This article shares a selection of forest HHFS macro images captured during a recent visit to the Niagara Glen Nature Centre. Over the past number of years I have come to more fully appreciate the photographic potential of using in-camera handheld focus stacking (HHFS) for my macro photography.

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I initially didn’t give this computational photography technology much attention as the output is a jpeg file. Unfortunately I was suffering from ‘RAW snobbery’, and as a result I missed out on a wide range of opportunities to expand my macro photographic potential.

I hadn’t visited Niagara Glen Nature Centre for quite a few years. A friend and I decided to meet at the centre and do the hike down into the forest which runs along part of the Niagara River. I had forgotten how steep and rocky the descent was… so I was treated to a pretty decent workout. This is not a descent that I would attempt under wet conditions.

While I captured a number of landscape images with my M.Zuiko 12-100 mm f/4 PRO IS zoom, I also brought my M.Zuiko 90 mm f/3.5 PRO IS macro lens. I used this macro lens for the last hour of our visit.

Before visiting Niagara Glen Nature Centre I decided to change my standard HHFS settings. As a test I used a stack of 15 images with a focus differential of 3. I also experimented with a few different aperture settings, shutter speeds and ISO values.

Knowing that I was going to be doing some macro photography, I brought my short, collapsible stool which I always use for this kind of work. As it turned out, the stool came in handy for some of my landscape photography as well.

All of the forest HHFS macro images that are featured in this article were of subjects that were either on the ground, or very close to it. I composed all of my photographs using the articulated rear screen of my E-M1X.

If I didn’t have the wonderful flexibility of using that articulated rear screen… I would not have been able to effectively create many of these images.

While many of the subjects that I found were in shade, I did find the occasional one that was in very bright sunlight.

The primary objective with my test forest HHFS macro images was to try out my revised camera settings and use a stack of 15 images with a focus differential of 3. As a result, there were a number of occasions when I didn’t bother adjusting my ISO value.

It can be an interesting challenge to attempt to locate macro subjects when one is in an environment with literally hundreds of thousands of leaves on the ground. I find using ‘soft eyes’ to take in a broader field of view can be helpful identifying potential subjects.

My approach to macro photography is to capture images of subjects as I find them. There certainly is nothing wrong with finding a leaf or some other object and placing it in a natural environment to create a pleasing image. It’s just not an approach that appeals to me.

Like all of my photography, whenever possible I like to compose my macro images so I don’t have to crop them at all in post. I find this approach encourages me to take a few extra seconds of consideration when composing images.

Obviously there are occasions when cropping in post does enhance the visual appeal and flow of an image.

With macro photography and using a prime lens, it can be difficult at times to get in as close as I would ideally like… so some cropping can be required in these situations.

I had one situation where a fly moved right in the middle of capturing a stack of 15 HHFS frames. Even though this was a ‘mistake’ I found the outcome a bit intriguing. I wondered if I could start to purposely try to create this effect when photographing some insects that were in motion.

Regular readers know that I’m not a pixel peeper. I do appreciate that some folks like to see 100% crops from time to time.

So, above is a 100% crop for those that have an interest.

My initial impression after creating these forest HHFS macro images, is that there may be some merit in adjusting my standard HHFS settings to a stack of 15 frames with a focus differential of 3.

Just before leaving for home, I found some worm/beetle tracks in a few old, fallen logs. This one struck me as a great metaphor for life. We all face twists and turns along our life journey. Life never happens in a straight line.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured handheld using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. All images were created from out-of-camera jpeg files using my standard process in post. This is the 1,490 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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