Water Boatman - focus stack

[Steve Maxson]

This Water Boatman (Family Corixidae) is about 8 mm long and was photographed in my 2-gallon aquarium setup. This is a stack of 28 images processed in Zerene Stacker. There are 131 species of these in North America and most feed on detritus, algae, and protozoans - their front legs are modified to capture and hold food items (the middle legs function to hold onto the substrate, and the hind legs are used for swimming). These insects are air breathers and they carry an air bubble that covers almost the entire bottom surface of their body - when underwater, this bubble becomes mirror-like which accounts for the bright area along the insect's flank in this photo. 5D II, MP-E 65 mm, 1/200, f/8, ISO 100, MT24-EX macro twin flash (diffused), tripod, RRS macro focusing rail. I cleaned up many tiny bits of debris in the water (these were compounded by the stacking process :t3) and ran NR on the background. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[Julie Kenward]

Twenty-eight images you say? Man, you work hard for a photograph! You have amazing detail here Steve! A few minor things I might consider doing if this were mine are:

Blur the one in-focus grass blade right at the uppermost LC so it looks blurred like the rest. That one is really grabbing my eye!

Remove the very OOF green area below the insect where it is attached to the perch.

I also might consider removing or lightening the one blade of grass that sweeps over the top of the bird so it didn't look so brown compared to the others. I like the placement of the blade; just not the condition of it. Lightening it and adding some of the green might make it fit in better with the rest.

Again, all very minor tweaks - the image is stellar as presented!

[bhavya joshi]

Yes... This is cool looking bug... totally super sharp.. with great details.. agree with Julie to remove upper blade.. but overall this is craking macro....cheers...:cheers:

[Gary Hamilton]

I think this is a really cool image. Those eyes really hold my attention. Good points made by Julie. The focus stacking concept is so clever--I've been meaning to try it. 28 images seems like an awful lot for something this small but you would know better than me. Curious: do you generally use f/8 when you do stacking or does it vary by subject? Are there any "how to" links that you would suggest?

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely detail and very sharp on the insect. I really like the color and the exposure on the little boatman. 28 flashes is a very good work out for sure. I hope these photos get published or added to reference material somewhere. Very well done Steve.

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments, folks. :S3:

Jules - Good suggestions. I was wondering about the rather sharp stem in the ULC - looks like it needs to either be blurred or cloned away. I agree that the OOF stem below and behind the WBs perch could go, but that will be challenging because of all the leg bristles/hairs that extend into the green. Lightening the upper curved stem should be an easy fix.

Gary - This is actually my first attempt at image stacking. 28 images does seem like a lot, though I've seen other photographers use well over 100 just on an insect's head! (The results were fantastic) The reason I used f/8 rather than, say, f/16 is that the lens is sharper at f/8 than at f/16. If you have a cooperative subject that is not moving, you might as well go for maximum sharpness. The Zerene Stacker website ( http://www.zerenesystems.com/stacker/ ) has info and tutorials that should help you get started - and you can download a 30-day free trail. The basics of stacking (the stage where I'm at right now) are really pretty simple with this program.

[Jonathan Ashton]

That is one fine image, an awful lot of work has gone in but a super quality image came out.
Regards improvement, hey it's pretty darned good, I hesitate to suggest anything beyond the point raised. One thing you may wish to consider is the right foreleg and the area under the right eye, here the flash appears to be a tad brighter, maybe tone it down just a tad. I congratulate you an a super image and a Merry Christmas to you and everyone!

[Ken Childs]

Hey Steve, a great job of stacking, especially with only 28 exposures! :bg3: Nice to have a living subject that held still long enough to accomplish this.

For those of you wondering about the large number of exposures, the people that are really into stacking usually use between 50 and 150 exposures and have equipment that does all of that automatically.

Jules covered any suggestions I could have come up with so I won't repeat them. Again, a great job of stacking.....the results speak for themselves! :5

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments Jonathan and Ken!

Jonathan - yes, a lot of work did go into this. The stacking process itself only took a minute or two in Zerene Stacker, but I spent several hours over three days doing everything else to yield a final product (that still need some tweaks :S3: ). It does make you think twice before choosing which images to process.