Another attempt at extreme / stacked macro (click on the image for a larger file.) 

This is roughly 2.5x lifesized and was taken with a Pentax K-3, DFA 50mm f2.8 macro on extension tubes at f 4, AF360FGZ flash. The tubes have the contacts needed for lens to camera communication, I was able to use the flash in P-TTL mode.

This is a 70 image stack, combined in Zerene Stacker. In my last post I commented on comparing the results between stacking images in Zerene Stacker and Photoshop, with mixed results between the two. In this case Photoshop choked on combining these images - even after alloting 750 gigabytes of drive space in scratch disks, it ran out scratch space when trying to combine the 16 bit TIFF files. It did suceed with 8 it TIFFs, but with lots of halos and other issues. So in this case, the nod goes to Zerene Stacker.

Finding high quality insects subject this time of year is difficult - these stinkbugs are the only insects that seem to appear now an again during warm spells. In a few months I hope to be able to present some more interesting subjects.