the foto fanatic]

I assume the stack is actually the second image?

Good job on the blending but I don't find the subject matter very appealing - sorry.

[Remorhaz]

I assume the stack is actually the second image?

Good job on the blending but I don't find the subject matter very appealing - sorry.

Hi Trevor - it's actually the first - in this case shooting the f/4 exposures instead of f/22 and not shooting all the way through the cacti means I get a quicker drop off to blur at both the front and back but a wider area of really sharp focus in the middle. This is different to most of the other stacked images I've done where I've shot more images all the way from front to back of an object.

[the foto fanatic]

Hi Trevor - it's actually the first - in this case shooting the f/4 exposures instead of f/22 and not shooting all the way through the cacti means I get a quicker drop off to blur at both the front and back but a wider area of really sharp focus in the middle. This is different to most of the other stacked images I've done where I've shot more images all the way from front to back of an object.

OK - I think I can understand that now. Initially I thought "why bother" but now I can see that there is greater detail in the in-focus area. Thanks for that - I have learned something new about focus stacking.

[colin_12]

All nice Rodney but the Bromeliad (yes it is one) is the ducks guts.