Microscopes in Macro Photography

Greetings everyone!

Just a brief post today. I have decided to spend this week clearing up an accumulated backlog of questions related to the microscope as a tool in macro photography. It is a fascinating topic and there is much to discuss. We will start with Tuesday’s Livestream, Macro Talk at 8pm, with an overview of the various types of microscope, after which our discussion will focus on the compound microscope. I will explain the parts of the microscope and give an overview of what each subsystem does. I will share what I have learned about finding and purchasing the right tool of your particular needs, based on the features you need and those that you probably don’t. I will wrap up Tuesday’s stream with a practical guide to setting up your new microscope for photography. Here is your link to the stream. https://youtube.com/live/_c1O0jC0Ylk?feature=share

On Thursday we will pick up where we left off with a more detailed look at how to use a compound microscope as a tool for macro photography. I will talk about the various types of light microscopy and explain how each may be useful to a macro photographer. I will also cover the most common microscope mistakes and explain how to correct them using a simple troubleshooting checklist. The stream can be found here… https://youtube.com/live/8JqvfhmvRrg?feature=share

I hope that by the end of this two-part presentation you will be able to find and select the right microscope for your needs,  set it up quickly and correctly, use it efficiently and effectively, and correct any problems you encounter along the way. Throughout the discussion I will show examples of how the microscope can be an almost essential part of any extreme macro photographer’s arsenal.

This Saturday we have another AfterStack with Bud Perrott and myself. It is episode #33 and in it we will be discussing Photoshop’s “Actions” and how to make and use actions to speed up your editing workflow. The previous episode, #32, will be released on YouTube later today and you can use this link to access the recording… https://youtu.be/9sJ_udpWFeE

Here is your invitation to this fascinating and free event - Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Allan Walls’ AfterStack #33, with Bud Perrott

Time: Oct 18, 2025 10:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=82240419283

Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

Join instructions

https://us02web.zoom.us/meetings/82240419283/invitations?signature=AaS8Rzfc3hXbrFOtO63jGuKkOtepDc_HIG3Re1rNBlk

For those of you who attended the last AfterStack, Bud Perrott had promised to share with you a copy of his “Watercolor Conversion” Photoshop action and you can get your copy, ready to load into photoshop, by following this link to the AfterStack Google Drive folder - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JFSiKcTWqBqzlm81mh1lizAswez0L1BJ/view?usp=sharing

This link is set up so that you can download the link directly from the file. If you have any problems, let me know.

strange crystals

I will leave it here for today and close with a request - if you have any topics of interest you would like me to cover in upcoming livestream, please let me know by messaging me through the Walls App (www.walls-app.com) or leaving me a note in a livestream chat. I always look forward to getting your recommendations and requests!

Allan

Questions, Answers, and Coins

Greetings everyone!

A selection of live diatoms

It is Monday and I am still recovering from one of the most interesting and exhausting weeks in a long time. The highlight of the week, and quite possibly the whole year, was Saturday’s visit from Lester Lefkowitz.

Lester was my guest at Saturday’s Pzoom meeting and over the course of two uninterrupted hours of entertainment and education I was reminded why I hold this gentleman in such high esteem. He talked about Lightroom, and about his brilliantly simple file management workflow, while holding the audience in rapt attention for the first hour of the program. In the second hour he fielded questions from the audience on all kinds of interesting  topics. It was a a fantastic way to spend a Saturday morning and I am already looking forward to the next visit from macro photography’s most beloved icon.

A very disappointing wasp photograph - but I was not giving up…

I know that many of you are not in a position to support the channel through Patreon membership and I completely understand and respect that position. However, I don’t think that it is right to withhold access to an event like Lester’s visit by putting it behind a pay wall. I did want to thank my Patreon group by having them at this live event and giving them access to talk to Lester, one on one, during the event. I am also happy to give them early access to the recorded event in case anyone could not make the Pzoom this Saturday. But I plan to release the entire recorded meeting for all of you at the beginning of next week. It will be released as a regular youTube video on Monday or Tuesday of next week. For my Patreon crew, the meeting recording is available today by following the link posted over on Patreon.

The next exciting macro meeting will be this coming Saturday, when AfterStack Episode 31 will include an informal battle of the post-processors. Specifically, we will be looking at your post-processing performance in salvaging three of my photographs. Then Bud and I will face off to see which of our very different approaches give the best results when editing the same three images. The pictures that you will need to edit are in a folder called “Allan’s Edits”, which can be found in the AfterStack folder in my Google Drive - the link to the file is here… https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xmrOCyrJXaxKi1mrQLKzgZoUY7PJ7OXG?usp=sharing      

Selection #1 (the TIFF is on my Google page

Download the images to your own imaging software and see what you can do to bring these unimpressive photographs to life.

Some garnet sand - challenge image #2

And here is your link to the AfterStack, coming this Saturday at 10AM.

Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Allan Walls’ AfterStack - Episode 31 - Saving Allan’s Images

Time: Sep 20, 2025 10:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=82858351141

Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

Join instructions

https://us02web.zoom.us/meetings/82858351141/invitations?signature=-ZOgRMW71QPDtMaU-klCiqNIqwSWDP7tcgaddKCeRhI

A Tiphiid wasp needing some post-production - the final challenge picture

The Livestreams that I have scheduled for this week include the second in our series of Coin Photography videos - “Workflows and Challenges” , in which we will breakdown the steps to talking a high quality coin photograph while looking at some of the more tricky traps that we will encounter along the way. This all happens in Thursday’s livestream, Macro Talk Too, And here is your link to that  stream.

On Tuesday, in Macro Talk, I am going to clean out my backlog of Macro-related questions from the past month.

These will be my answers to the questions that you have submitted over the last month or so, and will include an explanation of finite versus infinite conjugate microscope objectives, the role of enlarger lenses, the key components of a home macro platform, how to use  rear bellows focus stacking (and why/when you would want to do so in the first place), along with answers to several other viewer-generated inquiries. Here is your link to Tuesday’s stream… https://youtube.com/live/k69N3rlpomk?feature=share

Crystal Art, our birefringence photography meeting took place last Friday and it was also a great success, with tons of interesting discussion and a close look at the remarkable database developed by Jeff Melone, Mike Olsen, and Harold Hall. This meeting was also recorded and will be released in the next day or two as a YouTube video. I urge you to watch the video to learn about how to access this treasure trove of information on every aspect of this fascinating macro sub-discipline. Keep an eye out for this video which will be your on-ramp to the only crystal photography resource you will ever need!

The September competition is half way over and if you have not yet submitted your entries, now is the time to do so. The theme is “Action” and the judges will be looking for macro images that capture the essence of a macro-world in constant motion, We’ll be looking for the pictures that are high-quality, and that capture  interesting, informative, or entertaining  examples of how a two-dimensional photograph can tell a story depicting the dynamic, three dimensional reality of systems we rarely get to see. A spider devouring her prey, a beetle taking to the air,  water drops colliding, or the courtship gyrations of a mantid. Get creative, have fun, and show us what you’ve got!

Never leave out the interesting bits!

I am open to your suggestions for Livestream topics, video interviews, new programming ideas, or anything else that you would like to see in a future Macro Talk or Macro Talk Too. I do this for you and it makes it a lot easier for me to deliver what you want to see when you tell me what you want. You can leave a message during any livestream, or at any time by leaving a message in the Walls App (www.walls-app.com). I look forward to getting your requests and recommendations!

Like I just said…

That is all I have for today - see in a livestream!

Allan

P.S. - I have been getting some feedback about the degraded quality of my livestream video content - I am having a hard time tracking down the problem and implementing a suitable fix, but rest assured that getting this corrected is my highest priority. Thank you for your patience.

Diopters and Photogrammetry

LATE ENTRY!

I forgot to include the AfterStack19 invitation in my original posting of this blog - please join us on Saturday at 10AM for one of the most helpful and informative post-production round tables you are likely to find! Here is the invitation (and it is FREE)…

Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Afterstack19

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

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=81124304990

Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

And here is your link to the Google Drive folder where you may deposit any images you would like to share with the group - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XA7tv9O2SW0TGRjiIIRBzMRMAu-ZAkKe?usp=share_link

And now, back to the post -

Greetings All,

incoming!

I am so glad Monday is here and I can take a breather after a marathon weekend of getting caught up on all the projects that have been piling up since the beginning of the year. This is my desk this morning…

If you are waiting on me to send you something, there is a good chance it will be on its way to you before the end of the day. If you are with the IRS and are waiting for me to pay my tax bill for last year, please be patient.

Before telling you about this week’s activities, I need to remind you that I will be out of the studio next week and so there will be no Macro Talk Too on Thursday 3/27 and no Pzoom on Saturday 3//29/25. I hope to be back streaming on April Fools Day, when I will give you a rundown of what I learned at the Florida Convention of Camera Clubs during my visit.

This week I will be kicking things off with a discussion, mostly for newcomers, on the subject of close-up filters in macro photography. I will be giving an overview of close-up filters and how they can be used in macro photography, along with useful information on the best filters available today. To join the conversation, follow this link at 8PM on Tuesday - https://youtube.com/live/3vj2mCfX4pY?feature=share

On Thursday’s Macro Talk Too I will be talking about my experience with photogrammetry in macro photography. I was asked to do this a little while ago, so here it is! The link to join the discussion is right here -  https://youtube.com/live/pPmy3Uh3kDE?feature=share

On Saturday I will be hosting AfterStack 19 and in this episode it will be all about your pictures. You are invited to drop any images that you are having g trouble with into our shared Google drive folder and we will do our best to help you figure out how to get the best of each of them. Be sure to put them in the sub-folder for 3/22/25 so that Bud and I can get them in time for Saturday.

Does anyone actually own one of these mythical lenses? Photo Courtesy of Robert O’Toole

I will leave it at that today as I have a ton of preparation for the week ahead! See you soon!