Print finishing

 Print Finishing Preparation

So I have decided on using self adhesive foam core by Bainbridge. This comes in 40 by 60 inch sheets from my local supplier (Burlington Camera.)

To cut the sheet into three 20 inch strips I have come up with using the table saw. I needed a 84 tooth 10 inch blade that would cut plastics etc. Got this from Home Depot. I also will use this blade for plexiglass cutting for other projects.

After setting the sliding guide on the table saw I can rip the sheets really quick and easy into three 20 inch sections (20 by 40.)

This saves me from getting a larger finishing table, which I have no room for.

How sweet is this if you have a table saw already in the shop!

I am also using bags by Crystal Clear Canada to protect my prints once mounted. 

Canon R6 mark ii fail.

I had this camera in my kit for a week before it went in for service. It did not charge batteries properly via USB.

I think maybe they should have just replaced it but canon wants to repair.

Two new prints made and hung up.



Lower antelope canyon and upper on the right.

The lower was in 2019 and the upper a couple of months ago in 2022. 

It's fun having a great printer (Epson P800) to make hard copies of your images.

Printed on Epson metallic glossy paper as it suits the subject (IMHO).

The center hanging is in memory of Joan and her spirit.

Motherboard replacement

Unplanned hardware replacement.

The darkroom PC motherboard started failing. It would not remember any bios settings between restarts. The PC would eventually boot, after hitting reset button enough times. The PC would boot with default settings.

I have replaced the MB with a new one of the same vintage and rolled in a minor CPU upgrade at the same time. The CPU is now an 8 core 16 thread model (from 6 cores.) It overclocks nicely.

All this was no real fun. Some sleep was lost but, in the end, it's a sweet machine.

With some of the new software for denoise more cores are needed. The video card is still an Asus NVidia 1660 and pulls its weight in DXO denoise.

The boxes

Better keyboard design for the darkroom PC

Some darkroom hardware notes:

 I had a large keyboard (Corsair K55) on the darkroom PC. I found that the numeric keypad portion was not used very much. By moving to a keyboard (pictured) without the keypad portion I was able to make room for my mouse to be on the desk beside the keyboard. Ergonomically this is better. Everything on the same level. Where before the mouse was on the higher desk portion and not the keyboard tray.

I did try the 61 key keyboards but found that not having dedicated arrow keys unworkable in my software. The arrow keys move you quickly around the grid in Lightroom. The small 61 key keyboards did not work out.

The new keyboard and mouse are from Razer (pictured.) They do cost a bit more than cheaper hardware but are worth it. Its Thanksgiving Friday and they were on sale. Optical keys are sweet. I like the mouse, its high resolution and has that thumb rest extension.  I know that there are custom devices for PS, but at this time I will not go there. The smaller keyboard works well!

Best!

 

A pot holder safety grip for big white lens

The pot holder modification for a big lens.

Below you see the 200mm Arca Swiss plate attached to the lens foot. This version of the 400 has a tripod collar that is one piece and therfore does not have longer aftermarket handles.

Looking down the barrel without the grip on.

I've put a 200mm length Arca Swiss adapter on my Canon 400mm DO f4 lens. Its shown here with the 2x extender mounted.   

This long Arca mount allows you to balance the lens when mounted on the gimbal mount I use. 

But what I found that when handholding the lens is the arca plate is not very  ergonomic. 

Slip a silicone pot handle holder over the plate, and its much more easy to grip.

There are less chances of the lens slipping from the fingers. The silicone sleve is very grippy on the inside and outside.

This enhancement is cheep and easy.

Order the flat grips here...Amazon

I got the 200mm Arca Swiss bar that just fits the grips as you can see. This one worked well...Amazon

You could use a shorter plate and cut the pot handler to length. For me the 200mm length just clears the lens.

Happy photography!

Olympus OMD EM1 MK3 and Panasonic 100-400 for dragonfly photography.

Olympus OMD EM1 MK3 and Panasonic 100-400 for dragonfly photography

A sample image stack result

   I have been using the focus bracketing feature of the EM1 MK3 to photograph dragonflies with some good success. Here is what I have learned so far:

The lens
   The Panasonic 100 to 400 zoom lens is one fantastic lens for this task. Currently Olympus does not have a lens like this.  I started out with a fixed F7.1 aperture but have settled on using the variable aperture lens wide open. Depending on focal length the aperture changes on this lens. At 400mm (full frame effective 800mm) the lens is f6.3. Most images have been taken at 400mm as these skimmers are hard to get very close to. Using a largish aperture helps keep the background separate from the skimmer.

I am hand holding  the lens and using the lens anti shake, not the camera body image stabilization. This is working far better than the monopod I previously used with full frame. You can hunt and frame the little beasts much quicker hand held. I have made a larger handle grip for the lens to help holding  the lens steady. The lens IS is being used not the in body image stabilization (IBIS).

When using this lens on the Olympus body you cannot have the lens and body image stabilizations work together. This is a pity that Panasonic and Olympus don't 'cross' operate fully. Also the in camera focus stacking is not available. I don't find this an issue as I am using Photoshop to create the final merged image.

A high quality B&W polarizer is mounted on the lens to bring out colours and reduce reflections.

Camera Settings
   I set the number of images to bracket to 5 and the focus differential to 2 (low). This covers the body of the larger dragonflies I have been photographing.
I am using aperture priority set at f6.3  You could use f7.1 but I have found this not necessary.
I'm using auto ISO with the maximum set to 1600 ISO. The shutter speed varies with the light available.

Technique
   Use the smallest single focus point on the closest part of the dragonfly.  This could be a wing tip or a tail end for example. The focus bracketing will move forward from that point and should cover the entire skimmer. The new toggle dial on the MK3 really helps with changing the focus spot quickly.

 You will need to adjust the polarizing filter for vertical and horizontal orientations. The polarizer makes a significate difference in the final image.

The camera operates in high speed silent shutter mode when focus bracketing, and takes 5 images very quickly. You want the high speed shutter settings as fast as they can be set (60fps the camera default).

Image Processing
   I use Adobe Lightroom to process the images and then Photoshop to align and create the stacked and merged final image. More on this in a later blog post.