Grasshopper Headstudy

Images taken in a controlled environment or with a posed subject. All subject types.

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beetleman
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Grasshopper Headstudy

Post by beetleman »

This is the eastern cousin to Charles`s Grasshopper 3D :D. One question, why am I getting banding of colors in my backgrounds sometimes. The background is 15" behind the subject (just a wall).

F/5.6
ISO100
Ex .5
Canon 400D, Canon 100mm Macro, 84 images stacked with Helicon Focus
Image

Info the same as above, stack of 43 images
Image
Last edited by beetleman on Sun Sep 14, 2008 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Nice hopper!

I've seen banding like this with HF "Method B" ever since that method appeared. I haven't studied it very closely, but I suspect it appears when there is variation in background brightness from frame to frame. If this is strobe lit, variations in the strobe brightness from frame to frame could be responsible.

If you are using Method B, then give the older Method A a shot -- it usually does better with hairs and overlapping detail anyway.

And if this already is Method A, I'd like to know that.

--Rik

beetleman
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Post by beetleman »

:-k basicly, I just use HF right out of the box and I do not change any parameters, so, whatever it is set to by default is how I use it. Right now I am using two lamps that came with a small portable lightbox I bought at a camera store.

Thanks Rik.
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

I searched the archives for any more information about the banding. One comment I found (that I had posted and then forgotten! :oops: ) was that Method B
created obvious banding in the background from what had previously been an unnoticed shift in background brightness from back to front of the stack
Perhaps the ambient light in the room was gradually changing as you shot your stack?

--Rik

beetleman
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Post by beetleman »

Where do you select method A ? Thanks again Rik.
Doug

EDIT
Opps, I just upgraded to 4.5 and I can see the "Method A & B" dropdown menu showing. Will give them a test next stack.
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

Cyclops
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Post by Cyclops »

Very nice shots Doug! As for banding i thought that was down to jpeg compression.
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rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Cyclops wrote:As for banding i thought that was down to jpeg compression.
Could be. There are several aspects of the appearance that make me lean toward stacking artifact, but it would take some more investigation to know for sure.

Doug, be sure that HF is set to produce highest quality jpeg output. Reduce quality to meet forum size limits only as the very last step, after all cropping & resizing. That way you can compare before & after to see what got lost. Many tools, like Photoshop, will interactively show you a preview of what jpeg compression will do to your image, so you can pick an appropriate level on the fly. I generally go for the highest quality that still fits in 200 KB.

--Rik

lauriek
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Post by lauriek »

Lovely shots Doug!

I think the red on the antennae contrasts really nicely with the green on the hopper, personally I might be tempted to do a slightly lower mag stack to get more antennae in the shot..

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