My first successful stack

JoblessJoe · Post by **JoblessJoe** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 10:56 am

Looking for a hobby after getting unemployed three years ago I stumbled upon this site. Finding some material in tnriftstores and experimenting with it, this is the first stack I'm happy with. Maybe a little too dark but I liked the atmosphere.
Be gentle on me.

Sulafat · Post by **Sulafat** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 11:16 am

JoblessJoe wrote:Looking for a hobby after getting unemployed three years ago I stumbled upon this site. Finding some material in tnriftstores and experimenting with it, this is the first stack I'm happy with. Maybe a little too dark but I liked the atmosphere.
Be gentle on me.

Nice atmospherics! I like the dark. I'm trying to do something similar in my efforts. Anyhow, I'm an insect dilettante, i.e., I know just enough to be dangerous, but I think this creature may be in the Family Curculionidae (Snout and Bark Beetles). I can't go any further with confidence. How did you find it? The few I've stumbled across were victims in the hummingbird feeder and were only a millimeter or two in size. I don't think I've ever stumbled on one on the hoof.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:54 pm

Joe,

I see that you've cross-posted the same material in both "Technical and Studio Photography" and "Beginners Macro". No worries, but please don't use cross-posting on this site -- it mostly adds confusion, not value.

I had already replied to your other post, at https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hp?t=40268 .

But to put the discussion together in one place, I'll move that reply to this thread and lock the other one. Again, no worries.

Sulafat, yes, definitely Curculionidae. In my area, black snout beetles that look a lot like this are commonly found, up to 10 mm or so. The larvae of ours are white grubs that are a serious pest of strawberry roots. Related species tackle other plants, such as grape roots. Fortunately ours do not, witness the very happy grapes right on the edge of the strawberry bed that we eventually gave up on.

--Rik

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 8:51 am

Here is my earlier reply, moved from the other thread.

Joe, welcome aboard!

This image looks like a promising start.

The subject is a snout beetle, but even knowing the structure of the beast, I was having some trouble making sense of what I was seeing.

Then I realized the problem: both antennae are showing a large amount of what we call the "transparent foreground" effect.

Transparent foreground is a stacking artifact which occurs because (1) the lens can "look around" foreground structures to see focused detail in the background, and then (2) stacking software shows some of the background detail mixed in with what should be opaque foreground, giving the appearance that the foreground structure is partially transparent.

You can read more about the cause and what to do about it, at https://zerenesystems.com/cms/stacker/d ... foreground .

I hope this helps!

--Rik

MarkSturtevant · Post by **MarkSturtevant** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 9:39 pm

This is a good effort. For a dark subject I would try to put in a lighter background, with lighting and exposure time that illuminates it.
Lately I have been trying out paint swatches from a hardware store. Lots of colors and free is good.

Sharnbrook · Post by **Sharnbrook** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 11:14 pm

Hi Joe,

I like that, very moody, but are you sure that it is a beetle?

To me it looks exactly as if it has been embroidered (or even knitted!)

Really, I think it's a first class result, and I would have been very happy to have produced that stack.

Happy Christmas,

Mike

My first successful stack

My first successful stack

Re: My first successful stack