Photo-a-day

[g8ina]

Todays macros are of a scorpion fly, lots about right now in Northants, I esp love that tail section !!





Just off out now for my local paper interview Wish me luck.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

tut tut.



Your going the wrong way!

[Bobster]

Dave, nice shots do you manually focus or auto focus with the maco? have you looked into stacking?

[g8ina]

Great couple of street shots there josh Love the first one.

and thanks Bob, much appreciated. On this set it was AF, but I often do use manual. And no, not tried stacking my macros yet, walking before running

Just back from paper interview, took them an hour ! Enough to fill a whole page I reckon !!

[htid]

Great couple of street shots there josh Love the first one.

and thanks Bob, much appreciated. On this set it was AF, but I often do use manual. And no, not tried stacking my macros yet, walking before running

Just back from paper interview, took them an hour ! Enough to fill a whole page I reckon !!

Nice work! The macros look a bit soft, not sure if you've missed the focus or just not a enough DoF? I'm not sure if you're trying to get the focus on the eye, but from what I've seen of macro stuff on talkphotography, always get the eye sharp, like this (not my work!)

[kalniel]

Nice work! The macros look a bit soft, not sure if you've missed the focus or just not a enough DoF?

He's fighting a whole bunch of factors! They're cropped quite a lot, so the AA filter and diffraction softness are quite visible. There could be a bit of motion blur, and finally there are some heavy Jpeg compression artefacts!

Your example looks to be using rather more specialist equipment - namely dedicated macro lighting and a longer reach lens

[htid]

He's fighting a whole bunch of factors! They're cropped quite a lot, so the AA filter and diffraction softness are quite visible. There could be a bit of motion blur, and finally there are some heavy Jpeg compression artefacts!

Your example looks to be using rather more specialist equipment - namely dedicated macro lighting and a longer reach lens

True but that's all part of macro photography, some of which you can change (motion blur) etc. I reckon he could get the eye sharper, and anyway the focus point isn't on the eye, it looks like it's on the forelegs

*edit* The above was taken with a canon Mpe 65mm Lens...a quick read suggests it's not actually 65mm (Daves is a 90mm just in case you didn't know) but I don't know if that means it's easier to take macro with or not.

[kalniel]

*edit* The above was taken with a canon Mpe 65mm Lens...a quick read suggests it's not actually 65mm (Daves is a 90mm just in case you didn't know) but I don't know if that means it's easier to take macro with or not.

I just meant that Dave had to crop. If the photo you link was cropped then it was at least still high enough resolution to allow for scaling to overcome loss of sharpness as you approach 1:1 on cameras with an AA filter.

[htid]

I just meant that Dave had to crop. If the photo you link was cropped then it was at least still high enough resolution to allow for scaling to overcome loss of sharpness as you approach 1:1 on cameras with an AA filter.

Get closer, less cropping That's part of the skill! But anyway let's move on because I don't want it to sound like I'm attacking Daves photos and saying he's not got any skill, which is obviously not true since his other macros have been great (and these aren't bad, just not perfect imo)!

[Bobster]

macro can be fun especially when you find an old magnifying glass knocking about at your FiL
my first dabbles into Macro..

[stavroshamster]

*edit* The above was taken with a canon Mpe 65mm Lens...a quick read suggests it's not actually 65mm (Daves is a 90mm just in case you didn't know) but I don't know if that means it's easier to take macro with or not.

That lens allows up to 5x magnification whereas a standard macro lens only allows up to 1x - its a completely different animal as far as I understand, and the comparison between Dave's shot and your example aren't really that simple. For a start they'd almost definately be using a pretty expensive lighting setup with that lens as images would get very dark at that magnification, and are probably using a tripod etc too (and there's no guarantee the subject is even alive!).

Oh, and it's not as easy as just getting closer - the closer you get, the shallower the DOF - this means you might need to ramp up the f-number which leads to diffraction issues and requires more light/higher ISO or a slower shutter speed (at the risk of motion blur)...

I agree with you about the eyes though - they would be a better shots if they had been in focus - but for someone who is just starting out with macro they are still pretty good, and will be sure to get better with practice... I think some of his earlier examples were better from a technique/composition POV, but the subject in these ones is great - I've never seen one of those flies up close before - ugly looking things!

[g8ina]

I'm fine with any crits guys, you know that I've only been at it a few weeks, and it is a long learning curve.

When you get to only 2 inches away with this lens, dof even at f15 is only a couple of mm and being in a wheelchair I do have limited mobility so I can't always get into the right position for equal focus all along a body for example - it all adds to the challenge and fun

Anyway - I do like the OOF areas sometimes Who says for "art" it all has to be sharply in focus

[htid]

That lens allows up to 5x magnification whereas a standard macro lens only allows up to 1x - its a completely different animal as far as I understand, and the comparison between Dave's shot and your example aren't really that simple. For a start they'd almost definately be using a pretty expensive lighting setup with that lens as images would get very dark at that magnification, and are probably using a tripod etc too (and there's no guarantee the subject is even alive!).

Oh, and it's not as easy as just getting closer - the closer you get, the shallower the DOF - this means you might need to ramp up the f-number which leads to diffraction issues and requires more light/higher ISO or a slower shutter speed (at the risk of motion blur)...

I agree with you about the eyes though - they would be a better shots if they had been in focus - but for someone who is just starting out with macro they are still pretty good, and will be sure to get better with practice... I think some of his earlier examples were better from a technique/composition POV, but the subject in these ones is great - I've never seen one of those flies up close before - ugly looking things!

Fair do's, he was using a near £800 flash for that photo...but no tripod!

[redddraggon]

Oliver by redddraggon, on Flickr

[kushtibari]

Interesting crack on the macros. I like Daves shot and (never having taken any) I think getting the exact point of focus must be bloody difficult.

Edge of a wood at Askham in the Lake District

[htid]

Amazing kushti. I'm speechless every time I see one of your photos!