Note: a quick way to compare detail in a browser, is to click on one of the images here, zoom in to see detail, and then just click a left or right arrow. The zoom will remain the same and you can cycle between the views. But only for the same resolution of shots, so… not so much a shortcut for this one.
Too bad so much was in the deep shadow. I found ‘some’ detail there in one of the colour channels (don’t worry, there won’t be a test), but it kind of looked like a stripe perhaps along the cheek, which could also be the animal’s bow wave.
Anyhow, it’s arguably, marginally… better? I hope you think so. Cheers.
Thank you! The detail I can see in his face now is great! The color in the cheek shows the pale patch these guys have on their chin to cheek and down the throat. Great! This makes me happy since it is the only photo I managed of this guy who kept popping up at a distance and changing directions so we never knew where he would pop up again.
RESCUE NO. 3: Making more mountain (lions) out of those molehills
So the new file you supplied was this:
I took the new crop you uploaded and reworked it. Really pushed it actually (6x!) but that’s where I started to see some new detail. I dunno. It’s still pretty fuzzy but I hope that this is an improvement:
Seems to be some indication of the tail bump where it starts on the back, and possibly a little more variation in the overall spine curve. Damn that bush (or rock?) that it’s sneaking behind, right?
Oh sorry, this is supposed to be a Holiday gift. “Durn” that sweet bush.
Hello broacher. How about this miniscule moth (possibly Argyresthia oreasella), taken on my Sony phone with a magnifying loupe? Some of it is in focus, but the loupe is very sensitive to distance, and even a fraction of a millimeter from the lens puts some body parts out of focus.
Whew. I was starting to think that I’d be hit with another 100-pixel wide shadow job, of a peacock or something.
Okay, this one was more straightforward. Though I have to admit, I’m not familiar with the species so the results may not be what they should be. I went for detail, and reduction of out-of-focus areas.
Yeah, DOF problems are the plague of super-macro shots. Have you looked into stacking? It requires a pretty co-operative subject that can hold a pose, but nearly all those spectacular super-macro shots you see where every little hair and eye facet is perfectly sharp? That’s how they do those. Sometimes with 50 or more shots.
But even three or four shots where you move the focus ‘slice’ along the subject can be used to make a big improvement.
It’s pretty easy to merged the images you take this way with some software like Photoshop, but there’s also some decent freeware too.
I took almost 50 photos of these beetles, but they are hampered by lighting and my skill with a camera. Any chance to improve? I can provide a cropped version of the one you think has the best odds for recovery, if that works.
Well, I would probably pick the second and/or the fourth, based on photo-optimizing potential. But seeing as I’m not too familiar with this wee beasty, is there a shot that you’d prefer for ID key attention?
Amazing what you did to the moth! So I dare to show you my photo. The Olympus Tough even has a stacking function, but I don’t use it much, and I think it wouldn’t have got this super-macro. The beast is about 3.5 mm.
Ouch. First, I use a TG-5 so I know what you’er talking about pushing it’s mag to the max like this. Every little vibration brings in motion blur. And I would guess that the lighting was pretty bad too. Worse, the software kicks in during the save process.
If I’d been smart, I would have asked you to somehow send me the ORF (Olympus TG’s RAW file format). This is where I would start with my own shot.
Second, it’s tough without a good reference to know the actual colour range going on. And it’s also just possible that the slightly purple blob in the left lower wing-thing (and maybe even some in the middle) is the dreaded TG purple blob artificat that pops up a lot in full zoom under certain lighting conditions. It’s tinted, and often lacking focus (some say it’s the reflection of the sensor that causes this). Or, for all I know, that’s a natural tint. Anyhow, I shot for more detail and did my best, so… here we go.
This is probably the best time of year for them, because they hibernate under bark of Platanus sp. That’s what happened to me, since I didn’t find much else, I started peeling off bark. ;-)
