I've Wanted To Try This Technique For So Long!
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- Join Kim as she heads to the woodland in search of fungi and finally tries focus stacking her macro images.
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I enjoy your attitude of relishing in whatever the moment presented vs annoyance at not fulfilling some predetermined plan. Bravo!!! Bill
Great video Kim....good to see you trying the photo stacking technique even if there were no fungi....also thank you so much for showing my image at the end of the video.
You're welcome Brian! It is great!
We are getting into our Spring wildflower season here in Southern Australia. Focus stacking for flowers in the wind is nigh impossible, but if you wait for nearly stillness, the software can be forgiving and smart enough to put the images together ok. Sometimes some edges are ghosted and it hasn'nt been able to handle it.. For us, we go early morning and it is all over bt 10 when the breeze picks up. If you have peaking, try that and allow the focus ring adjust on several flower points. For a decent shot, depending on f stop and the depth of field you have on the subject, you will need 6 or more to stack. The flatter the flower and the more parallel your sensor is to the flat section of the flower, the better you will be. Ii is critical to get every stamen tip in focus, so make sure of that. It is great fun and rewarding. Try and get the same flower behind in the shot, blurred of course, but it adds a sense of place and depth. The darker and more contrast the backgrund, the better. I would like to share some of my shots from the last couple of seasons... How do I do that? I think you have a charge for your community group, but my funds are a bit limited. i will investigate options. Cheers, Kim
Thank you for sharing this David. Much appreciated. Have you got Instagram? If so, you can private message me your images on there. Otherwise, feel free to contact me via my website and when I respond, you'll be able to email me your images
Thanks, Kim! Joy in the process.
Great video Kim. When, I left my house this morning for a combo dog walk and photographic adventure, I left with an open mind, about finding things to photograph. On the walk, I didn't find anything to photograph. However, upon returning home there was a Black tailed deer doe with twins in my yard. I have learned to expect the unexpected. I hope that you have a great week.
This is lovely to hear Shawn!
Beautiful video Kim. The focus stacking technique was so interesting and the images were gorgeous. I do love the peaceful Sunday vibes your videos give along with the encouragement to get out with our cameras ❤
Thank you so much May ❤️
Simply fun and enjoyable to watch your videos Kim. Your patience is over the top.
Hello Kim
Nice images, great wellness program ...
The wind always add some challenges to any technique
Nice video❤! I like smart guys just like you who well known their stuff!
Beautiful place Kim. Photography really does pull us all together from across the world. cheers from Texas.
You have done so well, Kim. I've been a fan for a while now, and I've watched your channel grow. Keep up the good work, and good luck.
Thank you so much!
Nice vlog Kim. I can remember we were looking for a stone circle deep within a dense forest in Aberdeenshire 3 years ago. We didn't find it but we did come across some amazing fungi. You went back and photographed it.
Just watched that video again. I forgot how good it was. Great memory.... Xx
Your macro video inspires me to take my macro lens out more often. I need to practice, and David Skinner’s comments are valuable. We are just coming into Spring here in Australia so native orchids will be my focus. Love your walks in nature, so enjoyable
Lovely! Enjoy :)
I love when you take us to the woodlands it’s exotic for me to see because Australian forests are different dominated by eucalyptus trees. I often forget to look at the macro level your videos remind me to do so.
Great video! I enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing!
Herb Robert flowers are a challenge to photograph at any time. They’re so small and bright. Beautiful images! Well done!
Thank you Karen! They certainly are
Another great video Kim some great macro shots of herb-Robert along with its seed heads. It’s a member of the geranium family. It a lovely looking flower when seen in close up. Nature giving beauty in small packages.
Thank you Neil and much appreciate having the flower IDed. Identifying what I'm photographing is something I would like to get better at.
You are very welcome Kim. Plant I’d is a spin off from my day job as an ecologist. One flower to look out for in short grasslands and on cliff tops and heaths is Eyebright such a pretty flower but very small.
Morning Kim. So glad you got around to doing this vlog on macro focus stacking and all of the images you got are simply stunning. You really cracked it. Hope you have a wonderful week.
Thank you very much Joe. You too 😊
cheers Kim@@kimgrantphotography
Excellent!!!😊
That was Nice Kim thank you.
Lovely and peaceful forest shoot, thank you Kim. As always you instruct so well.
Thank you Steven!
Finding fungi is like finding a new world/universe. The diversity, the colors, shapes and the brevity of their existence. Hope you can find some in the coming weeks. Love the videos you share.
Thank you Michelle!
Nice photography of flower.
