A solitary bee's head. Focus stacked in CombineZM.
I used a Nikon 50mm f/1.4D reverse mounted on a Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G.
Focus stacking is a process that merges photos of variable focus into a single image. It isn't a perfect science - especially with small objects that cover each other up (like hairs).
Unfortunately, my lens setup gets minimal depth of field when zoomed this far in - even at the smallest aperture. Without focus stacking, the area in focus would have been too shallow.
To get a sense of scale, this bee's head was about half as wide as the length of a grain of rice.
27 responses
-
Romy Olarte gave props (6 Apr 2008):
nice detailed macro!..good shot!
-
Ken Takahashi gave props (6 Apr 2008):
great work!
-
Henrique Pousão gave props (10 Apr 2008):
Great photo, it was looking to you also !
-
Cyril Bays gave props (10 Apr 2008):
One word, amazing!
-
Angela Wiser gave props (12 Apr 2008):
Awesome!
-
Marshall gave props (14 Apr 2008):
scaryyyy!!!
-
David Rocaberti said (15 Apr 2008):
Nice extreme macro. Keep it up!
-
Karen Zimmerman gave props (17 Apr 2008):
This is so great! I am so jealous, and so grateful that you detailed how you did it...I have to play!
-
j dixon gave props (18 Apr 2008):
wha! so nutty to see such an extremely tiny creature with such huge detail.
-
Karen B gave props (21 Apr 2008):
Just such an amazing shot, fantastic!!
-
Travis Middleton said (22 Apr 2008):
this is insane...ive never seen nething like this...great photo
-
Amy Yokomizo gave props (11 Aug 2008):
amazing
-
Lynn H gave props (17 Sep 2008):
Incredible!
-
Matt Biggs said (26 Sep 2008):
Great! have you ever looked at http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertseber/ Very similar to your work.
-
Sarah Terokowskie gave props (12 Nov 2008):
Amazing!
-
Wallace Jones gave props (12 Nov 2008):
wow! that is awesome!
-
Ramon Terrado gave props (21 Dec 2008):
Great macro!
-
Gloria Childers gave props (2 Jan 2009):
thats the bees knees :-) (the best)
-
Natalia Presztolanszky gave props (25 Jan 2009):
Amazing macro! It is incedible... Wow!!
-
Ron LaFond gave props (5 Feb 2009):
This is a superb shot, Kevin. Thanks for the description of the method too. I need to work out exactly what it means though. This is a favorite. R
-
Enrico Autizi said (6 Feb 2009):
Amazing macro!! Compliments!!!
-
Leni Johnston gave props (14 Mar 2009):
Wonderful. Thanks for sharing how you did it. I was just reading about that software so it is cool to see it in action.
-
Sasha Synnott said (13 Apr 2009):
beautiful detail!
-
Michel Poisson gave props (19 Apr 2009):
A beauty!
-
Tania Losada gave props (6 Jul 2009):
Excelente macro!
-
Sheila Floyd-Evans gave props (9 Nov 2009):
Freaking awesome! Wish you could give me lessons!
-
Mary Ali gave props (18 Nov 2009):
Fantastic! A favorite.
Also by Kevin Collins
