http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6091/...e9124781_z.jpg
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Awesome Denise!!!
Especially like the third one.....makes me want to buy a macro lens!
Denise,
Those shots are the "Bees Knees."
They're sharp, with nice color, contrast and bokeh. I don't think you can hope for more. On the first shot, you can actually see the pollen on the bees legs and antennae. I think I like the color rendition of the Canon 100mmL f/2.8 Macro IS better than the Sigma 70mm Macro.
I agree with Joel, the 3rd shot is my favorite! The DOF is exceptional and you really get a sense of the bees macro world that it lives in. It's like a little bee city.
Are you using your macro twin light? How about sharing some tips of your setup? I have the Canon Macro too, but I really haven't shot any Macro with it. This makes me want to go out and shoot macro too.
Nice Work!
Rich
Thanks guys! The 3rd is my favorite also & I really don't know why it turned out so much better than the others but whatever I did ...I like it!
I didn't have the twin lite ...I used to own the ring lite but I sold it. So, I really don't have any special tips to give. These were all hand held and I only used flash (580 II w/ bracket) on the first one I think.
Here's another from yesterday ...
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6237/...d2e08e5b_z.jpg
Brilliant Denise. Well done.
Wow, love all the bees and their metallic looks.
I was fixing up a new hosereel in the back yard this afternoon, this guy didn't like being disturbed and scuttled off behind a fencepost. Once i'd finished fixing the hose up, i sprayed him with the hose to get him to move out into the open. He didn't like it too much.
Took a few shots, 7D + 70-300L and 36mm tube, iso800 and f/9. Popped the onboard flash and he got used to it eventually, managed to get 9 shots relatively still while i turned the focus ring.
First real shot at focus stacking using Hugin, used the raw-converted jpgs. Good thing i didn't use raw-converted tiffs, I got out-of-memory errors with 4GB ram and 500mb swap, so i turned the unused 32gb of my ssd into swap space...
Didn't turn out too good on first go, so second try I masked out all the obviously blurry areas from each shot, took an hour or two, and looks a lot better. Not sure what's going on in the top right, i'll have another crack tomorrow morning...
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I hate spiders.
.
(and just for those who are squeamish, here's a 100& crop from the 7th in the stack)
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And this one I like better, even though it's not stacked and the original was a few stops too bright.
Didn't turn out too bad after raw-converting.
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I hate spiders.
wasp gathering at the entrance to their nest. I'm inches away from these guys so I'm nervous. They where moving fast and I could just not gain enough shutter to stop all the movement. f/16 ISO 1600 shutter 1/20, handheld so that I could move fast.
These critters give a nasty sting plus I'm allergic. I don't die if I'm stung it just makes me sick for a couple of hours.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6113/...f999bfbc_z.jpg
Brought out my 580 flash and flash cord and dropped the f-stop down to f/11
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6050/...bf01d4f1_z.jpg
25% percent crop on this one as I don't usually do cropping but it lets you see these guys a little closer. The yellow headed one is the boss or the queen from what I can tell because the others could not leave it alone.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6118/...049376da_z.jpg
A so called leaf bug from today. f/13 this time with my trusty 5D2 and 100mm IS macro. No sharpening done except my for my in camera setting.
While doing the setup and focusing this little bug had some fun with me. In the middle of shooting this little session I looked up to see it suddenly sprouted its wings and fly right at my face hitting me between my nose and my right eye. Even though this insect is pretty much harmless I let out a big yell as it startled me.
[View:http://community.the-digital-picture...neric/utility/http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6105/...5d84fb13_b.jpg leaf bug by freelanceshots, on Flickr:550:0]
Holy crap! Where are you from Freelance?? Those look much different than the wasps here. This is what I'm used to seeing:
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That looks like what we call (in Australia), a European Wasp.
I saw one in a museum in Sweden, apprently they call them German wasps. Not sure what Germans call them though...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Croubie
HAHA! Maybe they call them Australian Wasps? Or just "Vasps"? heh.
de.wikipedia.org/.../Deutsche_Wespe Yep, even the germans claim responsibility for them and call them the Deutsche Wespe, as does every other language on the "this page in other languages" (except the finnish and thai that I can't read). Strangely enough the icelandic just calls them 'house wasps'.
