Peace River Mammal Teeth

[digit]

I've been playing with my new focus stacking software from Helicon (Helicon Focus 6 & Helicon Remote). This easy-to-use (and not overly pricey) software allows me to take multiple macro photos of an object with the focal plane set to different points and then the software combines the sharpest parts of the stack of images to produce a final composite image with an incredible depth of field. I've been playing with it on some of my truly tiny micro-fossils (just a few millimeters) with good effect and so I decided to go rummage through my bowl of Peace River fossils for a few other objects to test out the software. I ended up selecting several mammal teeth that I've found in the Peace River over the years--horse, camel, peccary, bison. These fossils had enough details and were wide enough that focus stacking seemed like a good way to show off the teeth.

This post is more to show off the results of the Helicon focus-stacking software than the fossils themselves but maybe this eye candy will also motivate others to go hunt the Peace (which is finally almost reaching the proper water level to go fossil hunting).

Cheers.

-Ken

[snolly50]

Looks great - lighting employed?

[Grimlock]

The photos look great!

[digit]

A pair of LED lamps with a bank of about 30 individual LEDs in each. One slightly warmer than the other which definitely has a cooler bluish cast in comparison. I try to find a pleasing middle ground when I white balance the final images.

All photos taken with my Canon 5D MkII with my new 100mm macro lens. All images in the series that are send to the focus-stacking software are shot in manual exposure mode--ISO 250, f/8 @ 1/100 second. There is no need to stop-down the lens to a smaller aperture to gain depth of field as that is handled by the software. Most lenses are designed to be their sharpest and have the least amount of color fringing (chromatic aberration) in the middle of their f-stop range.

I used the Helicon Remote to control the camera through a USB cable. The software puts the camera into "live view" mode which means it flips up the reflex mirror so the image sensor has a continuous view of the image. The software lets you move the focus on the lens by the smallest increment possible with the autofocus stepping motor. You view the image live on your computer screen and pick the closest focal point in the series of images you want to shoot. Then you can step (by various amounts) to focus the lens at the furthest point in the sequence. Once you have picked the two end points, it is as easy as clicking the Start Shooting button and the software does the rest. It can automatically import the stack of images to the Helicon Focus software and then by clicking the Render button the software analyses each image to detect which portions of the image are in sharp focus. It then combines the selected parts of each image to arrive at a final rendered image with an impressive depth of field not possible by purely optical means with a single exposure. Kinda fun to watch the software run as it is rendering and assembling the image.

You can get a free 30 day trial of the full version of the software to play with and anybody who has bumped up against depth-of-field issues with their photography would enjoy playing with this software (even for just 30 days). I started out with a tripod-mounted camera just shooting a series of images manually moving the focus ring. It worked well but using the Helicon Remote software in combination really made for a sweet automation. I'd encourage anybody to grab a few nice small fossils and toss their camera on a tripod and give the software a test drive. Even if you don't end up buying it (it's not dirt cheap but actually not that expensive for what it does) you can have fun for a month. This is the website--cool macro images there as well--lots of bug heads with beady little eyes.

http://www.heliconsoft.com/

Cheers.

-Ken

http://www.heliconsoft.com/

[JohnBrewer]

Wow, that's an amazing piece of software 16bit RAW. Such a good price too. Really makes your teeth look fantastic!

[digit]

Wow, that's an amazing piece of software 16bit RAW. Such a good price too. Really makes your teeth look fantastic!

Sounds like an advertisement for tooth paste.

I encourage those who like taking photos of their fossil finds to check into the software. Simple to use software (haven't had to look at a manual yet) and produces great results.

Cheers.

-Ken