What Is This?

March is upon us and it is off to a hectic start. I have spent much of the weekend going through the excellent entries for the February competition. It is such an interesting batch of entries that I have decided to use Tuesday evening’s Macro Talk for announcing the results and discussing the entries. I always enjoy these livestreams and I think there is a lot to learn from the process. That will be at 8PM on Tuesday and the link too the stream is right here - https://youtube.com/live/huzYrBtOcqg?feature=share

On Thursday we are going to be getting back to the channel’s macro roots - insect photography! As the winter is slowly winding down in Middle Earth, it will not be long before the bugs return, and to celebrate that fact I would like to spend this week’s Macro Talk Too talking about the easiest and hardest insects to photograph. I will cover both field and studio macro so that after Thursday’s stream you may have a feel for the challenges you want to set for yourself this year. It should be a lot of fun and you can access the stream using this link - https://youtube.com/live/zla07Wz0G4E?feature=share

Talking about the competition, the theme for March 2025 is…

What is this?

We are going to try something altogether different in our March Macro Photography Competition. I was thinking back to a feature that was published every week in our local newspaper when I was a lad. A photograph would be presented and the reader would be asked to identify the  subject of the image. The pictures were always close-up shots and the reader’s task was to figure out what we were looking at. I was actually quite good at this and would often give the correct answer

In March, I want you take a picture of something small but common, while not giving enough information for a rapid identification. The winning picture will be a good quality image, at 1:1 or closer. It will be of a subject that is common enough that anyone will be familiar with it. The part of the subject shown in the image will show characteristics that are fairly unique to, or characteristic of this subject. The perfect picture will make the viewer think “Of course! I see that now!”. The judges will assign points for technical merit, originality, and the cleverness of the  puzzle picture. The judge does not have to solve your puzzle entry for you to get a perfect score, but if it is too easy you may lose points.

In this competition you must name the entry picture(s) as usual, and the title may be a clue, if you wish, but I also need you to provide the solution after the title. The judges will not see the solution prior to seeing the images.

This week, on Saturday, we have AfterStack 18, with the discussion to be led by Walter Perrott. The subject is going to be post-production management of focus stacking artifacts. We will probably touch on the retouching process though the majority of the time will be spent talking about the various techniques for artifact removal in Photoshop and other editing programs. If you have any challenging focus stacked output images that you would like to bring to the group, please send them to me or to Bud through the Google Drive link shown here - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XA7tv9O2SW0TGRjiIIRBzMRMAu-ZAkKe?usp=share_link

And here is your invitation to the discussion -Topic: AfterStack18

Time: Mar 8, 2025 10:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

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Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

That is it for this week - I must run - I have an event to attend and to keep everyone on their toes, I plan to arrive on time. Hope to see you tomorrow!

The Great Thaw

That is what it feels like, after two sun-filled days with temperatures in the 40’s and low 50’s - what the Middle-Earthers refer to as “warm”. It is not warm, of course, but one could be forgiven for thinking it is after two weeks of soul-destroying single digit highs and digit-destroying sub-zero lows. And some of the ice and snow did melt this afternoon, though not for long - most of the water in Middle Earth has phase-shifted back to the solid form. While not many who know me would accuse me of being prone to optimism, I have come across a silver lining to this meteorological catastrophe called winter. My fear of freezing to death out in the elements has forced me to face up to my fear of freezing to death in this basement, and this has allowed me to attack a few projects that have been somewhat neglected since the beginning of winter, seven years ago. Throwing myself into these projects has renewed my enthusiasm for making stuff, and you know what happens when I get enthusiastic about stuff- I feel duty-bound to get you enthusiastic about stuff too. That is my goal for this, the last week of February, 2025.

Kicking things off on Tuesday I aim going to come at the subject of DIY obliquely, walking you through the steps required to modify your macro platform for use at high magnification and high resolution. At the heart of these modifications is a gadget that, to the best of my knowledge, cannot be purchased but must be constructed. I plan to show you exactly how this is done, from start to finish, in under an hour. The link to this episode of Macro Talk, which starts at 8PM on

On Thursday, in Macro Talk Too, I will come at DIY in macro photography more directly, breaking down the various skills and tools that I believe are worth acquiring, in order to get the most out of our macro photography. I will do this by giving multiple examples of how my growing experience with tools and techniques have paid off in my macro experience over the years. I think it should be a lot of fun and if you would like to join the conversation, here is a link to the livestream on Thursday - https://youtube.com/live/JV1z2k_IatM?feature=share

This is the last week of the February Macro Competition - your pictures must be in before midnight on Friday. The theme for this month is Symmetry and I can’t wait to see what you have come up with! I will announce the theme for March later this week. Saturday is going to be a busy day for me as I will be judging the competition on Saturday while also hosting our first Pzoom meeting of the month. I am trying to come up with a creative way to combine these two activities and I think I may have a workable solution - should be fun!

For anyone who is interested, I placed a bid on a microscope this morning. It is a gorgeous Olympus CX53 fluorescence scope with DIC. It comes with a full complement of high NA objectives, DIC prisms and a multifunction condenser. I has literally everything I want in microscope - but I lost the auction in the last 5 minutes. I’m not really surprised - my bid was ridiculously low for the almost new $20K microscope, so it didn’t take too much to beat it and someone was watching closely. The final price was only $1,700, but that is out of my comfort zone until the IRS has my pound of flesh. You win some, you lose some!

Sorry for the lateness of this post - I lost my whole Monday, helping a friend out of a bind. Tuesday was spent getting my two microscope focusing devices ready to ship to two very patient photographers.

I hope you have a great week and don’t miss Thursday’s livestream - lots of really original stuff to tell you about!

Allan

Shifting Perspectives on Epi-illumination

Greetings all!

The title of today’s post is about as accurate as I could get but the post itself is going to be very brief. It does contain a couple of important announcements that you need to hear - so I will get right to the point.

I have been informed that the competition photo-naming convention that I announced a couple of weeks ago has some formatting issues, so I am going to change the instructions accordingly. This will take effect immediately, but I will not disqualify mis-named images until the March competition. The format for naming your entry (and the filename for the image - they need to be the same) is as follows…

_exact.image.title_your first name.your last name.image file type

Every entry must have the same filename and image title and both must be in exactly the same format. There should be NO spaces, so words are to be separated using a period. The convention I announced earlier used “quotation marks” - these are problematic for some computers, as are spaces, so I replacing the quotation marks with underscores (_) and the spaces with periods (.). Using this convention a typical entry would look like this …

_green.weevil.foot_allan.walls.jpg
I hope that is completely clear but if you have any questions, please ask. I really do not want to have to disqualify any images.

We had an excellent Tangent livestream this last weekend, with lots of useful information for anyone using 3D modeling or printing. The session was recorded and the recording is now posted on YouTube - this link will take you right to the recording …

This coming weekend we have Episode 17 of AfterStack and this week we will take a look at the Photoshop focus stacking utility. This can be a very handy tool but it pays to know its limitations and how to use it. We will also be discussing any images you have been having trouble with, and because of that, the next announcement is also important …

I have set up a Google Drive Folder named “AfterStack” that can only be accessed by following this link -

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XA7tv9O2SW0TGRjiIIRBzMRMAu-ZAkKe?usp=sharing

Please save this link and use it for sending images that you would like to have discussed in AfterStack.

Don’t forget AfterStack 17 starts air 10AM this Saturday - Here is your link to the meeting -

Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: AfterStack 17

Time: Feb 22, 2025 10:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=83179811857

Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

Last Saturday’s Pzoom recording is available to Patreon Supporters and can be found on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/allanwallsphotography) and while I am thinking about it, I have also set up a Pzoom Google Drive Folder and the link to that folder is also over on Patreon.

Getting to this week’s planned Macro Talk and Macro Talk Too discussions, we are going to delve into a couple of technical topics that will be valuable to anyone interested in expanding their macro skill set or trying something new. In our first livestream we are going to take a look at epi-illumination using a very inexpensive coaxial lighting setup. I will walk through the equipment and demonstrate how the rig should be assembled. I will walk thought the steps for setting up a photograph and make some suggestions for suitable subjects and discuss some of the technical limitations of this technique. There will be plenty of time to answer questions. https://youtube.com/live/NNZTNaj0sVQ?feature=share

On Thursday we will change gears and discuss a technique that is uncommonly applied today, but one that is well worth understanding. Using the tilt, shift, and swing capabilities of some lenses, adapters and bellows to manipulate the focal plane to alter perspective in close-up and macro photography. We will accomplish this while taking a look at one of the most complicated bellows devices ever sold - the Kenlock bellows. I am sure that by the end of this hour you will clearly understand the  title of this livestream! https://youtube.com/live/0J4nqSb1CCc?feature=share

With so much technical discussion in the coming days, I need to get to work on my preparations. I look forward to seeing you at one or more of these events and encourage you top bring any questions you may have.

