Tools & Techniques

I have been using the manual Proxxon rail guide for all my stacking photography but this is getting tiresome and often causes artifacts. I have to manually advance each step approximately every 5-7 seconds which could take up to 15 to 30 minutes depending on what I’m shooting and I can easily bump the set up causing artifact.

I have purchased Cognisys StackShot ($580-made in USA) instead of the WeMacro ($450-made in China) that turns a manual shooting process into “set it and forget it”. I can get it running and then come back in half an hour and it’s ready to stack. I have a comparison guide between the two different stacking setups. WeMacro vs StackShot  (Web view) 

Lights & Power

I have used both continuous lighting and flash lighting. I find when I need a lot more light, I fall back onto the flash. But I do like using the continuous lighting because it’s so much easier to adjust and see exactly what I’m getting, particularly with more difficult iridescent or shiny insects. You will have to determine for your shot what you want to use.

I did have to better understand color temperature when choosing fixed lighting. Imagine a scale from 1000 Kelvins (K) (very red)  to 10,000K (very blue)  (actual scale is wider).  The higher up the scale you go, the closer the light resembles blue daylight.

Confusingly, color temperature does not describe the actual temperature of the lamp itself but the color it produces and counter-intuitively; the higher the color temperature the “cooler” a lamp will look. I looked for fixed warm lighting around 2,700-3,000 Kelvins.

Continuous or fixed lighting

I use four clip-on desk lamps with a variable temperature of 2700 – 6000 K and I adjust as needed. They are not expensive, at around $15 a lamp.

Speedlight or Flash lighting

2 Godocs TT 600 speed lights-came with foot stand and a soft diffuser.

1 Canon 430EXII-came with foot stand, and I bought a soft diffuser.

Several times I’ve had problems with battery cycling time and low batteries so I purchased 2 external AC adapters that can provide me continuous power to the Speedlight's. Now I never worry about running out of battery power.

Another piece of equipment I would love to purchase for field macro would be the Godox MF12 macro flash with 3 lights ($330). It looks to be the least obtrusive, most lightweight, compact and portable flash.

Manuel Macro Focus Rail

Focus stacking is a term that means an image is made up of multiple shots with different focal points. Think of each shot as slices from front to back. Each image has the same exposure and aperture … you’re just moving the focal point along a track a little at a time. You merge all these slices into a single photo using a software program  (Zerene  or  Helicon for example) that results in a  whole specimen totally in focus.

Proxxon Microcoordinate table KT 70. This high precision device is designed for milling and a drill press but makes a very high quality, zero backlash X and Y focus rail needed to perform exacting focus stacking. It is a third the cost of some of the more precise manual focus rails. It is supplied with two step clamps and securing bolts to secure to an old tripod mount that is then attached to your camera. 

Both handwheels have zero-resettable dials with graduations indicating
1 revolution = 1.00mm,
0.1mm = 100 microns(µ) and,
1 division = 0.05mm or 1/2 of 1mm which equals 50 microns.
With a steady hand you could focus down to 25 microns for each shot step. That is amazingly small. 

A micron (µ), or micrometer, is a unit of length equal to one millionth of a meter. A human hair is about 90µ in diameter. Macro photography and particularly image stacking deals with very small depth of fields which requires a rail to get precise regular distances each focus step

Diffusers

Oftentimes the lighting you require is too harsh and causes “hotspots” or over reflective areas. This is particularly true with many of the shiny or iridescent insects like beetles. A softer natural looking light distribution is achieved by using diffusers. The speed light diffusers I either purchased or came with the speed light, the other diffusers were DIY.

• Small plastic sleeves on my permanent lights.

• Standard larger cloth soft diffusers on my speed lights.

• I’ve made a DIY diffuser box out of foam board and tracing paper that works well.

• I have a tube diffuser (white translucent soap bottle) that encircles the entire specimen with light.

Microscope

Routinely you need to quickly look at the subject closely before taking 75-100 shots. You will identify dirt, damage and even positioning. That is when you need the scope.

TOMLOV 7" LCD Digital Microscope 1200X, 1080P Video Microscope with Metal Stand, 12MP Ultra-Precise Focusing, LED Fill Lights, PC View, Windows/Mac OS Compatible for about $110

It has some nice features

• Removable, tilt, battery/AC powered, 7-inch LCD screen

•  50 X – 1200 X magnification 1080P lens with a 10 LED fill light

• 2 goose light illuminators.

• Aluminum base and stand.

• Has the option to take photos and video. I’ve actually use this for a 3 or 4 stack image, and it worked pretty well.

Flex and Magic Arms

Flex arms are great for holding reflectors, small lights, flash, snoot light, diffusers, props and actual specimens on a pin. They can hold just about anything lite. 

The Magic arms are very sturdy and can hold greater weight than the flex arms including flash, and snoot lights.

Small assortment of clamps help hold backdrops, cables, etc.

Lab lifting Platform

It is a good solid base to mount your specimen on. This little device comes in very handy to raise and lower your subject as well as general positioning.

You don't want to be repositioning your camera once it is level and in position on the macro rail.

Standard insect paraphernalia

1. Inexpensive foam insect pinning board.

2. Assortment of tweezers and forceps. For the butterflies and moths, I would recommend some rubber coated ones to reduce damaging the wings.

3. Pins. I use 2 different sizes of insect pins which are very nice but are fairly  expensive. I have also found quilting pins with glass heads work very well.

4. Ethyl acetate used to humanely dispatch the insect. They calmly fall asleep reducing damage to antenna, wings, and legs

5. Tracing or parchment paper is used instead of regular paper because it does not leave any residue on the insect. You need small strips to hold wings and legs into position.

6. A few small petri dishes for collection.

7. A “kill” jar to dispatch the insect is used to reduce damaging the insect, particularly moths and butterfly wings. I’d be careful mixing wing scaled insects like butterflies with other specimens because the butterfly wing scales have a tendency to come off like dust and get on all the other specimens.

8. An insect net. The one I purchased used a mesh scrim that didn’t capture small specimens, so I made my own using a finer weave material that captures even the smallest insect.

Insect Cleaner

This is a standard jewelry or ultrasonic cleaner. You would be surprised at how dirty some insects can get and you will need to clean them in this ultrasonic bath if you are taking any macro photography. You may have to clean the same insect several times. 

I mount the insect on a pin with glue, stick the pin into some sticky putty and secure that to the bottom of the basket. Use distilled water with one small drop of dish liquid soap for 90 seconds. Repeat if still dirty. Be careful with very fragile insects or you will "clean off" legs and antennae.

Backdrop

Oftentimes your backdrop is as as important as the actual specimen you're shooting.

Use about anything that you like that complements the image. 

Sometimes the simplest background is the best while the more complex backgrounds make the image too busy and distracting. I've used leaves, twigs, flowers rocks, colored sheets of paper, and sparkly reflective, even gift wrap paper or combination of all these.