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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4132 Posts |
Good point. I don't know what the sins of the 75ARD1 are when it's wide open. I guess stacking wouldn't help lateral CA or coma, but I don't think it has those particular problems.
I guess the answer is again to try different things and experiment.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
I've been playing around with focus stacking some more, not being satisfied with variety shots. 
1957-D Lincoln Wheat cent RPM Focus Stack by CaptainFwiffo, on FlickrThis is with the 75ARD1 at the maximum magnification I can get on my current setup. I ended up settling on f/5.6; I tried wider apertures, but they ended up softer or had artifacts. I think the lens has significant coma wide open at this magnification (at least, it looks like coma to me). Here's the "focus block" I built.  Lego Focus Stacking by CaptainFwiffo, on Flickr |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
OK, that focus block may be the coolest thing I've ever seen. Looks like you took a large pile of electrical panel grounding blocks, and a hit of acid.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Captain, you are a Lego master!
I have a comment on your 57-D pic...when taking pics of whole coins, lighting to emphasize luster is OK if that's the presentation you are looking for. But for variety details, significant diffusion usually gives a better result. I even resort to ring lights (gasp!) occasionally to get the best visibility of a variety. But other than the excess luster the shot looks excellent.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
It's 100% Lego. You are my hero. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
674 Posts |
 . Absolutely impressed not just with the tower but the mind that envisaged it.! I am going to show everyone I know at least twice.!!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
Lego Technic parts actually make it really simple to assemble a basic gear-train. There aren't any unusual parts or exotic construction techniques in there. This shot was really more of an artistic shot than a diagnostic one. I do have a ring-light, but I can't use it with the focus stacking rig unless I redesign it. It's held stable by being wedged between the frame of the bellows and the microscope platform. I need to build a low-profile version. I have tried the ring-light on proofs, although I haven't shot that many proofs; I'm not sure if I like it that much or not.  [/url] 2009-S Proof Lincoln Bicentennial Cent by CaptainFwiffo, on Flickr |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
That's a subjective thing; I consider what you've shot there to be the pinnacle of Proof photography. That's what a Proof should look like to me, which is why I'm such a fan of ring lighting for Proofs.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
Yeah, it's also really easy to set up. I would like the reverse effect though for comparison; light fields with darker devices, maybe via axial lighting.
I've mostly been photographing silver, but I'm wondering if I'm doing copper properly. After I white-balance them, they're a nice coppery orange, but really, that proof is a lot closer to coppery pink in-hand, and so is that '57-D. I didn't really notice at first, because it's still a subjectively nice color, but I don't think it's accurate.
I wonder if the if the combination of copper, plus the spectral characteristics of the LED lights and spectral sensitivities of my camera are fighting.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2254 Posts |
Quote:
that proof is a lot closer to coppery pink in-hand And it also is on my monitor. I think when you take the "this is what a cent is supposed to look like(copper)" out of your mind you will realize the same thing when being subjective about the color. To me it's an orangey/pink color in your photo. Does that make sense? Or, you could try this: grab the scroll bar on the right of the page and move it up and down quickly from before the proof photo to after the proof photo. While it's scrolling past think of what color it resembles the most while it is flashing by. I see pink. But of course, maybe it's just my monitor.  |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
That's a vital consideration I hadn't thought to mention - monitors. No two are alike, and very few of them return truly accurate color out of the box. Most can be calibrated to accuracy using expensive hardware and software, but most of us just buy the darn monitor and turn it on.
So, what you're seeing on your monitor might not be the actual color of the coin, and it almost certainly isn't what I'm seeing.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
My monitors are calibrated and profiled using expensive hardware and software. Well, I ended up using the Open Source calibrating and profiling solution (ArgyllCMS) because it did a better job, but the hardware was still expensive.
I've also created a custom profile for my camera using a MacBeth Colorchecker and the Adobe DNG profile editor. However, it doesn't look significantly different than default Adobe profiles, at least for these colors (it mostly makes a difference for yellow-greens like back-lit vegetation, and really red objects, like a fire truck).
But it doesn't really make that much sense to get too obsessive about color; even if my monitor is accurate, almost noone else's will be.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
I have a fairly decent IPS monitor, but no calibration equipment, so I stole settings from someone who did and came to what seems a nice result. I think I'm seeing about what you are.
I wonder if we've reached the point, with digital sensors, where the difference is between the equally-dense distribution of digital color points and the uneven density and distribution of rods and cones in the human eye.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2254 Posts |
Quote:
My monitors are calibrated and profiled using expensive hardware and software Yes, but I stayed at a holiday Inn last night. Teehee. Regardless, awesome results. Keep posting those pics of your trials. |
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Posted 12/31/2012 8:12 pm
