This article features a selection of uncropped HHFS grasshopper images captured with the M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter.

I haven’t been out with my camera as much as I would have liked this year as a considerable amount of my time has been dedicated to various eBook projects. Suffice to say I was in need of some field practice using Handheld In-Camera Focus Stacking.

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The first step in any practice exercise is to identify specific skill sets that need some reinforcement. In this instance my primary goal was to reinforce my macro photography handholding skill.

A secondary objective was some practice with composition, specifically framing subjects so that I could avoid doing any cropping in post.

To push myself and my camera gear I decided to use the M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter. Obviously this teleconverter doubled the effective focal length of my macro lens.

It also reduced IBIS performance of my macro set up by 2 stops. Adding a teleconverter to our equipment set-up is a great way to put more pressure on our handholding skill set.

I did some scouting around my front yard to see what I could find. Fortunately there were a few grasshoppers buried amongst the leaves and stems of various plants.

Using an equivalent field-of-view of 360 mm allows a photographer to maintain some distance from skittish insects, reducing the risk of them jumping or flying to another perch.

By physically moving in very slowly and deliberately I was able to get my lens in pretty tight to some of the grasshoppers.

As is my standard practice, all of the featured images in this article were composed from the rear screen of my camera. I used stacks of 15 images, with my focus differential set to 3.

Since the light was quite bright, I used -0.7 EV exposure compensation on many of my HHFS grasshopper macro images. I missed a fair number of my early attempts which is to be expected during a practice session.

Technical Note

Photographs featured in this article were captured using handheld in-camera focus stacking. I used stacks of 15 frames with a focus differential of 3 for all of the photographs featured in this article. Images were created from out-of-camera jpegs using my standard process in post. This is the 1548 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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