Iceland Again

Icelandic Glacier Flow by Harold Hall, used by permission

It is Monday, February 9th, 2025 and the week ahead is packed with macro photography. So much macro photography, in fact, that I will not be writing too much about it in this blog post. I will give you all the information about this week’s activities now, so that you can find the links quickly, and then I will get into what I want to tell you about. Tuesday’s Macro Talk will attempt to answer a question that I was asked at the end of last Thursday’s stream. I forget who asked the question, but it was a good one. How do we light highly reflective subjects in macro photography?

It is an excellent question with  several equally useful answers and I will attempt to answer them all by demonstrating all the techniques that I use to control reflections - as that is what lighting shiny objects is all about. Don’t miss this one, especially if you are new to close-up and macro photography. The link to the livestream is here … https://youtube.com/live/ha_uZ4Q10pU?feature=share

While I am answering questions I am going to address a request from Alison Pollack, one of the world’s leading myxomycetes photographers. Alison asked if I would break down my horizontal studio setup and I thought this might be a helpful discussion for anyone thinking about building or improving their own focus stacking rig. While I am doing this I will also walk you through the setup that I described last week for using high numerical aperture infinity conjugate microscope objectives with coaxial lighting. It is not a particularly complicated setup, but there is enough about this rig that is different to make it worthwhile to go over. The link to that Macro Talk Too livestream is here … https://youtube.com/live/HAAnRNy15fA?feature=share

For my Patreon Supporters, don’t forget we have a Pzoom meeting this Saturday from 10AM until Noon. At least part of that time will be spent answering questions and going a little deeper into the high magnification platform discussed on Thursday, along with a very detailed breakdown of every element in my high magnification stacking platform. This was something that Dianne asked me to cover during Saturday’s AfterStack (episode 16). In this section of the meeting I will show every adapter, mount, and optical component to take the guesswork out of what you need to order to assemble your own infinity corrected extreme macro platform. The invitation to this meeting is posted over on Patreon - https://patreon.com/allanwallsphotography.

Talking about AfterStack, Saturday’s live event will soon be available to watch on YouTube.

Believe it or not - this is the second Pzoom weekend of the month already, so right after our meeting wraps up on Saturday, at 12:30PM central to be precise, we have another episode of “Tangent” with Larry and I. For those who are not familiar with this event, it is a monthly 3D modeling workshop designed for anyone who has found designing and printing 3D objects to be a vital part of DIY macro photography. I have not talked to Larry yet this week, but I am hoping to get some feedback and help with a difficult modeling challenge that I am currently working on - designing, modeling, and printing an enclosure for a Raspberry Pi camera. On the surface this might seem like a straightforward process, though it is anything but! This is because the model needs to accommodate a battery pack, a Pi computer, an SSD expansion board, power management expansion board, and a touch screen monitor. Everyone is invited to attend and your invitation is here …

Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Tangent

Time: Feb 15, 2025 12:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

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Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

Stop staring!

We have a very busy week ahead and it is packed with information that should be helpful for anyone interested in extreme macro photography. Because of that, I do not feel at all guilty about straying into an altogether different genre of the photographic arts. I want to spend the rest of this post talking about one island, two photographers, and some of nature’s most arresting beauty.

HALL, COULET, & ICELAND’S GLACIAL FLOW

So this story starts with a conversation I had with my good friend Harold Hall. We were just getting caught up after Harold returned from one of his overseas adventures when he brought up this photograph on his computer, and asked me if I knew what I was looking at.

an image of Glacier Flow by Harold Hall, used by permission

Of course, having just returned from the same place that Harold had been when the image was captured, I should have known exactly what it was. I did not. So, like any good macro photographer I started guessing, and with every guess I got further and further from the correct answer. Now, in fairness (to myself), I will remind you that I am a macro photographer, with a primary interest in insect photography. This is relevant because while I was in Iceland long enough to witness the phenomenon that Harold was showing me, I had absolutely no intention of setting foot in nature when the temperature was hovering close to absolute zero. I had already made this almost fatal mistake, leaving the warmth of my vehicle to get a closer look at a bubbling, mud-filled and foul smelling hole in the ground. Our guide, despite having an almost total disregard for the comfort of his charges, did have a sense of humor. This was fully on display when he called this gaseous atrocity a geyser.

old faithful - not

Harold is clearly made of stronger stuff than am I, so he got to see this remarkable display of natural beauty, while hanging out of the side of an airplane. So what exactly are we looking at here? What are these silky braids visible from high above? We are looking at the runoff from a melting glacier, glacial flow, hundreds of braided rivulets of water so filled with silt and chemicals that it takes on these subtle blues and the earthy tones of sand, sienna, sepia, and chocolate. Knowing this is what I am looking at does not help me to understand the dynamics of the scene. Streams do not typically cross one another as these appear to be doing, nor do they usually split off from a larger flow to  wriggle snake-like in search of their own route to the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. Even armed with the knowledge that this is flowing glacial runoff, I still find its disregard for fluid dynamics baffling - and beguiling.

Glacial flow by harold hall, used by permission

I love what Harold has done, capturing the essence of this stunning display of strange beauty. By lucky coincidence, Harold published these pictures in an excellent article that he released the day before I started to write this piece and I would recommend that you take a few minutes to visit his travel and photography blog. Follow this link to his article, https://www.haroldhallphotography.com/ and while you are there, I encourage you to look around and take in some of this remarkable artist’s work. Harold is one of the most gifted photographers that I know and his treatment of this curious aspect of Icelandic vulcanology is a superb example of the man’s gift.  I consider it a great honor to have Harold as one of my long-time supporters and, if he is able too attend our Patreon event this coming weekend, I daresay he will be willing to share with us a little more about his visit to this strange and wonderful island.

Iceland’s version of a “beach”

And then, a couple of days ago, I got a call from a good friend, we will call him William (because that is his name), who wanted me to drop by his office. His office is just a short distance from my studio and I was eager for a short break after my livestream, which had just finished. Arriving in the offices of Sun Chasers, a solar energy company here in Peoria, I was delighted to find another friend of mine already there. Natasha is an artist, dancer, musician, intellectual, and photographer, who also just happens to be married to William, making them one of the most interesting and entertaining couples I have ever met. The office was beautifully appointed and several of the most striking pieces of art on display were the work of Natasha herself. As I was admiring one of her beautiful seascapes, Natasha brought up an image on her laptop and, turning the screen to face me, she asked if I knew what was shown in the photograph. Without a moment’s hesitation I replied, “Of course! This is an aerial view of the glacial flow, possibly from below the Vatnajökull glacier.”, pronouncing the name of the glacier as only an intrepid explorer of ice fields, or a person with a severe sinus infection, could do.

Thanks to this unlikely coincidence, Natasha was now convinced beyond a doubt that I was both sufficiently knowledgable about, and deeply in love with this frigid chunk of North Atlantic basalt to be worthy of an introduction to a second glacial flow photographer in the same week. And so it was that I came to meet Gabriel Coulet and learn of the beautiful and important work that he has been doing on this frigid Scandinavian outpost, halfway between his homes in Chamonix, France, and Quebec, Canada. Gabriel “Gaby” Coulet is a former downhill ski racer, adventurer, businessman and acclaimed freelance photographer. His studio is called “Third Eye Line” - and his landscape photography is absolutely stunning. But you certainly won’t need me to tell you that. After looking through his remarkable portfolio, I decided that his work deserved to be seen, and that his Icelandic “then and now” project would complement Mr. Hall’s excellent article. To that end I had planned to include a few of Gaby’s images in this piece. Alas, my request for permission to use the images has yet to be answered, and as I would not feel comfortable doing so without the photographer’s express permission, I cannot. What I can do is urge you to visit his website, https://thirdeyeline.myportfolio.com and take in the images presented in the section called “Thule” (a translation is available and can be accessed by clicking on the translation icon in the URL at the top of the page). As Natasha explained to me, the project began when Gabriel came across some old photographs of the unspoiled island taken by another photographer, 61 years ago, in 1962. Concerned about the dramatic changes in the landscape in recent years, Gaby felt a responsibility to chronicle these changes by completing the monumental task of finding and photographing each of these vistas, exactly as they were photographed all those years ago.

Iceland is a small island, compared to, say, Australia, but it is not that small. The nation is almost 40,000 square miles, almost exactly the same size as Kentucky, or Virginia. Finding the exact location and vantage point for every photograph in the earlier collection of images, many of which could not be classified as iconic landscapes, and would likely be unrecognizable by most landscape photographers, must have been a daunting prospect. The essay and images titled “Thule” (a mysterious island at farthest northern limits of Ancient Greek exploration, and today thought to be Iceland) make a beautiful and poignant piece of work that I found fascinating and moving. I urge you to visit Gabriel’s site and, for a while, lose yourself in the powerful telling of this story. If I am able to obtain the author’s permission, I will share some of these images in future articles, but for now visit his website directly - you will be glad that you did.