Lovely video Kim , storytelling your journey is a nice way of starting my Sunday and the woodlands are so peaceful. Loved the flowers especially the last one . Have a beautiful week looking forward to next podcast listening here in South Carolina USA
Thank you - you too!
Herb Robert is very photogenic - I have too many photos of it already, and in some occasions it looks better not focus stacked because the petals are so pretty when they fade out.
Macro is great fun to get into, it offers subjects on days when other things might not be working so well!
It certainly does! And thank you for sharing the name of the flower. Much appreciated. Great to hear you've been enjoying it this year too
What a beautiful video Kim! I’ve always wanted to try photo stacking- Thank you for the inspiration to give it a go.
Brilliant! Enjoy!
Lovely images Kim....
Felt I was with you on your forest walk. Enjoying the way you make the obscure the subject.
Thank you Dennis
I was inspired by your video to go out fungi hunting, something I have never really done before. What a magical morning I had. And I found some interestingly shaped fungi! I didn’t have a macro lens with me, so I'll be going back. Thanks to your recent videos I'm getting into macro photography and loving it. The ground beneath our feet yields such wonderful opportunities for photography. Thanks as always, Kim. Have a great week.
This is so lovely to hear Mary! Delighted you had such a lovely time ☺️
Great video, great shots, I love how you explain what your doing and why. those images could be printed and framed. I read recently we have talents and a gift, a talent is something that were are good at, art, painting, woodworking, etc, obviously your is photography, and each of us has a gift to share our talent with others in any way we can as you do. Thanks again for a great start to my sunday morning. Have a blessed and safe upcoming week.
This was lovely to read. Thanks for sharing and for your lovely comments once more
Loving your journey Kim and how you are opening your mindful presence out to the RUclips. I find making images with focus stacking in mind to be very immersive. ☮
Thank you!
I've been in love with the macro photography this month and most of the best photos are macro images which I've captures until now. And certainly i love your images of flowers by creating them by focus stacking. I'll surely try this technique next time I head outside.
This is lovely to hear Palak! Macro certainly can be fun to enjoy
Lovely macro shots of the flowers!
O.K., here’s one question that has come up a couple of times this past week: do people on your side of the Atlantic use "fungi" instead of "mushrooms?" You’re the second photographer from the U.K. I've encountered using that nomenclature. Out here, we tend to reserve the term for fungal growths on trees, etc. that don’t look like regular mushrooms. (Also - and I had to point this out to the other photographer as well - "fungi" is plural; a single one is a "fungus.")
Thank you. Yes - fungi is the collective term used to describe many of the organisms that are growing in nature - here's one definition I found online "Fungi are eukaryotic organisms that include microorganisms such as yeasts, moulds and mushrooms. These organisms are classified under kingdom fungi." Fungi therefore in includes mushrooms as mushrooms belong to that kingdom. We have fungi walks and workshops here where nature expects take people out to find and ID the fungi. It's not always mushrooms that are found and I'm always looking for the more unusual shaped ones that are not mushrooms but other forms. Although in this video all the decaying ones I came across were mushrooms, fungi is a more used term. It is also very rare to come across a single mushroom or fungus so fungi is used. Hope this helps clear up any questions in your mind 😊
Fungi are taxonomically a kingdom separate from the animal, plant and a couple of other kingdoms. The fungus kingdom includes yeasts and lichens, though the latter are composite organisms consisting of a fungus, an alga and one or more bacteria in a symbiotis relationship (3 kingdoms represented!). The vernacular "mushroom" typically refers to an edible fungus and "toadstool", a non-edible fungus.
I did my first outdoor macro stack last week, photographing bittersweet nightshade flowers with the 105mm f2.8 AFS. I let the camera increment the focus. The 3d effect is amazing, something I've not attained before.
This is great to hear!
Great video Kim. I love your approach on photography, and your woodlands! I'll have to add those to my list for whenever I make it to Scotland.
Thank you! So many wonderful woodlands in Scotland
I like the theme you are working on. I focus so much on the grand view of the landscape and this reminds me to spend a little more time looking for these small scenes that are all around. I am in Indiana, so we have a similar biome. As we come into autumn I will be looking at the forest a little different.
This is great to hear Douglas! Enjoy!
Informative video, Kim. Your exposures are always perfect. Do you use the light-meter in your Nikon or an external, hand-held meter? Might you devote part of a video to demonstrating how to get the perfect exposure, especially deep in the woods. I look forward to all your videos.
Thank you! I do not use a light meter. I do all my exposing by eye. One of the great things about mirrorless cameras is it makes exposing easier as you can see the image get darker and brighter on the screen as you change the settings. If my images are slightly dark, I brighten them a bit in post processes. Hope this helps explain my process.
