Very nice results

Incredible detail.

Recently I revisited one of my favourite botanic gardens, Ness Gardens, on the Wirral.

Apart from the prime reason I went to get a selection of good images of Peris Formosa Forrestii, I also took some exposures suitable for focus stacking.  It was slightly overcast with almost no shadows, a slight breeze occasionally so ideal conditions.

The subject was a rather nice Carex Dallii bush in a sheltered corner of the gardens.

I used the D3 with micro Nikkor 105mm f/4.0 lens, the five exposures were @ 1/100sec at f11, ISO400.

The front stacked image:



And a close to 100% crop:



The stacked 100% crop:



And finally the stacked image:



I really enjoyed creating this image, I have been fascinated by focus stacking for a long time.  I intend to do many more.  Remarkably while I didn't realise at the time I was surprised to see that the plant is actually quite hairy, my close vision isn't particularly good (without glasses) but it was a really good lucky choice to show off such a hairy plant.

Busy days, Dobby is in tha house.

Lay of the Land:

I went to Costa Rica primarily to photograph its remarkable wildlife so mostly enjoyed its dramatic landscapes as we hurtled past them in the car. We were planning to shoot in several different areas which are many hours apart so we really couldn't stop at every bend in the road to photograph the landscape.

Here are just a few Landscapes to give you some idea of the countryside:


Approaching San Jose from the southwest.


Waterfall near Cinchona on the northeast side of Volcano Poas.


Early morning at the Arenal Lake below Volcano Arenal.


Evening after the rain at Arenal.


Stormy sky over the Naranjo River. (Photographed inland from Quepos from a dirt road which runs through virgin forests but is only passable in a 4-wheel-drive vehicle with a very skillful driver!)


A very long suspension bridge which crosses a deep gorge and the Savegre River at Los Campesinos.
(This is further along the same dirt road. It had been buried in a landslide at one point and we had to wait while a bulldozer cleared a way for us to pass through



and, to finish this story:
A panorama of a sunset shot as the sun burst through after a rainstorm in the Talamanca Mountains although there is still wet mist in the air:



This pano was merged from a set of 12 images which I shot with my 300 mm + 1.4 TC handheld as I swung though about 180°.
Stitching software is amazing!

Unfortunately I can't show you a taller rendition because the internet software limits us to 1800 px horizontally.