My thanks to Harold Hall and Gabriel Coulet for allowing me to share their inspiring work. And to you, for tolerating my digression.

See you on Tuesday!

Allan

Resolution

Resolution…

I am not talking about the empty promises made in haste at the New Year’s Eve party only to be unceremoniously discarded like the last half carton of egg nog, the purchase of which had seemed like such a good idea the week before Christmas. The resolution that I want to talk about this week is the ability for an optical system to distinguish two points that are in close proximity as separate entities on our camera’s sensor. Assuming, of course, that the number and size of photo- sites on the sensor, or the light sensitive cells in our retinas, are capable of resolving detail to the same or a higher degree, the limiting factor becomes the numeric aperture of our objective  lens. The relationship between resolution and the numeric aperture of a system can be loosely defined by the formula:

Resolution =(approximately) the wavelength of light/ 2 x NA

This is just a helpful approximation, but good enough to make it clear that the higher the NA of our objective, the smaller the separation of points and the more resolving power in the system. We typically use objectives that prioritize full spectrum color correction and long working distances, as these characteristics of a lens give us much less color fringing while providing a lot of room  for illuminating our subject. A good example of this is the 5X Mitutoyo M Plan apochromatic objective. This lens has a numerical aperture of only 0.14 but the low resolving power (2um) is an acceptable trade-off for the huge working distance of 34mm.

Consider now the resolution of an objective like the Olympus UPLX APO, which has a numerical aperture of 0.8 (at 20X) - it is also  an apochromat, but can resolve to 0.42um - five times the resolution of the Mitutoyo (and more than twice the resolution of the Mitutoyo 20X SL WD which only has an NA of 0.28). It seems, therefore, that we are limited to using only lower NA objectives because the  corresponding tiny working distances make it all but impossible to get enough light onto our subject for photography to be possible.

At first blush, this appears to present us with a Hobson’s Choice - or no real choice at all. We can take it or leave it. We choose a high NA objective or a well lit subject, but not both. However, there is another option and that is going to be the subject of Thursday’s livestream. I am going to show you a practical and affordable alternative method for using high NA objectives  while also illuminating the subject for photography. This will not be a novel concept to everyone, but even for those of you who already know the answer to this perplexing puzzle, it may surprise you to discover just how accessible super-high-resolution photomicrography  can be, with a small investment and most of the same equipment you already have. Tune in to Macro Talk Too this Thursday at 2PM to get everything you need to dive into high-resolution photography! https://youtube.com/live/DHEicfFzmgE?feature=share

Let’s now work backwards to Tuesday’s Macro Talk, our first livestream this week, at 8PM on YouTube. We are going to have a Competition Results Special, in which I will discuss the entries to last month’s contest and announce the winners. I have decided to do this because my plans for judging this competition and recording the process for release in a video fell through at the last minute. My guest judge was called away on urgent business and was unable to complete the judging and recording. So I am going to go it alone this month and if I am doing that, I might as well do it live, as these livestreams are always a lot of fun to do. There were only about 35 entries this month (mechanisms was the theme) so I should have just enough time to go through every entry. Your link to the results livestream is right here - https://youtube.com/live/RQnBEEOL3CA?feature=share

This Saturday, at 10AM, we have another AfterStack - this is Episode 16 - and Bud Perrott will be back to lead this discussion. If you have an image you would like to have discussed be sure to send it to Bud or I this week. I believe Bud has a topic lined up and as soon as I find out what it is I will announce it in a livestream. This post-processing round table discussion is free of charge and open to anyone interested in attending. But you will need an invitation to get in - here it is -

Topic: AfterStack 16 Time: Feb 8, 2025 10:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=84267941870

Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

At the end of last week I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Zamir Pena, the inventor of the AK Diffuser and owner of the business by the same name. He is a delightful young man and our conversation covered quite a bit of ground. I decided to include a summary of my review of the AK diffuser with the interview, which will be released very soon. For anyone thinking about adding the AK Diffuser to their field macro kit, something I strongly suggest you do, Zamir has very kindly arranged to offer a discount for my viewers. This information will also be included in the video, but you can also take advantage of it now by going to:

www.AKdiffuser.com and entering the code “Allan Walls” before the end of February to get a 5% discount.

By the way, I was offered an affiliate relationship with the AKDiffuser company. I decided that this may be perceived to introduce a potential bias that could be influencing my review, so I politely declined the offer. I will not make a penny from any sales resulting from this or any future reviews or recommendations.

Finally, a word about our growing Macro Competition…

IMPORTANT REMINDER

The naming of your image is important. Failure to adhere to the requested naming convention complicates the judging process, can significantly add to the judge’s workload, and may result in errors. The required naming convention in this competition is as follows:

"TITLE” FIRST NAME.LAST NAME.FILETYPE

This is an example of the correct naming of entries for this competition -       

“Compound Eye” Allan.Walls.jpg       

The TITLE must match the name of the image used when entering the image and should be in quotation marks. Your first and last names should be separated by a full stop (period). We have not enforced this convention, but with new guest judges every month, we have to eliminate confusion about image titles and photographer’s name. So, starting with this month’s competition, failure to comply with the naming convention will disqualify the offending image. This rule will not affect entries submitted BEFORE 10AM on Sunday February 2, 2025

That is all I have for you this week and I look forward to seeing you at one of the week’s events!

Allan

The Robots are Coming!

Hello everyone!

It is Monday, January 27th and the beginning of another exciting week in the world of macro. Since partially resolving my computer issues, at the end of last week and with one more trip to Chicago, I have had a little time to catch up on some reading. And these days, most of my reading has been on the subject of Artificial Intelligence, particularly as it relates to macro photography and art in general. There is a lot going on and some of it is very exciting - Like China’s ChatGPT competitor - supposedly better and much cheaper than our own version. But anyway, I felt like it was time for an update and I am also going to use this opportunity to demonstrate some of the remarkable advances in ChatGPT. I have not decided on the exact programming for the two streams this week, but I will be doing a demo of the new advanced voice capabilities of ChatGPT in one or possibly both of them. This will be a lot of fun and may surprise you!

Macro talk is at 8PM on Tuesday and the link is here - https://youtube.com/live/z82lLYFOUys?feature=share

Macro Talk Too is on Thursday at 2PM and the link for that show is here - https://youtube.com/live/pRJeJNZo8Pg?feature=share

AfterStack 15 was this past Saturday but I have run into some technical problems uploading the video. I will let you know if and when I get it posted.

This coming weekend will see another Pzoom meeting - all Patreon Subscribers are invited to drop by! If you attend my Zoom gatherings but have not had a chance to introduce yourself, you are invited to do so this weekend - bring some of your images and tell us abut yourself and your macro photography (or anything else you want to tell us). This is always a lot of fun and something I really look forward to .

AK Diffuser Update

Later this week I will be meeting with Zamir Pena of AK Diffuser fame for an informal conversation to be published next week. I’m very much looking forward to this talk.

Competition

Also on the horizon is the January Competition - “Mechanisms” - deadline to enter is midnight on Friday - don’t miss the chance to enter. I am also looking for a Guest Judge - actually, I have already chosen one but am waiting for an answer. Fingers crossed!

I am changing the way I handle private lessons…

Private Lessons

I have decided it is time to update my policies regarding private teaching. I have been taking private students since this channel launched, about six years ago. I love teaching one-on-one and am very proud of the amazing work many of my students have gone on to produce. I love the work with almost the same passion that I hate the part where I have to ask for payment. As a result, I have almost never asked to be paid for my time and work. This is a terrible business practice that would surely have destroyed the channel were it not for the generosity and thoughtfulness of many of my students, who paid me anyway.

With the costs of keeping the channel operational, not to mention the rapidly rising cost of living, I have to make some changes to how I do this. The first step will be to lay out my new policy for private tutoring and explain how we are going to handle billing for my services. Private tutoring is expensive, partly because I am a decent teacher with a lot of experience, but also because my time is in very limited supply. My hourly rate for photography services in general is $200/hour, which is a little lower than that of my contemporaries. This is also my hourly rate for personal instruction. My day job (running this channel, and all that involves) takes up almost every waking hour of my week - and this is work that is not compensated. The channel has survived because of the generous support of a small group of Patreon Supporters, and the occasional donations made by other like-minded benefactors. This has never been  sufficient monthly income to support the channel but I have always been able to make up any shortfall from my own savings. But as those funds are slowly dwindling, something else is going to be needed and it is for these reasons that I have decided to create this new policy.

