Category Archives: Focus Stacking

Close-Up Flower Images

This article features a selection of close-up flower images captured handheld using the M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 zoom lens along with a pair of extension tubes. In-camera focus stacking was used for all images.

Many photographers have an interest doing close-up photography from time to time, but find it hard to justify purchasing a dedicated macro lens. Using extension tubes with a zoom lens can be a good option for many people as this type of combination can provide a good deal of flexibility.

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Frogs with 2 Tubes

This article features some close up images of frogs captured handheld with 2 extension tubes and the M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 zoom lens. As photographers we sometimes only consider a macro lens when planning to do some close up or macro photography. We forget that fitting a good quality zoom lens with extension tubes can create a very flexible and capable set-up for close up photography.

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Shooting Style

Before investing in camera gear it is critical that we have a clear understanding of our shooting style, as this helps us avoid making gear purchase mistakes.

In a previous article, I recently let readers know that I would not be
purchasing the M.Zuiko PRO 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS lens. I received a few emails from readers requesting more information and explanation.

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HHFS Frog Images

This article features a selection of handheld focus stacked HHFS frog images that were captured at the Royal Botanical Gardens using an M.Zuiko 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. As noted in a previous article, my E-M1X was set to 10 focus stacked frames with a focus differential of 4.

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Slow Shutter HHFS

This article discusses using slow shutter speeds with handheld focus stacking (HHFS), and shares some new macro snake images captured with shutter speeds from 1/20 to 1/4 of a second.

Yesterday I visited a special frog display at the Royal Botanical Gardens… which also happened to have a trio of water snakes in one of the exhibits. The event gave me the opportunity to get some practice time in doing handheld in-camera macro focus stacking. Continue reading Slow Shutter HHFS

Handheld Macro

This article discusses handheld macro photography and why I prefer using my Olympus E-M1X and M.Zuiko 60 mm macro lens over the full frame gear I owned in the past.

As regular readers know, I very much dislike using a tripod and only do so when it’s absolutely necessary. In the past when I tried to create handheld macro images with my full frame equipment I would very seldom get any useable images. I simply could not hold my full frame equipment steady enough. It was an exercise in frustration. My full frame gear always seemed to get in the way of my creativity.

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Emerging From Darkness

It can be an enjoyable creative experiment to produce a series of images in keeping with a theme like Emerging From Darkness. Using a mirrorless camera system for this type of creative execution is ideal since we can see how our images will look in real time without any guesswork. Obviously this is important when purposely underexposing images.

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Floral Showhouse HHFS

Yesterday I visited Niagara Falls with my wife, and took the opportunity to create some Floral Showhouse HHFS (handheld focus stacked) photographs.

All of the images featured in this article were captured handheld using an M.Zuiko 60 mm macro f/2.8 lens, along with the in-camera focus stacking technology resident in my E-M1X . I had my camera set to record and combine 10 photographs per capture, with a focus differential of 4.

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Slim Pickings

Sometimes when we’re out with our cameras the world around us doesn’t cooperate, and only offers us slim pickings in terms of subject matter. Such was the case last Saturday. It was a very quiet morning for bird photography at Hendrie Valley. So… I left early and headed off to the Royal Botanical Gardens. Rather than being greeted by a plethora of flower image opportunities… slim pickings awaited me.

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