Photo 150 "2022" - Wetapunga

Week 4: 24-30 January

Poor weather to start the week here, so I've started by photographing flowers.

#1 (Pic 10) Lisianthus Flowers- Creative theme

This is 72 stacked shots, using Helicon Focus 7. I was using the a7Riii and Zeiss Loxia 50/2 and f8 and ISO160. The other addon was a Nisi Macrorail.

This viewpoint I only worked out recently, during the Prime 50 challenge. If you put the flowers in a small vase against the background you want, and shoot overhead, the blossoms conceal the vase beneath them.

Nice focus stacking work, especially the second has a nice old painterly feel.

How dou determine the number of steps needed? When I use a rail I determine the step size by taking somewhere from 25% - 33% of the dof that I calculate with an app on my phone, but when I don't have a rail with me I find it much more difficult to determine how many staps I need by refocussing after every shot.

Week 4: 24-30 January

And now we have a return to the Takapu at Muriwai, with the Tamron 150-500. The birds are a little easier to photograph when they are not flying

#3 (Pic 12) Takapu about to take off- Telephoto Theme

a7Riii and Tamron 150-500 at ISO400, 1/2000s, f8.

Edited by Wētāpunga - 29 January 2022 at 03:34

Thanks Maarten,

I don't think I'd have ever tried that Lisianthus photo without focus stacking. I had a couple of LED lights to illuminate the flower and played around with angles until I got a lighting effect I liked. I really like the overall image. I got some other shots using more traditional composition techniques and they didn't have the impact of this.

The Takapu was photographed at the long-end, the 500mm. While they are largish birds and you can get close to their nesting site at Muriwai, being able to reach 500mm is still useful.

Miranda F wrote: onsplekkie wrote: The Lisianthus shot truely stands out. The whites kept pristine +1. Terrific picture!

Ngā mihi nui- many thanks Anthony.

Your Takapu shots are great and the last one (take-off) is my favourite so far.

Your focus stacking exercises are certainly going well. I bought a cheapie Neewer focussing rail during one of our earlier lockdowns but haven't really made much effort to use it, other than when it first arrived. It has about 7cm of travel forward and back but half of that left and right. Nevertheless movement is smooth and I haven't yet worked out the best way, or any way for that matter, to figure out the steps

Enjoying following you challenge.

Week 5: 31 January to 6 February

A more challenging week for me this week, as the humid, sticky weather eroded my desire to go hiking anywhere, and the rising Omicron threat created a surge of more work as we tried to adjust to the new reality.

#1 (Pic 13) Alien in a pensive mood (telephoto theme)

a7Riii with Zeiss Batis 135/2.8
(Where would we be in these challenges without some handy household pets to model for us at times ?)

#2 (Pic 14) Wet flower bloom (scenic theme)

a7Riii with Voigtlander 110/2 lens at f8, 1/125s, ISO125.

#3 (Pic 15) Bloom on Black (creative theme)

a7Riii with Sigma 70/2.8 at f8, 1/125s, ISO2000.

Not my most inspired week really, as I was hoping the stormy weather yesterday would have created the chance today for some dramatic seascapes. All we got was heat, humidity and a still air, with occasional shower. Still, we've made it into the second month.