I am limited in the number of students I can have at any given time, and I will always give priority to my Patreon Supporters. As long as I have available teaching slots, not already taken by Patreon Supporters, I will take new students. My hourly rate is $200 for non-Patreon Supporters. My Patreon Supporters receive a 50% discount for every lesson with no limit. Additionally any Patreon Supporter will have their first monthly session discounted by the amount of their monthly donation to the channel. For example, a Patreon Supporter paying $40 per month who wishes to have two one-hour lessons each month will only be charged $60 for the first hour and $100 for the second. I think these are very attractive prices and hopefully the added discount will attract a few new Patreon subscribers to the fold.

Payment will be expected at the time of the lesson and can be made using Venmo, the CashApp, or by PayPal. I am also open to other methods of electronic payment upon request. If you are interested in private lessons but cannot manage these prices, I will continue to provide instruction to small groups of 2-3 students at the price of a single student - not ideal, but for students at about the same level, it can be a lot of fun and very effective.

Active and Retired Military

I am also starting something new - I am going to set aside two hours every month for two private tutoring sessions for active  or retired military. These sessions will be on a first come, first served basis but scheduling priority will be given to active duty and disabled veterans. I will make sure that every serviceman or servicewoman requesting a lesson will get one. If you know of anyone who might benefit from this opportunity, encourage them to contact me directly. To request a session, send me a message through the Walls-app, including your name, contact information, service branch and status, and what you are interested in learning about and I will get back to you. This invitation is not limited to the US military - if you have served or are serving anywhere, for any nation, you are eligible.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. If you are interested in private instruction, but are not a member of Patreon, please consider joining - the website is https://www.Patreon.com/allanwallsphotography.

For those who are already part of the Patreon family - your link for Saturday’s Zoom is over on the Patreon site!

Thank you and I hope to see you at one of the upcoming Livestreams, where you will finally get to meet and talk to my personal assistant!

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

The words of Puck, Oberon’s impish fairy, on realizing how screwed up everything had become in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare…

Have you ever done something so careless, with such disregard for the consequences, that you were embarrassed to tell anyone? I do it all the time, but on this particular occasion I have no choice - I have to tell you about it because it is such a good opportunity to teach something of real value. What follows is a cautionary tale that I have decided to use as the starting point for my two livestreams this week. It is about how one ill conceived move in data management can wreck a schedule, waste almost an entire work week, and cost several thousand dollars.

The story begins with a zoom call that I was having with a friend, one week ago. During the call I wanted to show a clip of video footage shot through my microscope and recorded onto my Nikon D7500. It was not the only clip on the card, but one of about 40 such segments - some of them very long. In my haste, I pulled the card (128GB) from the camera and inserted it into the card reader attached to my MacBook Pro - my main work machine and the device I use for all my livestreams, blog posts and other work related tasks. Early that day I had received a single warning message from Backblaze that my 2TB SSD was dangerously short on space and my backups may not be able to proceed until some data was moved off the drive.

I have been given these warnings before, and they are usually given long before anything bad happens - surely this was no different. So instead of attending to the problem I did the complete opposite and proceeded to transfer the clip to my computer’s hard drive without a second thought. Apparently I did so without much of a first thought either because I somehow selected ALL the clips, not just the one I wanted to show to my friend. And the computer obediently jumped into action. I thought nothing more of it until a couple of hours later, when I noticed that the computer had not finished the transfer, though it appeared to be still trying to do so. This was when I remembered the earlier warning and I stopped the transfer, or tried to. The machine was not working as expected and wouldn’t respond to any inputs. So, after  trying everything I could think of I decided to restart the machine, a maneuver that works to correct a great many problems on a Mac.

On this occasion, however, the computer would not reboot. It would start to, asking for my password and beginning the process promptly enough, but after a few seconds the screen would turn black and all signs of life would disappear. This was repeated multiple times, with no success. I still wasn’t too worried - this had happened before on older Macs, and I managed to restart the computer in Recovery Mode. This is not the same as starting in Safe Mode, a limited type of restart that allows for most of the normal activities of a working computer to proceed. In Recovery Mode there are only a very limited number of options available. One of these is called Disc Utility, a process that allows one to examine the various Discs, Volumes, and Partitions on the connected drives. On examining my 2TB SSD I discovered something that I have never seen before and until that moment did not think was even possible on a modern MacBook Pro. My SSD had only 78KB of space remaining. This blog post is larger than that. Put another way, if my computer’s hard drive had a total capacity of one Olympic swimming pool, filled to the brim, I had remaining enough space to fill the tank of my car. If the total capacity of my hard drive would fit on a football field, I had enough room left for a medium sized print of one of my photographs.

And why does any of this matter? Because in order to move or delete any data from a drive you must have enough space left on the disc to copy the material you wish to move or delete. As incomprehensible as it seems now, I had somehow managed to cram so much stuff into my computer that I couldn’t get rid of any of it. Neither could Apple.  I have a friend who lives in Europe, and knows more about Apple computers than anyone I know, and after 6 hours of typing incomprehensible commands into Terminal , only to get the same “No disc space available” response to every command, he too joined the ranks of experts who agreed there was nothing that could be done short of erasing the SSD and starting over. An 8 hour round trip to the Apple Store in Chicago confirmed my worst fears. I know what you are thinking… “But you have everything backed up, right?”. Well, yes… and no. Not everything, it turns out. Not the stuff I have been working on, videos, research, recent photographs, OBS settings, that kind of thing. Some of it is backed up, somewhere.  Oh what a mess.

If I have learned nothing else in the last six decades, I have learned this - making a stupid mistake is only indefensible when I don’t learn something from it. And I have learned a lot from this one. I am also lucky enough to have a platform from which I can share what I have learned - something that can turn this minor disaster into something positive and useful, for you and for me. Which brings me to this week’s Livestreams (if I ever figure out how to set up YouTube, OBS, Google, and half a dozen other pieces of the puzzle, needed to pull off a Livestream using a different computer). I am going to take Tuesday’s session to explain how I got into this mess and give you some concrete advice on how you can avoid the same nightmare. Most of it I once knew, but some of it has come from earnest research over the last week. I won’t spend a lot of time on what I did, but will instead try to cover all the common ways we can get into deep water with our computers, especially when it pertains to the special case of large volume image processing. I think there will be a lot of good information that should, at the very least, be a valuable reminder of what not to do. Your link to the stream is right here - https://youtube.com/live/7u4jT8-6rT0?feature=share

On Thursday we will regroup and talk about some of the most important “Best Practices” that can keep our computers functioning reliably and at peak performance for years to come. I would add that the whole time I have been researching these two discussions, I have had my $5,000 M1 paperweight sitting next to my left elbow, as a reminder. Many of you will remember how difficult and painful it was for me to scrape together the means to buy this machine in the first place - I sincerely hope that my efforts this week will keep you from ever having to go through this entirely avoidable distress. Join the conversation with this link - https://youtube.com/live/JtYwJaMOZGM?feature=share

Hopefully we can get back to some semblance of normalcy by Saturday, when I will be hosting episode 15 of AfterStack - devoted to understanding and using the much-feared Pen Tool in Photoshop.

I will talk a little about how I use this wonderful tool, but the majority of the time will be spent talking about how you use it and what tricks you might have to share with the group. Bud Perrott will be joining me for what should be an interesting and fun couple of hours. If you want to attend, it is completely free and all you need is this invitation -

Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: AfterStack Episode 15

Time: Jan 25, 2025 10:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=89740348691

Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

That is all I have for you this week - I hope you can make it to one or two of these events, or if not, you can always watch the videos that will be posted shortly after the  events are over. In the meantime I hope everyone has a great week ahead!

Allan

Shooting Horses

One of the Belgians, warming up

I hope you had a lovely weekend and had a little less snow, ice, and bitter cold than we did here in Middle Earth. It is supposed to warm up into the mid-teens this week - time to dig out the shorts and tee shirts!

These monsters don’t look very agile - until they do!

I spent a wonderful Saturday in Rantool, Illinois, a little town a few hour to our south, photographing a horse auction. I don’t know how I could have been alive these 45 years without knowing  that we shared the planet with a species of horse that is only slightly smaller than a brontosaurus.

Spectacular animals

They are known as Belgian horses, even though none of the ones I met spoke a word of French. But they are quite enormous - I estimated them to be roughly 30 feet tall, but I am not good at such estimates. They were quite majestic and very beautiful when standing still. When they start to walk they look a little more like a World War I tank of some kind, and make abut as much noise. The noise comes from their metal feet, which they do not seem particularly happy about. They are about as graceful when walking on concrete as a fork lift falling down an elevator shaft, but when they were moved onto the soft earth and began to trot, they appeared to float effortlessly, in defiance of gravity, around the vast indoor oval.

The farmers who were buying and selling these magnificent animals were Amish, and a hardier group of individuals than any I have previously encountered. They appeared to be immune to the bone chilling temperature and were far more warm and welcoming than the vast barn-like building in which the auction was held. The Amish, I have been informed, are not big fans of the electron, which would have been a deal breaker for me, in the unlikely event they had invited me to join their merry band. Making up for their lack of interest in technology, these happy men and women seemed to love hard work. The young men tending to the horses never paused in their laboring, and as you will see from any of these images, the result of their effort was an arena packed to the rafters with equine excellence.