Still, it looks like the same one that is one of australia's worst introduced pests...
Those wasps freelance put up with the purple wings look more like australian native wasps, which i'd presume if he wasn't from the states.
And come to think of it, Denise, since when are bees metallic green? and with white stripes and not yellow?
Rocco, we have yellows ones like that too. I
It's a Waspy kind of thread at the moment, so here's what's making a nest under the eaves at the moment. (or re-using the nest he or another one made a while back). Some kind of native Australian Paper Wasp (I've taken other photos of them chewing up the wooden stakes in the garden, which they vomit up to make these nests).
Playing around with my new 430EX speedlite, mounted on a tripod about 3' high (to my lower right), zoom on 105mm, 2:1 ratio to the 7D onboard flash with wireless trigger, 70-300L on 68mm Kenko tubes, me standing on a kitchen chair about 50cm away from him (under the eaves is about 220cm up). 140mm, 1/200s, f/13, iso200.
I knew that the 7D had the inbuilt speedlite transmitter when I bought it, but didn't think much of it because i never planned to use a flash much past the inbuilt. If i'd known how useful it was I would have bought one with the body last year, I'm in love with it already...
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.
Edit: I'm not sure if I like it rotated and cropped, it gets a bit tighter than the 'hanging' style, but i like the pose of the wasp on top...
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Baby larva looking at me before it's born, freaky.
Think this one was with the speedlite on the hotshoe, the white-painted background got washed out but the centre was perfectly exposed.
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Freelanceshots, those are strange wasps.
Since we are on bees... here is a little different color from the wasps. A green bee.
I saw quit a few or these this year. I do not remember seeing these much in the past, but maybe I am just looking more since I got a macro lens.Looking back a few post, Isee Denise has some real nice close up shots of green bees.
alshttp://farm7.static.flickr.com/6027/...69c7f575_z.jpg
Fantastic bee and wasp shots!! Sorry to detour the thread away from them ...
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6111/...0fc975f23f.jpg
This guy was sitting happily on a Radish leaf in my garden, until he got a lens shoved in his face.
I think my 85/1.8 with kenko tubes is my new favourite macro (no IS, but nowhere near as heavy as the 70-300L).
Attachment 111
Very nice Dave. I love the warm tones and especially fond of the way the shadows fall.
7D + 70-300L, no tubes so 100% crops, shot off just over 100 frames at MFD in really windy conditions, maybe 20 half decent, and whittled it down to these 3. (although i'm not expecting them to look very sharp once I upload them to this forum).
Just don't ask what the hell it is, because on that I'd have no idea...
Attachment 175Attachment 176Attachment 177
Nice shots, Dr. C. Looks like your spider is dressed up for halloween!
A more normal looking spider I shot about half an hour ago.
7D + 85/1.8 + 68mm tubes, 430EX with $5 chinese softbox I just got, 1/160s, f/10
Cropped 3750/5184 pixels, he's probably not more than 1cm in total length. (And the dark diamond behind him is the lattice along our fence, didn't do it on purpose, that's just where the tripod fit)
Attachment 235
Looks good Dr. C!:D
Really nice, Dr. Croubie!
Dr. C, great looking spider, and I would love to know what he/she is?
Ok, I just had to look this guy up---My guess would be a "Spiny Orb-Weaver" or one of its kinfolk---Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Croubie
Very nice pic.
Curious, did you use dedicated flash on this? What recommendations do you have for staged or studio (non-nature) shots?
edit...disregard question about your technique...visted your Flickr site and the info was there...
Sean, Nice shot of the coin----and I took a look at some other work of yours on your flicker account. Your portraits are outstanding as always but I really like the job you did on that press machine---very nice. That had to be a tricky one. I am sure the customer was very happy with it. Nice work.
