- syzygy's journal - the clown show

That would be a situation where focus stacking would be the only way to get sufficient depth of field. Unless you can put your aperture at f1000 or something and have a super bright light.

I like the black backgrounds haha…

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I like the black backgrounds also - no distractions. I’ll have to mess around a bit more with the focus stacking, the results I had were pretty poor. I guess it’s possible there was a bit of tripod shake too which would be exaggerated with extension tubes.

Different background test - no tubes - no stacking - no flash

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Also to expand on the dark background topic - my main focus when rushing bud shots is trying to get the lighting on the flowers good enough without overexposing the trichomes (they reflect light).

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I shoot in manual but I typically have an aperture in mind for the shot and then I either adjust ISO or shutter speed until the trichomes don’t look blown out when zoomed in on the screen or viewfinder.

I wanted the bokeh balls from the lights behind the flowers so I shot in the lowest fstop. Usually I’d use a higher fstop for more depth of field on the flowers, which can make lighting a bit more challenging. If I use a flash to solve that challenge then the flower is illuminated sufficiently but the background is underexposed – giving the funeral look or dark background. Sometimes It’s intentional like when I pull plants out of the tent, other times it’s not.

Here’s the flower tent as of today - added a few premade sticky traps just to reduce the gnats flying around reproducing

TK recovering from an overly aggressive pinch

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Yeah that was my plan… I need a slightly larger one for mycology projects and cannabis stuff, but I think I could find a deal on craigslist. Just need a truck to get it to my place.

I’ll have to give it a shot, my plan was to get things where I like them dry and cure-wise and then put them in the fridge to maintain that. I like smoking my bud around 55-58RH, but if I’m vaping it I like it a little wetter.

Looks killer, you got her to fill out nicely for 1 gallon.

Yeah reminds me a bit of the pictures of Ghost OG I’ve seen… reminds me a bit of the Casper OG I grew (Ghost OG x FaceOff OG).

Looks similar to what I do, but smart idea using separate containers.

For focus stacking, I leave my camera in manual focus mode, but I’m not sure if you can do that on the Nikon Focus stacking? I assuming not, because the camera is probably using the auto focus to judge where the front and back of the subject is. I’m physically moving the camera forward millimeters a shot with the rail, while your camera is just adjusting the focus.

Yeah def, you can play around with aperture settings and make the background virtually disappear.

Yeah there’s a fine line… I find myself shooting in manual mode more and more, unless I’m doing general full tent or full plant shots. Usually between F3.5 and F7 or so for the macro shots, but I keep my ISO around 100 or 150. I’ll have to play around with the ISO more, but I typically don’t like the added noise from higher ISO.

Looks great, she’s one that can handle the abuse… she might even like it?

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Here are two 1000x1000 cropped shots of a fungus gnat for comparison. The camera had to be moved but both images were as close as I could get to the gnat and retain focus.

Extension tube

Normal

Initially when I got the camera I stuck to 50 → 100 ISO only to ensure the highest quality with no noise. With flash I still am pretty much forced to use low ISO because sometimes the image is still too bright at 1/8000s shutter speed. After looking at various camera related things online I started to notice a lot of sample shots looked incredibly clear, way better than mine. They’d have settings like 1/500 , F5 , 2500 ISO. I started playing around with my no flash shots with similar settings and I really haven’t noticed any added noise from bumping the ISO up to 2k~. When you consider the quality loss from resizing for upload here it seems trivial as well.

I’ve seen a few youtube videos since that realization make the case for upping the ISO as well (within reason). I’ve noticed even with my tripod and remote shutter that when I have the viewefinder fully zoomed in the image is still wobbly. That leads me to believe a higher shutter speed (300-500) will probably result in a sharper image than sacrificing shutter speed for ISO.

Yeah I think I need auto focus to use the focus stacking feature. Sounds like you aren’t using that though and you are just manually taking pictures at various focal points and combining them? Sounds interesting for sure. I don’t have a macro rail still but I sort of like the sound of that method more if I’m understanding correctly. With my setup it takes like 100 shots and I’d say above 80-90% of the shots could be trashed.

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Gifted away more of my excess cuttings locally - hopefully freeing up a bit of space for a while (but I still have to up pot current “moms” into 1 gal pot which will reduce space again). Also chopped down the males last night. I should have enough to what must be done. The branches are still laying in one of those concrete mixing tubs and will let them drop their remaining pollen before I throw them out.

Also got all the 1 GAL stuff mulched with rice hulls since they are easier to pour into the container without making a mess.

My aero cloner is no longer working due to a damaged pump so it may be a while before I get to Irene.

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Also here’s a background comparison shot showing what I was talking about earlier how backgrounds can disappear due to lighting / settings. Both have the same background but the first one had a higher ISO and weaker flash on it to allow some of the background to come through. Second shot isn’t intentionally dark it’s just better lit than the background.

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Hey @syzygy I’ve been running Docs Black Energy , Bodhi’s Flying Triangle.
Also getting ready to drop some Black Triangle from Bodhi’s last release. Would love to hit some selections with your TS male if your offer is still available?
I have cuts from three phenos of Black Energy and one cut of Flying Triangle ready for another round. Really enjoying your photos by the way!! Been looking at some new camera gear. Think I’m almost ready to pull the trigger on a Fujifilm X-T1 to start.
Cut these today, DocDs Black Energy #12 “Photo from Pixel 7”

Grace and Peace

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Sure. Not positive it will arrive viable but if you are in the US sounds like a plan. It’s not just one male either, it’s two - H & E. Both untested. One of them smelled very strong but I’m not sure which. I’ll msg for details later.