And what does any of this have to do with the activities scheduled for this week, you may ask? Nothing at all really, but I wanted you to know why there were several photographs of horses scattered throughout a blog post on a macro photography website. And now you know!

Hats off to these hardworking cowboys

We kick off this week with something unusual. On Tuesday’s Macro Talk I am going to address a seldom discussed subject that I think may be useful to the newer members of the audience.

It is titled “Timing” (and can be found here - https://youtube.com/live/xqK_QXs-Bzs?feature=share) but it is probably not what you are thinking. I will attempt to answer questions like, when “should I buy a focus rail?”, “When do I go from extension tubes to a microscope objective?”, “How will I know that it is time I thought about getting a lesson or two?”, and so on. I will talk about most of the big decisions we make during our macro experience and give you my thoughts on when the time is right to take the plunge. It should be fun as this is something I have been meaning to talk about for some time.

So graceful!

On Thursday, at 2PM, we have another MacroTalkToo coming up and I plan to use this time to get caught up on the backlog of questions that have been accumulating in my various messaging apps.

There will be plenty of time to any questions from the audience, but I think we can cover a lot of interesting material in one hour. Please plan on joining us this Thursday - the link is here - https://youtube.com/live/xS5l0SKMQrY?feature=share

Saturday is another Pzoom - a two-hour face to face conversation with my Patreon supporters. I do this every other Saturday and they are usually a lot of fun.

A great opportunity to  ask questions, show off cool pictures or new gear, and get to know one another. I love these Pzoom meetings and I always get something out of the gatherings. The invite is over on the Patreon page - https://www.patreon.com/allanwallsphotography.

Immediately following the Pzoom meeting is Tangent - a 3D modeling and printing discussion forum that is led by Larry Strunk and that is open to anyone who would like to attend.

It also is a lot of fun and a great way to spend a snowy Saturday afternoon. Here is the invitation - I hope you will come by and join in the festivities!

Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Tangent

Time: Jan 18, 2025 12:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=83452232753

Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

And talking about festive events, I plan to release the next installment of AfterStack, with Bud Perrott.

It was recorded while I was away shooting horses and I have not had a chance to watch it yet, but I am sure it will be excellent! Here is a link to the recording - https://youtu.be/eNzNWazeFcI

There are quite a few projects in the works and some waiting to begin, but you can expect to see several new videos in the coming weeks - more on them later.

I would like to wrap things up this week with a non-horse image. This is a piece of art that may be familiar to many of you, though on closer inspection you may see some subtle differences between this version and the original, a painting by Salvador Dali titled “Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man”.

A poster of this amazing painting was permanently installed over my bed as a young man. It was the first thing I saw every morning and the last at the end of every day. My dear friend and source of inspiration, Patrick Stahel, took time out of his hectic Swiss schedule to add an extra figure to this painting, which he then framed and sent to me for a Christmas gift. In the package was a wonderful letter that was far too flattering to share, and a small mountain of Swiss chocolate, too delicious to share. A photograph of the painting is presented above. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thank you Patrick!

And that, my friends, is it for another week! I hope to see you at an event or two. Stay warm - not much longer and Spring will be here!

Allan

New Year's Eve Eve

… and where did this year go?! It is hard to believe another 100 livestreams have been added to the catalog, along with a dozen contests, twenty four Pzooms, as many AfterStacks and Tangents, and over 100 blog and Patreon posts. Yet it all seems to have happened in the blink of an eye. 2024 also saw our first Macro Picnic - a big success - and a move from the Deep South to the Deep Freeze. I am not going to linger on 2024 in this post as I have a separate piece for that purpose later in the week. For now, let me tell you what remains for 2024 and how we will be kicking off 2025.

Tomorrow is our final Macro Talk of 2024 and in it we will be looking at how color is managed while going from your editing software to your printer - one of the more complicated and confusing  subjects in the color series. This is scheduled for the usual time of 8PM, on Tuesday 12/31/24. The link is here - https://youtube.com/live/VLat3tU7NKc?feature=share

Our first Livestream of 2025 is on Thursday at 2PM and it will be the last discussion in the series on color. In this last chapter I will be talking about a few more advanced concepts in color management for macro photographers. The stream can be found by following this link - https://youtube.com/live/Oo3hZiEU3ek?feature=share

Also this week is the first Pzoom meeting of 2025, Saturday from 10AM until noon. The invitation is posted over the Patreon page.

The big event this week is the November & December Wild Card Competition - the deadline for which is tomorrow at midnight. If you have not posted your images, please do so now - I have fixed the problem with the quota, so you should have no problem loading your images. I will be getting together later in the week to go over all the entries and start the judging process with none other than Lester Lefkowitz! I am really looking forward to this opportunity to work with Lester and I can guarantee a lively and informative results video, which I hope to get out by the end of the weekend. I have not looked at the entries yet but I am bracing myself for an epic challenge this month.

The title for the January contest is “Macro Machinery”, and the rules are as follows:

1) Two entries per person for anyone who has not previously won the competition, one entry only for former winners.

2) All entries must be shot at 2:1 or higher magnification

3) The subject must have at least two moving parts but can be either automatic or manually operated. If you only include a part of the “machine” in your photograph, it should be a part that showcases the machinery (for example, if you photograph a watch it should show the movement, not the strap”

4) Every entry needs your name and a title

Please do not submit your January entry any earlier than midnight tomorrow

And finally, I would like to ask for your feedback. As I start to plan for the coming year I would like to get your input. What would you like to see more of? Any ideas for new features? Is the current schedule working for you? Now is your chance to tell me how I can improve your macro photography channel! Please put your comments, complaints, requests and suggestions in the comments for this post and I will read every one of them.

Thank you for all your support during 2024 and I wish each and every one of you a safe, happy, and perfectly focused 2025!

More Color

With a little over a week left before the Christmas holiday is upon us, I find I have more to do than time to do it in. This is typically the season during which my inability to say “No, thank you” to demands on my time causes me more frustration than at other, less festive times of the year. Knowing this, it should have had no trouble saying “No, thank you” to the friend who called me at 8PM on Sunday and asked if I could help him out of a jam by organizing and cooking for a dinner party that had been scheduled for the next day, today, in other words. Monday is my busiest day of the week, the day I plan and write my livestream content, schedule my events, and get the week’s blog post published. I normally start at around 6AM and am done about 12 hours later. But, of course, I said I would be happy to help out - which I am, as my friend’s last minute emergency is a legitimate one, and I am a competent cook. The result is that this will be a brief post, with my apologies.

Last Saturday we enjoyed a lively discussion on the subject of Blend Modes in episode 12 of AfterStack. The conversation was led by Bud Perrott and you can find the recording on YouTube by following this link - https://youtu.be/BlULo1QMAW8

We kick things off this week with Macro Track on Tuesday at 8PM, with Chapter 3 of our 6 part discussion of Color in Macro Photography. In this episode we will look at how to use color in designing an image - in other words, we will consider how color in integrated into both composition and aesthetics. The question we will asking is how can color be understood and manipulated in order to create visually engaging images. To this end we will consider the psychology of color - how humans respond to certain colors. We will look into the practical applications of color theory - how to create balance and harmony in an image. Finally we will consider some practical applications of color theory - how to avoid color clashes, using depth of field in conjunction with color, and selecting the best backgrounds for an image. This is your link to Tuesday’s stream - https://youtube.com/live/yhPRixsIhSs?feature=share

On Thursday’s Macro Talk Too we will delve into the color workflow, or how we can make the most of color by accurate calibration and careful post-processing. We will talk about why calibration matters and the various tools we have for screen calibration. We will cover color profiles and color spaces - specifically, when and how to use them. Then we will get into post-processing and look at white balance and tone, selective enhancement with HSL and masking, and how to manage color noise while maintaining color accuracy and image fidelity at high magnifications. Your link to this stream is here - https://youtube.com/live/XR6ePF-Arok?feature=share

On Saturday, December 21st at 10AM our Pzoom Christmas Extravaganza will kick off with our first annual eggnog drinking competition followed by a presentation on “Close-up Photography of Flaming Christmas Puddings and Amateur Skin Grafting Tips for Eyebrow Burns”. Definitely not a Pzoom you will want to miss! The invitation is posted on the Patreon home page.

Immediately following Saturday’s Pzoom, at 12:30 to be precise, we will have our final Tangent 3D modeling session of 2024. I think Larry is going to be talking about the latest and greatest releases from the big 3D printer manufacturers, among other things - check the Tangent Channel over on my Discord Server for details. The invitation to this weeks Tangent is here - Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: The Tangent - with Larry and Allan

Time: Dec 21, 2024 12:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=84337476098

Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

As I have mentioned in the last few posts, I will be away from the studio next week and have been forced to cancel both of usual livestreams, So there will be no Macro Talk on Christmas Eve and no Macro Talk Too on Boxing Day. I will not have access to the internet on either day. I will try to get a post out on Monday, and if there are any changes to the holiday schedule, that is where you will find them.

