Field stack: inconspicious heteropterid

[morfa]

Fujifilm S5pro, Carl Zeiss Luminar 63/4.5, Nikon PB-6 Bellows, tripod

6MP version

This is a 5mm long heteropterid (I presume it's a juvenile but with some species it's a little hard to tell). It's stacked from 27 natural light exposures in Zerene Stacker (this bug proved to be an inconspicious but well behaved model).

The following gif-animation shows the 27 unedited (straight out of camera) frames:



Synthetic rocking sequence generated in ZS (DMAP, from -1.5° to +1.5°):


Cross eye stereogram:

6MP flash version: HERE

Thanks for viewing!

[rjlittlefield]

Very nice!

As always, I immediately see much more structure in the stereo and rocking versions than I can even slowly figure out from the single static view.

--Rik

[Graham46]

A very encompassing series on a very interesting little bug

[Graham46]

John-- A couple of questions

1. Did you immobilize that branch in any way? Or did you leave the entire area untouched and were just lucky to have no wind or other interference?

2. How many DMAP output images did you select between the -1.5 and 1.5? The rocking is so smooth. It looks like 7-9.

3. Did you retouch each frame going into the rocking gif, or again was it just luck that it was a subject without any overlapping areas that results in a near perfect pmax/dmap? Im just curious here, not really as important

Thanks!

[morfa]

Thank you Rik and Graham,

Graham:

1) Yes I have a small tripod with one of those "helping hand" stands (with two crocodile clips – often used when soldering) mounted at the top. This allows me to fixate the perch – most of the time without causing any damage to the plant.

2) 15 (but it went pretty fast since I prescaled the input images to something like 10%)

3) No retouching was needed in the rocking sequence. It would have been too tedious to retouch 15 frames anyway. The cross eye stereogram renditions were slightly retouched though – I used DMAP as a base for both and painted in some areas from the corresponding PMAX versions.

[thartl]

That synthetic rocking sequence is so cool - 3D effect to it! I dig it!

[Graham46]

Thanks John! Your input is very helpful

[gmazza]

In nature we are unable to see the insects with depth, too small, but the stereogram worked great, for this scene the stack is truly superior to selective focus aproaches.

[Mitch640]

Outstanding work. I have never seen anything like the rocking series. Did you actually have a series of images -1.5° to +1.5°, or did the software generate that?

[morfa]

Did you actually have a series of images -1.5° to +1.5°, or did the software generate that?

The rotation is completely software generated. I only had to shoot one sequence of images and let Zerene Stacker work its magic

[Mitch640]

Well John, I got to say it, that is easily the best animated gif I have ever seen. Very sharp and smooth running.

[morfa]

Another view of this bug:



I was a bit more selective in the stacking in this one. While I think the version where everything is in focus works well as a stereogram I often find this approach better suited for standalone images since it gives a less flat appearance.

[anvancy]

The details are amazing.

how did you generate the rocking sequence?

Anvancy

[morfa]

how did you generate the rocking sequence?

With Zerene Stacker it's easy: http://zerenesystems.com/stacker/docs/S ... Stereo.php

[LordV]

Lovely shots John - still can't believe how well the artificial stereos work
Brian v.