I don’t know anything about that camera but sounds fun! One thing I will say about my mirrorless camera is that there are way less options for lenses than DSLRs with the nikon mirrorless, and would require a special converter to use a different lens w/ my camera. That phone shot looks nice to me!

What did you make of the Flying Triangle? That’s BT x W15, right? That sounded interesting to me.

Edit :

Anyone have any methods for pollen sharing - ie coin flips and hose washer? Was thinking of just folded up parchment paper in a foil bag or taped coin flip. Have 2 days to think about it with the upcoming holiday.

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Well the weather is great for snail mail right now, cold and low humidity. Yeah, a little parchment paper package, a few grains of rice then taped up and tucked in a baggie will work. Humidity is the biggest issue.

Yes, Flying Triangle is Blk Triangle x Wookie 15, It was listed on GLG for a minute, but sold out quick. I found a few packs over at Headies, actually got the last 3 packs he had.

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I worded the question poorly, sorry, just meant what did you think of the cross? Sounds interesting for sure.

In any case I put the parchment in a container full of desiccant to pull out any remaining moisture. It’s been air drying for a while now in some low humidity conditions. It’s going to be single digit temperatures here for a week or so but hopefully that doesn’t matter. I’ve used frozen pollen before without issue at least…

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@CrunchBerries turned me on to this gizmo. Worked great on some SSDD pollen I’d collected :slight_smile:

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The Flying Triangle is different.Haha!! Only had 3 girls on the first round.The wookie seems to add a candied orange sweetness to the triangle, pretty dank smelling too. All three appear to be wookie dominate.
Stem rubs in veg on the most unique one was sickly sweet, to me anyway, pure stink bug spray, really foul. I dig the smell of dead skunk rotting on the highway, diesel truck exhaust, and fresh blooms of lavender, which is what I envisioned from the descriptions Bodhi posted, but stink bug spray is one off putting odor. It has since mellowed out some and is actually much more agreeable to my sniffer. Cutting those down in the next day or so and will post some pics and remarks.

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Awesome, thanks for that description. Don’t think I’ve ever read someone describe their flowers as stinkbug spray before haha. Interested to hear your thoughts once it’s cured and everything!

Nice, I assume that’s just pulling air through the orange indicating silica beads? I have a large container of them so it seems like the container should work (hopefully). I should probably put one of my small hygrometers in there just for curiosity sake.

I think I remember he also posted a link at some point in time to a pollen sifter or something like that, where you filled it up with male flowers and it collected the pollen on the bottom under a screen. That sounded really interesting to me. I like the idea of reducing the amount of pollen floating around in the air here - both for potential allergy and plant reasons. I see there’s an aluminum pollen shaker on amazon that is frequently bought with the dehumidifier you linked so I’m guessing that’s it.

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It’s rather interesting that just off the shape of the bud itself, I know that the smoke is amazing. You’re going to burn down the whole neighborhood with so much fire.

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Yep, this one… it works great. I got the combo, lol!

I put the pollen on parchment paper, in a cooler with the dehuey.

I have a bunch of bead bags I got for for keeping dry nutes dry. They never worked very long, especially the color changing ones that didn’t really change :frowning: And they would never really refresh.

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Ah, OK, I only do a 1x use on them and always in a sealed container - I never really wanted to put them in the oven or whatever you have to do to recharge them. Didn’t want to chance spilling them and have the puppy eat any or something like that. Usually it’s just putting a small amount in a seed or pollen container and wouldn’t be worth trying to recover anyways. The silica beads in the container with the pollen are reading at 10% humidity - probably the lowest the hyrgrometer goes I’m guessing.

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I’ve also used damprid inside of a rubbermaid style container before in the past too - that worked great at drying stuff. I’ll have to check out that pollen shaker next time I have male flowers around.

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Yes, I think they all tap out at 10%, that’s how I know it’s time to dry mine out. :+1:

Cheers
G

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Good to know, thanks! It’s dry enough here as is that I probably don’t even need the desiccant anyways. Even my flowers in grove bags have completely dried out. Should probably heat seal , vacuum seal or double bag in the future. Or just use jars for long term storage. Not sure.

I don’t think I’ve ever grown anything that has agreed with my body chemistry as much as that plant. It’s definitely one of my favorite plants to grow. Effects and potency are perfect for me also.

I think that Trip Sun C was a bit stronger and most people would probably prefer that one though. I see A as feel good, extremely calm and comfortable, uplifting and overall enhancing herb for me. C was more devastating in potency where it was the experience. It wasn’t enhancing like A is, it was more debilitating. Some people like and prefer that though. Also what’s debilitating for me may bring clarity and calm to you.

Here are the thoughts that I jotted down the other day - I’ve still stuck to only consuming the trip sun A and my thoughts are the same.

:

Effects : Mentally stimulating, enhanced focus and uplifting. Mellow effects with zero raciness or paranoia. Very comfortable and relaxing. Good “hybrid” effects.

Duration : 1.5-2 hours

Odor level 8/10 - sticks on to you for quite some time after handling it.

Smells I’m getting : Woodsy, Rubber , Sour with hints of adhesive, spice , mint, old coins. Does not smell unusual. Has a typical Cannabis odor to me.

Nice basic “good weed” taste. Nothing out of the ordinary. Tastes good on relight, even the following day.

I intend to keep it around for a long time unless TK is not only extremely similar but obviously superior in every way. I’ll still probably keep it for a while just to be safe.

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This year I want to take a lot more pictures of other flowers and beneficial insects (pollinators, predators, unknowns). I got a few last year , some shots I even really liked, but not as many as I should have taken. Some of the Salvia shots are re-posted from my other thread but I don’t think I posted the others before.

Big photo dump from my phone storage - taken with the Nikon last summer.

















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