From the garden.

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Click the image for a larger version.

In the larger version you can clearly see two tiny bugs. As they move between exposures I edited out all but one occurrence before focus stacking. The 135mm Leitz Elmar optical unit does an outstanding job here – not bad for a 66 year old lens. Absent the bug removal the image is straight out of Helicon Focus.

Leica SL2-S, 135mm Elmar head in 16580L M39 adapter at f/11, Nikon PB-4 bellows with M39-to-Nikon F adapter. 75 images focus stacked in Helicon Focus. Three strobe lights, ISO 100.

Here’s the lighting setup:

Macro lighting setup.

The umbrella top light casts illumination into the innards of the flower, the main umbrella light is at the left and the naked strobe at the right confers the ‘Dutch master’ sidelight effect. These are 40 year old Novatron strobes, still as good as new. They can be found for pennies on the used market. I allow four seconds between images which ensures constant color balance and exposure. Do it any faster and you run into issues, even though the strobes recharge in one second.