flower, shot by shot. Although this approach sometimes works, it
seldom works well and is hardly worth the effort.
Another thing I have tried is to make little stakes and string little
panels of cloth on them in an attempt to stop the wind from coming
in. I even bought some small collapsible car antennae so the whole
thing could be portable but the wind came in from above, below, or
from anywhere that was not covered and did it’s thing, so this was
not a satisfying solution. For really good stacked photos of very
small flowers wind is pretty much a deal breaker.
There is an inexpensive way out of this, although it is a real PITA to
haul around and that is: a Light Tent. Light Tents are expandable
cubes of translucent material that are used for product
photography.
They diffuse light on whatever is inside the cube AND they stop
wind. These light tents are all over Ebay and you can get a 24” or
30” Light Tent for around $30. You will have to cut the bottom out of
one of the flat sides of the tent for it to be used outdoors and resign
to dedicate the tent for field work since it is going to get dinged and
smudged no matter how careful you are.
Simply place the tent over the area on the ground where the
flowers are and start shooting. The tents even come with a Velcro
cover for the front (with a slit for the camera lens) if the wind is
trying to get in the front direction, so you have five sides that are
closed and one side (the bottom) that is open. These light tents
work great for ground work provided you resign yourself to carting
them around in the woods, in addition to your tripod, camera,
lenses, and what-not. But this is a real solution worth trying if you
really want those good stacked photos.
I had my daughter sew a skirt on the bottom of the light tent so that
I could feather it out to further stop wind from coming in from the
bottom.