Stir crazy lockdown macro.

[stevelee]

OK, so I tried to duplicate SteveC's setup, more or less. This is what I got. the only processing I did in ACR was adjusting color temperature to make it look like a dime. Then I resized to fit the image size of his post.



Then the 100% crop:



It looks sharp to me.

 

[SteveC]

Yeah, you've got it nailed.

I've put a lot of effort into getting the lighting set up so I don't have to do too much color-fiddling in Gimp--but that's a totally different topic! Generally I can just focus, shoot, crop, do a circle-select, and get rid of the background. [I know that's more than you need to do for your purposes--I'm writing for the benefit of anyone reading this who might decide they want to do this on a large scale.]

Side note to others: I've found applying artificial sharpening tends to make things worse; when I see pics online I'll notice many of them have the "speckles" from over-sharpening. Of course, starting with an excellent lens/sensor makes it easy to avoid.

 

[stevelee]

And just to push my luck, I decided to try a 1:1 magnification. (Though I was close before.) I was beginning to wonder whether I should just avoid that magnification. Apparently not. For this I used the ring light away from the lens, so as a side light. Who knows? Maybe it was the flat lighting that kept the earlier tests from looking sharp.



And 100% crop:



Maybe tomorrow, I'll try the rings on the lens again.

 

[stevelee]

The last post was shot at f/11, and the previous one at f/8.

 

[stevelee]

I decided to try the tubes before going to bed. This is at f/11, and just about 2:1 with 3 tubes. It's a little softer, but still usable. With more care, maybe I could focus more accurately and shoot at f/8 or maybe even f/5.6 for less diffraction. This is effectively a bit smaller than f/33.

 

[SteveC]

Cheapass ring light: Buy one of those makeup mirrors with the light all around the round mirror, and take the mirror out.

 

[SteveC]

Somehow my other reply got lost.

I could see both of your "full dime" pictures being published (if someone wanted pictures of a common dime); the top 100% crop is certainly usable too. Sometimes collectors want to zero in on a particular feature (like an overdate or a mint mark, especially if the mint mark turns out to have been added on by some fraudster. (There are cases where a mint mark can hugely increase the value of a coin; e.g., any 1909 S cent [there were three different kinds] versus a 1909 cent of the same type is a huge difference, also an 1914 D cent versus a 1914 cent or a 1916 S versus 1916 dime.) With increasing sensor resolution, magnification is becoming less and less necessary (though sometimes it really is needed).

When your full image is three feet across on a computer monitor at 100%, you've got the coin under pretty good magnification from the start.

 

[kodakrome]

Thank you valvebounce for the great title of this thread!
This is an early lockdown shot, taken on April 4th. This little guy was in a bush right outside my bathroom window.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Kodakrome.
You are welcome!
Man I wish I had subjects like that for lockdown shots. Very nice.

Cheers, Graham.

Thank you valvebounce for the great title of this thread!
This is an early lockdown shot, taken on April 4th. This little guy was in a bush right outside my bathroom window.
View attachment 189860

 

[kodakrome]

Life in the bush...

 

[ethanz]

I'm glad he's outside and not in!

 

[StoicalEtcher]

Good topic choice Graham,

Here's a link to a couple of spring flower shots I've posted in the Flowers and other Flora thread this afternoon, https://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?threads/flowers-and-other-flora.22225/post-831966 - done to avoid duplication. Not quite the magnification others have posted, but technically 'macro' nonetheless.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi StoicalEtcher.
Yes, very nice shots, I already gave a thumbs up on them.

Cheers, Graham.

 

[stevelee]

Hi StoicalEtcher.
Yes, very nice shots, I already gave a thumbs up on them.

Cheers, Graham.

As did I.

 

[StoicalEtcher]

Hi StoicalEtcher.
Yes, very nice shots, I already gave a thumbs up on them.

Cheers, Graham.

As did I.

Thank you both

 

[kodakrome]

Warmer weather...bigger bugs.
This looks like a young lubber because it was small - less than 2 inches long. The ones I see in July and August are twice this size.

 

[Click]

WOW Awesome. Great shot, kodakrome!

 

[kodakrome]

WOW Awesome. Great shot, kodakrome!

Thank you, Click.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Kodakrome.
Nice photo, ugly looking subject, the green ones I see are much less foreboding.

Cheers, Graham.

Warmer weather...bigger bugs.
This looks like a young lubber because it was small - less than 2 inches long. The ones I see in July and August are twice this size.

 

[kodakrome]

Hi Kodakrome.
Nice photo, ugly looking subject, the green ones I see are much less foreboding.

Cheers, Graham.

Hi Graham,
Yeah I know...that's the problem with bugs. Most of them are ugly.