Hi Ken - I think the image was in focus, though slightly degraded due to the long shutter speed (0.4 second). I tested the setup at that shutter speed using a dollar bill as a subject and found that the detail was very good, but the resolution of some of the individual fibers in the paper was not as sharp as it could have been.

I think there is just something odd about the iridescent reflection and how the stacking software constructs the image. At full size, some of the patterns in the gold area resolve into whorls and swirls that look more like something in motion than something solid. Using a 10x loupe I cannot see any of the patterns present in the gold areas, so I was surprised to see them emerge in the 4x photos. But then, at some angles the crystal is dull gray with no color at all, so the patterns of the reflections probably come into play. Larry's comment about bokeh stacking might be a good explanation.

I need to get a simple manual ring flash and try again - I was using an LED ring light that was woefully inadequate for lighting the subject. The crystals are are like stair step pyramids and I was shooting into the cavity - only a straight on light would work.

Mark

On 12/16/2015 12:37 PM, Ken Waller wrote:
Mark, beautiful and colorful image. I've looked several times and come away feeling its slightly out of focus but I don't believe you'd post an OOF image.

Your thoughts ?

Kenneth Waller
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/kennethwaller

----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Stenquist" <pnstenqu...@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: PESO - Bismuth Crystal


Finally was able to take a minute off work to look at this. Absolutely gorgeous. It is certainly a worth subject.

Paul
On Dec 16, 2015, at 11:00 AM, Mark C <pdml-m...@charter.net> wrote:

Thanks, Rick! I am hoping this will open up a new line of macro work. Insects and spiders can be interesting but they are not too appealing.

On 12/15/2015 9:01 PM, Rick Womer wrote:
All punning aside, Mark (at least for a minute or two), both of the fossil and mineral photos are gorgeous. They're well worth printing LARGE and framing.

Rick

On Dec 15, 2015, at 11:33 AM, Mark C wrote:

Continuing experiments with minerals - this is a 4x lifesized close up of a bismuth crystal:

http://www.markcassino.com/b2evolution/index.php/bismuth-crystal

or

https://www.flickr.com/photos/markcassino/23671905071/

K01 with reverse mounted SMC K 24 f3.5, 70 stacked images. I could not position a flash well to shoot into the crystal (it is very 3 dimensional) so I used ambient light which resulted in a shutter speed of 0.4 seconds per shot. I would prefer to use the flash to counter any vibration related blur, but the long exposures came out OK.

Comments welcome.

Mark

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