The images are stunning Kim! I hope you find the fun guys in nature next time you're out . . . .I love finding them in Tassie when they're in full flight. I've enjoyed some of the images I got last season. Always immersive and thoroughly delightful. We've so many varieties, more in this little part of the country to anywhere else I've seen.
Thank you Denise! Loved seeing your images in the group the other day. Fungi are so fun to see
@@kimgrantphotography they sure are! I get excited every time I see them.
Thank you!
Beautiful work as always Kim! I’ve myself have started adventuring out with macro photography. Have a great week from Michigan USA
Thanks Karen. That's wonderful to hear!
May you have success in locating fungi soon!
Thank you!
Some years ago, out in my back yard, I found a small patch of fungi. The largest of them was barely 1/4 inch across and only 1/2 inch tall. I got a picture or two... this was BD. (before digital ) and may even be on slide film... too long ago to be sure.
❤ i love the video
The flower is a Herb Robert, very pretty flower. I’ve just tried the Z6ii focus stack the other day, wasn’t very successful to be honest. Can’t wait for the fungi season
It certainly is! Yeah it seems to be good for landscapes but not so much for macro
So awesome! I enjoyed your images so much. I have finally gotten a camera that I can do multiple exposure photography with. As I only received it yesterday, I haven't tried it yet.
Brilliant Jon! Enjoy!
Loving your channel.
Found you fairly recently so video binge watching.
I’m new to photography and photo stacking is something I need to try.
I’m fairly restricted only having a Panasonic TZ95 compact but it’s macro abilities seem pretty amazing.
Thank you and welcome! I wish you all the best with focus stacking
I am thinking I have to do focus stacking to take insects, but it is such a cumbersome process for things that move quickly.
Hi Kim on in camera focus stacking on OM cameras there is something called differential which is the focus distance between each shot should be the same on Nikon cameras.
Hi Robin. Thank you. I found this worked well for landscapes but it was too much of a difference for macro. However, I am new to trying it so will learn more and keep practicing
I as always enjoyed the video. Fungi are acfascinating subject i find, if you can find them that is. They are very much here today gone tommorow.
They certainly are Raymond. I find it so special when you find a new fresh growth
I enjoyed the video as usual Kim.
It's a shame that you didn't get the image's of the fungi.
Nice image's of the wild flowers.
Hopefully the fungi will be around around next time.
Atb,
Tim.
Thanks Tim!
That was so interesting, however my camera system does not offer focus stacking but it does offer aperture bracketing which looks like it would offer similar results. So I’ll give it ago, all I need now is a calm day which is a rarity these days. Many thanks for sharing.
Aperture bracketing won't work for this. Do what Kim did and manually change focus through your subject in small increments.
Manually doing focus stacking will work with your set-up. Gently move the focus ring to focus on each petal or part of your subject and make an image with each section in focus. All the best with it!
@@kimgrantphotography many thanks, I’ll give it a try.
The trouble with the focus stacking feature on the Zs is that it's not really meant for macro. It basically starts at your nearest point then shoots X number of shots till it gets to infinity. If you could set it up with a start and end point, it would be great. It does work well for landscapes.
Thank you for sharing this. It certainly worked well for landscapes. I guess doing the focus manual for macro is my best bet here
Actually it works brilliantly for macro. With the shallow depth of field at very closeup distances it might take 30-40 shots to focus through 1"/2.5cm, all dependent on your f# and increment you've chosen. If you haven't taken enough images, continue shooting from your last shot, if you've taken too many, just use the ones you need. QED🙂
@@finesse49 I hadn’t thought about it that way. Unfortunately, my macro lens is a completely manual TTArtisans 100mm, so I can’t test it with that. 😀
@@StevePorter_au Yes, you're on your own with manual focus. I've done it successfully though, with my 1977 55mm f3.5 Micro-Nikkor. The beauty of micro/macro lenses is that many people buy them, but when the owner discovers that macro photography requires more patience and careful technique than they have, they end up on the second hand market for reasonable prices. Since Z cameras hit the market, the prices of F-mount AFS lenses have tumbled. I have more macro lenses than is sensible and that 55mm is the only one I bought new. You'd need the FTZ adapter of course but it opens up access to many great F lenses.
I'm a 'Fun Guy' (or so I'm told) but I don't think That's quite what Fungi you were looking for is it? 😂😂(Oh dear, I do apologise Kim!) Lovely video as usual.
Another relaxing episode to unwind with now that 'Ive just got home from a night shift in town.
Your enthusiasm for forests and woodlands really shows in your presentation.
I too have noticed the subtle colour changes in the trees in my local park and my garden.