There will be an AfterStack on Saturday December 28th at 10AM - It will be my turn to lead the discussion and I will be talking abut a couple of the commonly used color tools in Photoshop. The invitation is posted here, in case I do not get a chance to post it next week. Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: AfterStack #13 - Color Tools

Time: Dec 28, 2024 10:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=86402510371

Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

A final word about the competition - some people have been encountering difficulty posting their images for the November/December Wild Card Competition and it appears to be related to my website being over-quota from all the images submitted during the last few months. I am working to fix this today, so if you have had a problem uploading your images, please try again in a day or two, and check back before the end of the month to make sure your entries have been properly posted. I apologize for any inconvenience.

A busy week ahead! I hope to see you tomorrow!

Allan

Lester Returns and the 2024 Gift Guide

Eye of a mosquito - a reminder of warmer times

Well it is definitely that time of year again. I woke up this morning to find the ground covered in a mysterious white substance, very cold to the touch (I have been told), and not uncommon enough in this part of Middle Earth. So, one of the ways the people of Illinois survive this insult to the senses is by planning for the coming winter holiday season. In the south, our planning was usually put off until Christmas Eve, or earlier if a cold snap forced the temperatures down into the low 60s, reminding us of the coming festivities. But here we are, covered in deadly snow and still weeks to go before families once again gather at the dining table to scream at each other. With the excitement and anticipation at a fever pitch in all the local drugstores, where Christmas music started just before Easter, I feel like I would be remiss were I not to do my holiday macro gift guide livestreams early this year.

Winter

In trying to think up a way to make the guides a little more fun this year I have decided to split them into two distinctly different offerings. On Tuesday, in Macro Talk, I will be focusing on a comprehensive list of all the really practical and useful things that every macro photographer could use and should have in their kit bag or studio. It makes for a long and interesting list of really cool ideas. I will go through the list and explain why I think these are items that should be on your list for 2024. Spoiler alert - I have included links to every one of these items below - if you don’t want to know what I am going to be suggesting, don’t read the rest of this post! The link to the stream is here - https://youtube.com/live/_3iZvU8qO8k?feature=share

Thursday’s list is a completely different matter - it is a list of all the stuff we really want to get for Christmas, but know there is no real chance that we will. But it will still be fun to talk about the gift guide for the macro photographer who already has everything they could ever need. Think of it as the ultimate macro wish list for 2024. Here is a link to the Livestream, Macro Talk Too - https://youtube.com/live/IXj8a-lZWtE?feature=share

Tomorrow I will also be releasing the second half of the Lester Lefkowitz interview, in which Lester goes over the high points of the second volume of his “Guide to Close-up and Macro Photography”. Here is the link to the video, which will not be posted until 10AM on Tuesday 12/3/24. https://youtu.be/UGfMHtmxyuU

To order a copy of Lester’s books, go to Lester’s website, https://www.macrophotographer.net, and follow the instructions. The video is a long one but it is worth watching as it is packed full of fun and interesting information and Lester is in excellent form - don’t miss it!

Also released today was episode 11 of the AfterStack series in which we talked all abut the custom brush tool in Photoshop - loads of good information in this one! The video link is - https://youtu.be/gj6Mb0HMZkA?si=oMIkNFCQRTD0H3SK

This is a Pzoom weekend so on Saturday I will be hosting a discussion for my Patreon supporters - I am still working on the agenda, but it promises to be another entertaining and educational macro photography feast. Your invitation to this event is posted on the Allan Walls Photography Patreon page. I will see at 10AM this Saturday. There is no Tangent this week.

I was disappointed to miss my livestream on Thursday, but it was for a good reason - I was in Indianapolis for Thanksgiving with my eldest daughter, Lauren, and I had a lovely time with her. Unfortunately, it is starting to look like the Christmas week is also going to see a schedule disruption as I will be in rural Tennessee for that holiday. I just learned that internet is provided by some kind of satellite link, which probably means a download speed of <1.0MBPD (mega bites per day) and an upload speed considerably slower. That would be no fun for you or me, so unless I can find a way around it, I may have to take that week off completely. I will let you know if I come up with a better plan.

I am still trying to get the competition plan tied up for this month - I want to find a way to  split the prizes between experienced photographers and relative newcomers The problem is that all the handicap[ping ides that I have had would require that I know who has placed in the top ten in previous competitions, but that would take me going back through every competition video I have done in the last 3 or 4 years, and I don’t know when I will be able to do that but I think I will have no other choice. The way things stand now, there are going to be two groups - Group I - those who have ever made  it to one of the  the top three places at least once and everyone who has placed in the final 10 two or more times , and 2)  everyone else.

As promised here is a list of every prize that has been donated for this giant 2-month competition, along with the names of the donors, so far - I will contuse to accept donations right up to the last week of December - so if you have a new or gently used piece of kit that you no longer need, and think would make an attractive prize, please let me know right away. You can also go ahead and send the prize to my studio as soon as you can, so that I can get your name on the list of donors without delay. My address is:

  Allan Walls Photography

2417 West Wagner Lane

  Peoria, Illinois 61615

Here are the prizes and donors we currently have:

1) Volume I and II of Lester Lefkowitz’s excellent book “Guide to Closeup and Macro Photography:”, signed by the author - donor - Lester Lefkowitz

2) Volume I of Lester Lefkowitz’s excellent book “Guide to Closeup and Macro Photography:”, signed by the author - donor - Lester Lefkowitz

3) Volume II of Lester Lefkowitz’s excellent book “Guide to Closeup and Macro Photography:”, signed by the author - donor - Lester Lefkowitz

4) Datacolor’s Spider X Studio color calibration suite - donor - anonymous

5) 360° Flex Tilt & Pan Head - Z&V Mount Designed with Alyn Wallace, from Move Shoot Move - donor - Paul Maschak

6) Two, 5-day macro photography getaways to the Buffalo National River area of Arkansas with full accommodations - donor - Mr and Mrs. George Simpkins

7) A 3-hour private macro photography lesson package - with me - you set the agenda

8) A Sigma 105mm f/2.8 macro lens (F-mount) - donor - Alan Recktenwald

I think there will be a couple of additional prizes - stay tuned!

*********************************

WARNING - do not read any further unless you want to see the entire holiday gift guide! Listed below are links to every item discussed in the gift guide livestreams scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday of this week. Some of these links, though not all, are affiliate links, which means I may make a small fee when you complete a purchase using one of these links. Now you know!

These are not  strictly in the order presented in the livestreams - but close. They should all be in here though.

1) the Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2:1 Macro lens - the one that started it all! https://amzn.to/41eZuo5

2) Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2:1 Macro Lens - the one that I fell for this year. https://amzn.to/3ZjfD9h

3) The wonderful Nikon Z-8 - if you have to ask…   https://amzn.to/3CXRYnC

4) Raynox DCR 250 - you already have the DCR 150 - isn’t it time you tried short focus with this bargain beauty? https://bhpho.to/3VjmiPV

5) Godox MF12 macro flashes - nothing more to be said - https://bhpho.to/3OCkLk7   or.  https://bhpho.to/3OCkLk7

6) Aputure Amaran AL-M9 mini LED - tiny and powerful - a great little light! - $72 - https://amzn.to/4gaE5Aw

7) SmallRig RM01 mini lighting kit - you need to check this one out - very handy   https://bhpho.to/3OCkLk7

8) Manfrotto BeFree tripod - light and compact -  https://amzn.to/49l4xoR

9) Platypod Extreme - I want one of these! - https://bhpho.to/4fU0Zwx

10) Novoflex Magic Ball- the best of the best - https://bhpho.to/4ff72Lw

11) K&F Concept - variable ND filter - a very useful tool - https://amzn.to/4gjboSl

12) Lowepro Slingshot Edge 250AW - a great sling bag when you don’t need the whole backpack - https://amzn.to/3VmlcCN

13) Think Tank Pixel Pocket Rocket - the best memory card holder -  https://amzn.to/3ZAeziM

14) An awesome bubble level for your macro rig - https://amzn.to/3ZkPhUm

15) Manfrotto Still Life Table - a clever way to shoot indoors - https://amzn.to/4eZSRZW

16) WeMacro Rail - the best bargain in macro-land - Still only $300 - https://www.wemacro.com/?product=wemacro-rail

17) Mitutoyo M-Plan infinity corrected mic cryoscope objectives - the best high end optics for photography - https://www.edmundoptics.com/p/5x-mitutoyo-plan-apo-infinity-corrected-long-wd-objective/6621/?srsltid=AfmBOorjXv4tSqGxZjXGmsWWMkaczq6hh78eVCi1yHeHMMs4cRU8duw_