I used a Paul C. Buff White Lightning x1600 on the shot of the coins. I was using it at about 3/4 power, diffused by an octabox, and positioned fairly close to the coins. This put out a lot of light, which allowed me to shoot at f/16. Truth be told, I probably should have pushed it to f/22 and adjusted the flash power or ISO to compensate, but the slight out-of-focus area at the top didn't really bother me at the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by DanoPhoto
The best advice I can give for staged or studio shots is:
1) Make sure you have a decent, re-positionable, yet solid support. A good tripod will help you nail things down. After you get the framing figured out, you have one less thing to worry about because it'll stay the same from that time forward.
2) Studio strobes are wonderful for pseudo macro work. They let you to shoot at narrow apertures allowing for greater depth-of-field while using relatively fast shutter speeds (up to your max sync speed). Of course, with good stability, you can open up the shutter for extended periods of time allowing the ambient light to carry your lighting workload. Many times, however, the color of ambient light is mixed--making consistent color hard to nail down.
3) Speaking of strobes, learn the principles involved in lighting a subject and have a decent amount of modifiers on hand. Some modifiers can be made with a little bit of time and effort, or improvised with a little ingenuity; others will need to be purchased ready-made. Modifiers currently at my disposal include the following, and range in cost from about $5 - $170.
-White umbrellas
-Reflective (silver) umbrellas
-22" silver beauty dish
-16" silver beauty dish w/ grid
-20" white parabolic reflector
-Strip boxes w/ grids
-48" octabox w/ grid
-Small, medium, and large softboxes
-64" extreme silver parabolic light modifier (PLM) with diffusion cover
-Snoots
-Grids
-Flags
-Queen sized bed sheet
-White foam board
4) If you don't own a macro lens, buy some extension tubes. I bought some used extension tubes off of Ebay for around $100. All my macro work is done with them. For as little as I do macro work, the quality is perfectly acceptable to me. You can buy even cheaper extension tubes new from Amazon.
5) Play. The only way you're going to learn a new skill is to practice, make mistakes, and learn what works. If you're curious about a technique, or you want to duplicate something you've seen done, try it until you succeed. After that, you'll have one more skill tucked away in your mind's closet for pulling out when the occasion calls for it.
You know, it took me a full hour to nail that shot down. The machine itself is not terribly interesting or pleasing to the eye, so the lighting and framing had to work wonders. And yes, the client was indeed pleased with it. I was so happy with the shot that I had (8) 8x10 prints of it made on Kodak Metallic Paper and gave it to the employees who worked closest to that machine as a memento.Quote:
Originally Posted by bob williams
Thanks for all the recommendations. Wll use the all...especially #5...Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean Setters
Will hopefully post some soon for feedback. After the Holidays, of course.
Thanks guys, but yeah, no idea what this guy is. He was just floating around my pergola in the back yard, only 1cm long or so. We get heaps of spiders around there, because it's always so damp they love the mosquitos that love breeding there.
Meanwhile, here's a better version of it, seeing as i'm smugmugging some stuff to try out...
http://croubie.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-Xgf7Wcp-L.jpg
ps, Bob, where'd you find the name of that other guy? My sister had some site she used to find an insect name before, but they didn't have spiders...
I used the scientific resource called "google". I just searched for spider photos and looked through them until I found something that looked like your spider---Given its uniqueness, it was pretty easy. But wiht your most recent post, I think it would be much more challenging useing my search method.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Croubie
Try this out. http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Croubie
It looks like you can even do a I.D. request if you can not find it.
Speaking of spiders, I just came across this site. Awesome stuff. Have a look at the video section to see how he does it... he's using reverse-mounted prime lenses with extension tubes, and a homemade flash diffuser.
http://www.thomasshahan.com/
Amazing macro shots. How does he get so much depth of field? Is it the focus stacking?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan Huyer
I was playing with reverse-macro the other day too, getting some insane magnifications, like up to 7x (3mm-wide framing). But stupidly long exposures and nanometer-thin DOF. That's gotta be stacked, dozens of shots or more (too bad I don't like killing things, or i'd be doing the same...)