I've also noticed that the weather has changed a couple of weeks early and the autumnal wet and windy weather has arrived on my coastline with a vengeance. And when life gives me lemons, I will go out and film some cracking waves crashing on the sea defenses.
Brilliant Frank! Enjoy the wave video opportunities that are ahead
so very lovely
Do you need good light when stacking, if so do you use added light, flash etc. Nice topic.
I create all my images with natural light. You don't need good light but you do need to ensure all images are made at the same exposure. Using a tripod helps with this
I would be using my Olympus OM-D E-Mx and 60mm macro lens. Probably at F2.8 aka wide open, probably ten to twenty images. From that I can stack in Ps. I can also choose one or two images to make a mostly blurred that Charlotte might like, or get something that's all sharp. Last year I did that with a patch of kangaroo paws, it's improbably sharp all through. Again, F2.8.
Mostly, maybe always, I do it hand held.
There are people who photograph peacock spiders using Canon's MP-E 65 to obtain high magnification. Hand held, and they stack focus. I've not mastered that, the lens doesn't focus. Peacok spiders are almost all indigenous to Australia. I think there's a handful in PNG and one or two in China. However, they are jumping spiders and other countries have jumping spiders.
There's nothing wrong with photographing dead flowers, fungi or animals. One of the most important photos is of the Napalm Girl. Look it up. It's not a pretty sight.
Lovely to hear your process
the worst bit about stacking is getting home to find you missed a tiny % of the image so it looks completely wrong. But when you get a lovely image definitely worth the effort
Yeah! It can be a challenge but rewarding too.
Macro is something I've only seriously tried this year. Previously I've dabbled in Macro photography of insects and it's been really disappointing this year. I don't know whether the birds have eaten all the insects or whether something else has been going on but there's been so few insects this year.
That's interesting to hear Matthew. I haven't been photographing insects for too long but another viewer commented saying the same (that he's noticed a huge decline this year). Hopefully they bounce back next year.
It’s not the fault of the birds, their numbers too have declined massively in the last 30 years.
I’m seeing scientific reports of flying insect population crashes in the order of 60% plus, across Europe and America in the last 10 years.
Very worrying.
@@nightwolf1592 Bird photography is my area of interest when it comes to photography and seen a noticeable decress in the number of birds in recent years. As you say it's all very worrying.
❤
"Fun-guy"? 😳
Yes I know what you mean but that's just how I keep hearing it! 😂
Hahaha I had the same thing, so some of the lines in this video made it really hilarious too! I'll have to rewatch just to focus on Fungi instead of Fun Guy 😀
BTW, it might be a language thing I now wonder... Seeing your last name, are you Flemish/Dutch too? That would make so much sense lol
@@hannevdc4140 She kept talking about connecting with the "fun guy". And so many other things that become funny if you hear it that way... 😆
I usually would pronounce it more with an "NG" sound instead of "N-G".
And yes I'm Dutch. 😀
Aangenaam kennis te maken!
I have not been successful with the focus stacking feature of my Z 5.
It's certainly tricky to use. I'll need to give it more practice. Worked well for my landscapes
@@kimgrantphotography Maybe a 100 frames is needed for macro?
@@mikkosuhonenphotography As with anything, it depends. You have to choose a focus step width that is narrower than the depth of field of each shot. As you probably know there are 3 independent variables that affect depth of field - aperture, lens focal length and distance to subject. The last 2 determine reproduction ratio which is used in charts and calculators for depth of field. Zerene Systems has a lot of information on this on their web site as do many other sites. Nikon Imaging has a section under Technical Solutions, D850 tips, Focus shift Photography (Z cameras behave the same). It has some photos with all the technical details for the shots. As for picking the correct focus step width, Nikon provides no helpful information so you have to experiment. Good luck.
The conditions look to dry for fungi to sprout, they need moist/damp conditions.
Thanks Steve! I worked this out a few days ago. Always learning :)
I'm a pretty fun guy... But seriously, a great sundaymorning video Kim!
Thank you Roy
'') I luv macro, but Id noticed the last 5 yrs..the bug population seems to have fallen, was wondering if you had noticed any changes
I only started macro a couple of years ago. I'm therefore not quite sure if I've seen this myself as I still find plenty when I am out. They can be few and far between in some places though.
If this was filmed last week or so . Tad early tbh as some mushies are poppin thro now ..
Thanks Colin! We had a great display end of July and first week of August. I worked out the past few weeks has been dry which has preventing good conditions. The rain earlier this week brought them back
nice photography from what little bit I saw. You spent far too much time rationalizing, analyzing, and just yapping about what you wanted to do... In other words, too much time talking and not enough time doing. If this is how your videos are, then I'll just skim them over and move on. I'd rather see more doing than yapping any day.