18) Zerene Stacker - the best Focus Stacking program on the planet - https://www.zerenesystems.com/cms/stacker

19) Godox SL60W continuous light - a powerful addition to the studio - https://amzn.to/49gEejG

20) Swift SW380T Microscope - A reliable entry level scope for photographers - https://amzn.to/4iiFAP5

21) Hoya polarizing filters - a must for birefringent crystal photography - https://amzn.to/3ZxqwG4

22) B&W close up filter set - a great option for macro beginners - https://bhpho.to/3Zw3jUG

23) Fotodiox Reversing Adapter - you don’t have one?!?!    https://amzn.to/3OWGPpX

24) Lensbaby OpticSwap macro kit - https://amzn.to/3COWOTV

25) Prusa mark 4S ($729)   - https://www.prusa3d.com/product/original-prusa-mk4s-3d-printer-kit/.    or Prusa core one kit ($949)    https://www.prusa3d.com/product/prusa-core-one-kit/

26) Datacolor SpyderX2 - my calibrator - https://bhpho.to/3B7TEua

27) Lensalign Focus Calibration System - https://amzn.to/3VmrylD

28) Pelican 1510 - indestructible - https://amzn.to/3CW2WKg

28) Dehumidifiers - mine are still going after 10 years from Wisesorb - https://amzn.to/3B9KOMm

29) Smartphone microscope mount from Tridaptor ($47) - https://amzn.to/3OIFoLj

30) Insect Display case - https://amzn.to/4fVk6pN

31) Micropipette - awesome buy - https://amzn.to/4f6QULC

32) Fog Machine - handheld from Ulanzi - https://amzn.to/419xxhw

33) Water Drop Kit - Miops splash - https://amzn.to/3ZxKIY9

34) Books - separate video topic - macro texts, field guides, insect books, general photography

35) Memberships - entomologic society, local or online photography club, etc.

36) Courses and workshops - Bugshot, Paul Williams, Stewart Wood, Macro workshop in Costa Rica (Macro Wild Photo).

37) Trips galore - links in livestream

Camera Bag Essentials

1) a really good flashlight - Surefire EDC-2 - Dual Fuel - $200 - https://amzn.to/3VlgEwJ

2) the best multitool -  Leatherman ARC $229 - https://amzn.to/4gjj4nz

3) Water holder - Lowepro $37 - https://amzn.to/3OAbVmL

4) Power bank - Anker 27,650mAhr - $129 - https://amzn.to/4ggjo6l

5) Batteries - the best 18650s you can buy - Molicel P28B - https://www.18650batterystore.com/products/molicel-p28b-18650-2800mah-40a-battery

6) UV light - fox fury Rook NDT UV - https://bhpho.to/3OBLNbh

7) Koala microfiber cloths - https://amzn.to/3OAwTSz

8) Sophia Rose poncho - the best - https://amzn.to/4eYaqJV

9) Lens pen - from LensPen - https://amzn.to/3Vk4rbu

10) - Kiwiphoto 18650 box - https://amzn.to/41l5D2h

11) Fenix HM 65R headlamp - https://amzn.to/3BlXMql

There may be more, but we shall have to wait for tomorrow’s stream to see - this has been a long 14 hours of work and I am going cross-eyed. Hope to see you tomorrow evening!

Allan

Complaint Department - please take a number...

Good afternoon everyone. I read somewhere that it is never a good idea to start a discussion with an apology. That may well be true, but I feel compelled to do so, anyway. I am sorry if this post sounds a little defensive. Rest assured that it only sounds that way because I really am feeling a little defensive.

A strange crystal formation

I’m not having a great day. I got a call last night telling me that some of my supporters were talking about withdrawing their support. This is obviously the last thing I wanted to hear, and not knowing exactly what the issues were, I cancelled my dinner plans and headed back home to find out. As far as I can discern, the problem is with my choices of programming - what I talk about in my livestreams, Pzoom meetings, videos, articles, and other content. On digging a little further it soon became clear that some viewers thought that I had lost my direction and that some of my content did not interest them. I have done a lot of soul searching in the ensuing hours, and this short post will tell you my reaction and what I am going to do about it.

Yes - the new microscope has got me making crystal art again!

For clarity, I want to spell out something I don’t say often enough - there are a bunch of reasons I love my work, but the most important, by far, is the people that I do it for. You are what gets me up in the morning, and keeps me up late into the night. I have the best audience on YouTube - smart, motivated, kind, and determined people who take my work seriously. I am profoundly grateful, and humbled, by having a core group of long-time supporters that see the value in what I do and contribute through Patreon and in other ways, to keep me doing it. I love what I do, and I love the people that I do it for.

Tartaric acid

I have a strange job. It doesn’t come with a job description, or co-workers to show you the ropes. It doesn’t offer benefits, vacation time, or a regular paycheck. The job requires a strong work ethic, some creativity, and a lot of stamina. When you start doing this work, you don’t know exactly what to do, or, for that matter, how to do it. But if you stick with it long enough, it all starts to fall into place. Eventually, you even get to write your own job description - mine is “… to educate, entertain, and inspire photographers of all levels who share a common interest in close-up and macro photography.”. This is what I do, and most of the time, I think I do a decent job. The first part, educating interested adults, is not too difficult, because I am myself passionate about macro photography and am constantly learning and improving my own technique, while looking for exciting new ways to push our boundaries and tap rich new veins of creativity.  Having been an educator of motivated adults for my entire professional life, this is something that comes without too much effort, but is just as personally rewarding as it ever was.

First attempt at phase contrast

Entertaining adults is another matter, and I make no claim to expertise in this realm. While making content that is timely, accurate, clear and concise can be challenging, it is much harder, and a great deal more risky, to produce content that is also entertaining. For starters, even in the context of a livestream, it is virtually impossible to know if your audience is “getting” it. I have a strange sense of humor - too much Gary Larson during my formative years probably has something to do with it - and a lot of the things I find hilarious may not have the same impact on you. But unless someone comes out and says, “Hey Allan. That’s not funny.”, I just can’t tell if it’s working. So I do what we all do and rely on my own internal reaction to decide if something entertains me and, if it does, I just go with it, and hope it will work for you too. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don’t, but I’m not sure I will ever really know how to do it consistently.

I have no idea why I find this stuff so mind-blowing

I think I know where I stand with these first two elements of my job description - I know how to teach and don’t know how to entertain - and this is good because the knowledge guides me and keeps me out of trouble, most of the time. It is the third element, I think, that may be the root of the problem. I like to think that the content presented on my channel, the videos I make, the livestream discussions we have, the photographers that I interview, and even the gear that we review, all have the potential to inspire someone in the audience to try something new, branch out, or get out of their comfort zone. And if that is indeed true, then it is an awesome responsibility and should be treated as such. I look at it like this - the people who want to learn macro photography come to my channel to be taught. With a bit of luck, they will leave here with a better understanding or a new skill. The folks who come to be entertained will either be entertained and maybe come back again, or they will not - but the process is passive - they either receive entertainment or they don’t.

Birefringence is so very cool

But when someone comes to the channel unsure what they are looking for but with an open mind, then there is chance that they may see or hear something that inspires them - and when that happens there isn opportunity for them to leave with a new passion. And that is the most important thing that I can do for any of you.

I guess you had to be there - never shot crystals? You are missing out on some serious fun!

A few months ago I was planning to do a series of videos on the largely untouched topic of medium format macro photography (it never materialized). This month I have talked about light microscopes and how they are utilized in macro photography, with some content on where to find them and how to buy them. Then, just last week I mentioned my plans to devote one hour a month, for one year, to scanning electron microscopy as a tool for macro photography. What do all three of these items have in common? Well all three are hardly ever talked about in relation to macro photography, for one. They are also all fascinating and may help us understand the extreme limits of macro imaging like never before. I selected each of these topics because they are off the beaten path, because they will enrich our experience and expand our knowledge, because the content that results will be entertaining and fresh, and because they just might inspire someone to do something fantastic! Back in the real world, these were the three subjects cited as evidence of my loss of direction. I had the impression that some people felt betrayed, and I guess I can understand that. They came here to learn about macro photography and now I’m wasting their time with off-topic esoterica. They might be right, but I don’t think so. For all the reasons outlined above, I think this material is important for macro photographers, in much the same way that understanding the geography of a region can help us understand the region’s history. I wouldn’t talk about it if I didn’t believe in my hear that it would educate, entertain, and inspire my audience.

