A study in form, detail, depth, the illusion of space . . . and an experiment in stacking.
At a recent gathering of men I meet up with weekly one of the gents brought in a hearty basket filled with avocados. Home grown, no less, and correspondingly scrumptious — or so I believe: not being especially fond of this variety of berry (yes, look it up!) I did not consume any myself. However, among the nearly perfectly formed specimens I immediately spotted the one with character.
Those who've paid any attention to my oeuvre will have noticed that I carry a fascination and love of lines, vectors, and all forms geometric. I'm particularly attracted to such elements when they are situated in unexpected contexts, or add a sense of abstraction or motion to the scene.
In this case I could not resist the rugged scar streaking down nearly the full length of this otherwise smooth ovoid. Yes, yes, there are other dings and blemishes afoot (most of which I could have easily removed in post-processing, an occasional evil I try to keep to a minimum). Yet the surprising jaggedness, length and intensity of this tattoo strikes a stark contrast to the beauty of a surface gently adorned with a myriad of tiny specks . . . the effect, for me, is evocative and wonderfully reminiscent of a meteor sighting against a moonless, star-strewn night sky.
Thus was I compelled to pick this sample from my friend's offering, though not for culinary pleasure but rather for an attempt to expand my photographic skills; the instant I spotted this object I knew what vision I held for it, and the technique I'd need to employ — a method I'd never before attempted.
The goal: present a tableau wherein the entire length of the primary subject — that being the scar rather more than the entire avocado — would be in sharp focus. In photographic terms, I wanted the depth-of-field to be maximized throughout, from front to to back. Any blurriness would utterly destroy the visual impact of the wound.
So what's the issue in pulling this off? Well, if you've done true macrophotography work you too are acutely acquainted with the problem of focus: the closer the camera to the object at hand, and the greater the magnification, the shallower the field of focus will be in front of and behind the critical focal point. This is true, in proportion, regardless of the aperture used. Consequently, had I focused on the very front of the avocado, using a single photograph, very little would be in focus beyond the beginnings of the scar's run . . . essentially the great majority of the scene would have been increasingly blurry to unrecognizable beyond the first few centimeters of the front tip of my subject!
What do to?
Image stacking.
Sparing you the excruciating details, the simple description is as follows: using a sturdy tripod (mandatory for this type of work) I took eleven virtually identical shots of this organic etching. For each successive image, however, I adjusted the focal point to be ever-so-slightly further back from immediately previous shot. Thus, in the last image, none of the fruit is in focus until the far back end, starting just beyond the terminus of the lovely wound.
After taking the series of shots, each with a quite small difference of focal point, I loaded 9 of the 11 images as layers in Photoshop, using its Stacking processing feature.
By means of mathematical wizardry far beyond my comprehension, this software simultaneously guarantees the perfect alignment of the complete set of shots and blends them together in such manner that the entire depth of focus, as covered over the images' span, is revealed it all its wonder.
This was, as I've stated, my first experience and attempt using this approach. I am well-pleased with the outcome. And so I present it you, dear reader, for your shared appreciation and enjoyment (I hope).
A few last notes on this particular effort . . .
As most know I'm usually extremely particular in how I want my photographs' final versions to appear (as is true of my peers in this art). Thus it came to pass that over the past week I've uploaded to my main photo site three different versions of this single (resultant) photograph. My dissatisfaction was not with the focus, but rather the surrounding space — the foreground and background, such as they are.
My setup for this shot was quite simple: I placed a large bolt of black cloth on a table top, then turned off all the room lights except a small directional reading lamp which was the sole illumination source.
My original vision was to present the subject simply floating against a pure black space . . . but upon posting it I simply did not like the resulting feel. The composition was unbalanced, with an awkward, excessive "lean" to the right. The depiction cried for a counter weight. Thus I realized it was necessary after all to reveal at least some of the texture from the backdrop. So, I went back and made some adjustments (using Adobe Lightroom) . . . I lightened the areas surrounding our stoic subject just enough to make the surface presence known . . . And yet . . . the second version ("B") remained wanting . . . I was being too conservative. Ergo, one last visit to the "digital darkroom", pushed those sliders a bit further, and produced the end result("C") presented here; there's just enough texture (and a fortunate, subtle parallelism within the folds vis-à-vis the running scar) to bring it all together.
For your consideration, of course.
(As always, be sure to click on the image to see the full-sized, best quality view.)
Avocado, #6542-6550-7D (9-image composite);
© 2014 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.
(click image for larger version)
Details: October 11, 2014, Canon 7D; f/11 @ 1/2 sec; ±0 EV; ISO 250;
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
