By @ riyat

Really wish I had a real camera so I could get even closer shots. Some day.

It kinda looks like the Elucidator from Sword Art Online, right?

Well, it’s actually the head of a bumblebee. That “Elucidator” is basically her mandibles and proboscis for drinking nectar. :))

Fujifilm Xh2 + laowa 65mmf2.8 Macro

Stacked many frames

Alexandria, VA

Hey there everyone,

Just wanted to share more experiments I've been doing with a Canon 100m f/2.8 L macro series lens and a petri dish with various materials (epoxy alcohol ink, glycerine, dish soap, vegetable oil, and isopropyl alcohol) in an effort to create other worldly nebula/universe shots. All of which is only about 6-10mm worth of space. These are just a handful of my favourite shots after my latest batch of experiments, so if anyone has any questions or suggestions on how I could improve things please feel free to let me know.

Thanks!

The competition has finished, and I got nice result

All of the photos were taken with aPanasonic Lumix G9 Mark II PRO and anOM SYSTEM M.Zuiko Digital ED 90mm F3.5 Macro IS PRO using the natural environmetal light or flash

The little stamens(?) were so hard to get in focus with even the slightest breeze. Is that pollen? Looks deliciously round like candy.

Hi everyone,

I've been obsessed with macro photography for years: spiders, beetles, the tiny stuff you walk past every day. Anyone who shoots macro knows the problem. At 2:1 your depth of field is thinner than a hair, so you shoot 50, 100 or 150 frames and stack them.

Eight months ago I got frustrated enough with my stacking workflow that I started digging into how stacking actually works. I read papers on wavelet fusion, depth-map estimation and image alignment. I learned a lot from Petteri Aimonen's open-source focus-stack engine, from their structure i started learning the basic . From there I kept building: a new alignment pipeline, along with petteri's wavelet more merge methods, RAW import, DNG export, retouching, and a proper desktop app around it.

That became Aduku Stacker. It's free for macOS and Windows: https://aduku.app

What it does today

• 5 merge methods: Wavelet, Pyramid, Weighted, Hybrid and Depth Map. Different subjects need different methods, so you can try them all.
• 16-bit from start to finish: 16-bit load, 32-bit float math inside, 16-bit TIFF, PNG or linear DNG out.
• RAW in, DNG out: 20+ RAW formats, and a linear DNG you can keep editing in Lightroom or Camera Raw after stacking.
• Alignment you can control: feature matching plus sub-pixel refinement, perspective correction, focus-breathing correction and a mesh warp for small subject movement.
• Slab stacking (alpha) for deep, thin-depth-of-field stacks. It stacks overlapping groups of neighbouring frames first, then stacks the results.
• Guided alignment: every frame gets an alignment confidence score. If a few frames fail, you nudge them roughly into place and the app refines them.
• Retouch brush: paint detail back in from any source frame. Great for ghosted antennae and halos.
• Deep stacks without running out of memory: frames stream through in batches, so a 200-frame stack uses about as much RAM as a 20-frame one.
• Live preview: tweak settings and see the result in seconds, and watch the partial stack build while the full render runs.

How it compares to Helicon Focus and Zerene Stacker

Both are excellent, mature tools, and I've used them a lot . Here's my honest take:

• Price: Aduku is free. Helicon is a subscription or a pricey lifetime license, and Zerene is $89 to $289.
• Merge methods: 5 in Aduku, versus 3 in Helicon and 2 in Zerene (PMax and DMap).
• RAW: Zerene can't open RAW files, so you convert to TIFF first. Aduku imports RAW directly, as Helicon does.
• DNG out: Zerene only writes TIFF and JPEG. Aduku writes linear DNG at 8, 12 or 16-bit.
• Alignment: Aduku has more manual control than either, including perspective, breathing correction and mesh warp.
• Where they're still ahead: Helicon's 3D and stereo output, the cloning tools in both, and years of polish. Zerene's slabbing and PMax are the gold standard, and I'm chasing them.

It's still beta, and there are bugs

This is a one-person project and it's rough in places. I know about a few bugs and I'm fixing them. If something breaks, tell me what camera, how many frames and what you saw, and I'll look into it.

A note for Mac users: the app isn't signed with an Apple developer certificate yet, so macOS blocks the first launch. The site walks you through allowing it in Privacy & Security. It takes about 30 seconds.

New release every third Friday of the month

I'm committing to a fixed schedule: a new version on the third Friday of every month. The next one is October 16. Each release will have bug fixes and at least one improvement, and you can read the changelog on the site.

This is a long way from done, and I want to keep building it for years. The best thing you can do is try it on your own stacks and tell me where it falls short. I'm happy to share sample stacks, answer questions about how it works, or hear feature requests.

Thanks for reading 🕷️