I’m thinking about making a book of crystal images

So what am I going to do… I am going to do exactly what I have been doing for the last six years. I am going to make the best content that I possibly can, on subjects that I think will be educational, entertaining, and inspirational to my community of macro photography enthusiasts. I will continue to invite you, at every opportunity, to tell me what you want to learn about, and when you do, I will adjust my programming accordingly. I know that I cannot please everyone, all the time… but I can try. One last thought before I move on - they say the squeaky wheel is the one that gets the oil, but whoever came up with that one doesn’t build as many gadgets as I do - when one wheel starts squeaking, it is a good idea to oil them all. Which is why…

… Tuesday’s Livestream is a Q&A where we talk about what you want to see on the channel, what I cover in the Livestreams, the subjects for videos, and anything else you want to bring up. I want it be super-productive so I will be coming with a few questions of my own, things that will help me get to the heart of what you want to see. I will not be bringing any prepared material but I will have some amazing pictures and video to show, if we get the chance. I am having some serious epiphanies working with the new microscope. So, if you can make it tomorrow, please come and come prepared to help me chart the course forward for Tuesday’s Macro Talk. The link is - https://youtube.com/live/47k0qfJ5r-g?feature=share

Thursday will be a similar arrangement because I need to hear from my Euro-pals as well. Macro Talk Too will be the same format, but I’ll have different photographs to share and different questions to ask.And, by the way, both of these streams are also macro Q&As, so bring any questions about gear, technique, your rig, or anything else. It’s your hour, so please plan on being there. Your link is here - https://youtube.com/live/kdeJwwrgDC8?feature=share

So, if there is no Pzoom meeting there must be and AfterStack, right? Correct - 10AM Saturday, 11/16/24 on Zoom is AfterStack 10. Several people have asked for more  basic  AfterStack episodes, and after some good feedback from the Clone Stamp discussion in Episode 9, Bud and I will take turns leading the discussion on alternating weeks. So #10 will be Bud’s and he is going to present some information about Smart Objects. As always, it helps us to have your pictures in advance, so please send me or Bud any photographs you want help with, and be sure to tell us what you are having problems with and how we can help. I will be taking Episode 11, so let me know what tool or process you want to discuss. When you send in a picture please add the episode number you want it discussed during.

You will need this invite to access AfterStack - Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Allan Walls’ AfterStack 10

Time: Nov 16, 2024 10:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=85799123411

Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

The other scream

For my Patreon Supporters

There is no Patreon meeting this week, but I will post the recording link on the Patreon page in a little while (definitely today though) - this was a particularly interesting meeting and if you missed it you should check it out. Let me remind everyone on Patreon that the Pzoom recordings are only available for one month after the show, BUT, if it contains something that you might want to have in the future, you can download it to your computer and keep it for as long as you like.

Thank you to my Patreon Supporters - This channel only exists because of your support!

This stuff will test your imagination

Note on the photographs - all of the images in this post are crystals made for this purpose and photographed on my Nikon D7500, mounted directly to the camera port of my Nikon Diaphot. The cross polarization was accomplished using a homemade set of filter adapters. This is a really exciting experience, working with such a lovely piece of equipment, and I thought you might like to see what it can do!

Polarization in Macro Photography

Eupholus weevil dancing

I am occasionally asked how I come up with topics to discuss during my twice weekly livestreams. The topics come from several different sources. Most often, I am answering a question that was brought up by one of my students or asked by a livestream participant. If, when thinking about the question, I can expand on the topic to include interesting background and details, it will often become my subject for the week. But I also keep an ever-growing list of promising subjects that occur to me during my own exploration of macro photography and associated disciplines. The beauty of macro photography is that there are more fascinating topics to explore than I could cram into a lifetime of livestreams.

A moth

I try not to repeat myself and avoid talking about the same topic twice in the same year, and even when I do return to a previous conversation I try to emphasize information that has not been covered. I need to bear in mind that new viewers are going the streams every week and for many of them this may be the first time they have encountered the topic. Balancing the needs of the newcomer to macro with the seasoned experts that  are also in the audience every week is the hardest part of programming these events.

attacking bee

This week, for example, I am breaking from my usual practice of finding a common theme for both livestreams and instead will be addressing two distinctly different topics that came up in conversation over the preceding week. This has the advantage of keeping things interesting and relevant to more viewers, while keeping the process interesting for me at the same time.

On Tuesday I am going to  talk about the use of polarized light in macro photography. I don’t think I have ever discussed this subject as I plan to in this livestream. The question that prompted this was a practical one - “when should be using  polarizing filters in macro photography?” - and to answer that I need to explain a little about polarized light. So I will open with a discussion about light in general and the concept of polarity in the context of visible light. When we understand the nature of light and see how it can be polarized, everything else I talk about should make a lot more sense. For example I will explain the difference between using a polarized light source and polarizing the light that enters our camera through a polarizing filter. When do we want to use the former, when the latter, and I will introduce the concept of using both.

A closeup compound eye

For a subject to be useful for your photography it needs to have some practical application, so I will describe the various types of polarizing filters and give step by step recommendations on how they are used. By the end of the hour you should have everything you need to make wise decision about when and how to use polarization as well as information on the best brands of polarizing filters to look for. B&H carries a wide selection of the very best circular polarizing filters - you can find them here - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=circular%20polarizing%20filters&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ps&BI=23366&KBID=28903&SID=DFF&DFF=d50

A B&W circular polarizing filter from b&h

If you would like to join the discussion, the link for the livestream is here - https://youtube.com/live/U2bcVTXrWzc?feature=share

On Thursday we are going to look at something completely different that I think should be of interest to many of you. What is the best tripod head for use in macro photography? I don’t think I have ever talked about this in any depth but it is quite interesting. For one thing, there are a lot more options than most people might be aware of, and they are not all equally ideal for close up work. I will describe all the different ways in which a camera can be mounted to a tripod (monopod, ground pod, camera stand, etc.) and discuss the relative merits and drawbacks of each. Based on my own experience I will make specific recommendations for each time of head and explain why I use each of them.

The amazing magic ball from novoflex

If you are thinking about adding or replacing a tripod head in your bag, here are a few of the products that I recommend and will be talking about during the livestream.

my favorite benro three way geared head

When it comes to ball heads you will have a hard time finding anything more versatile and well constructed than the Really Right Stuff BH55, available from B&H - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1301057-REG/really_right_stuff_bh_55_pro_bh_55_ballhead_with_full_size.html/BI/23366/KBID/28903/DFF/d10-v21-t1-x781162/SID/DFF

Another contender at the top of the stack is the incredible Novoflex Magic Ball - a different take on the ball head but one that many of the best macro photographers swear by - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/153279-REG/Novoflex_MB_Magic_Ball_with_Socket.html/BI/23366/KBID/28903/DFF/d10-v21-t1-x1596924/SID/DFF

A gimbal head form sirui

For the more budget conscious photographer, Sirui makes a really lovely low profile ball head, the AM40 that is a little smaller than the RRS, but a lot less expensive - https://amzn.to/4hfVBVG

A quality fluid head from neewer

In the geared head category you will not find a better affordable three-way head than the Benro GD3WH that I use. I have ben using this for at least 6 years and I love it - https://amzn.to/3AaA93v

the perfect head for macro on a monopod

Another option if you jus have to have the best geared head on the planet is the original Arca Swiss cube, available from B&H - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1373798-REG/arca_swiss_8501303_1_cube_c1_gp_geared.html/BI/23366/KBID/28903/DFF/d10-v21-t1-x861127/SID/DFF

I think a very fine alternative at a lower price point is the new Leofoto geared head, also from B&H - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1796458-REG/leofoto_gw_01_3_way_geared_head.html/BI/23366/KBID/28903/DFF/d10-v21-t1-x1340748/SID/DFF

not strictly a tripod head, I like to use this leveling device for still life work

For anyone wanting a video friendly fluid head, a very attractive option is the new Neewer, shown above. It is sturdy and easy to use, while also being very affordable - https://amzn.to/3YcPZmo

The SmallRig DH10 is another excellent choice - https://amzn.to/4f3DvEm

I recommend a two axis head for use with a monopod and one of the best for the price is the Sunwayfoto DT-03S - https://amzn.to/3BTe0HA

B&H has a wide selection of other monopod heads - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=monopod%20head&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ps&BI=23366&KBID=28903&SID=DFF&DFF=d50

The tripod head livestream link is right here - https://youtube.com/live/HYt2wfVEPc8?feature=share

If you are one of my Patreon Supporters, don’t forget we have a Pzoom this Saturday morning at 10AM and this week will be a mixed bag, with some introductions, updates on where to purchase bugs this winter, a book at my studio, and some discussion of idler platform stacking. Should be a fun morning! Your invitation is over on Patreon. If you are not one of my supporters but want to look into joining, please check out my Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/allanwallsphotography

For anyone interested in the dark arts of 3D modeling and printing, Larry and I will be hosting Tangent at 12:30 on Saturday. For details, check out the Tangent page over on Discord. To join the fun, use this invitation

Topic: Tangent

Time: Oct 26, 2024 12:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=8842267247

Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

a dragonfly at rest

That’s all I have for you right now! Hope to see you tomorrow!

Allan