2018 Project 52, 1st quarter by Rudi

[rudi]

Week #6, some lively looking specimens. Nicely done.

Thanks John.

[rudi]

Week 7 : Another tiny flower being Trachystemon oriëntale. These normally flower march/april. But due to the very mild winter, they almost finished flowering. They might reflower though....

1: The 'entire' flower: 5DIII mpe +/-2x f4,5 1/200 iso100 MT24EX 1:2 ETTL; 90 frames, stepsize +/- 0,1 mm, stacked in Zerene and retouched from PMax



2: a detail from picture 1, with only 3 anthers and few pollen left after I dropped the flower..
Will try to reshoot with more pollen, more detail, iff the weather is a little bit cooperatif...
5DIII mpe 4x f4 1/200 iso100 MT24EX 1:2 ETTL; 42 frames, stepsize +/-0,05 mm, stacked in Zerene and retouched from PMax



C&C always welcomed.

[Geoff F]

Both are perfect images.

[skitterbug]

Sharp! Well done!
I'm sorry you dropped your flower. That had to be frustrating. But your detailed pic turned out nicely too in spite of the accident.

[Cantab]

Great photos!

It's sometimes used in gardens in my part of the world but some are concerned it may be invasive. What has your experience been?

[Artshot]

Great to see how they are supposed to look.

[rudi]

Thanks all for the comments.

@Geoff: there is always room for improvement, but so far I am happy how they turned out..

@Sandy: It was a bit frustrating as I had only one decent flower left. But the headgardener (my beloved wife) says there will be plenty more in march...

@Bruce: It is also used in gardens here, not much though, usually planted in groups. Thrives best in wet shady areas. It is spreading by rhizomes, but not invasive to our experience. It can be controlled easily.

@Art: I am always surprised how nice those tiny things can look up close, all those tiny structures you can't see with the naked eye.

[rudi]

Two more Trachystemon pictures to end this week:
3: The whole flower a bit closer, different view:
5DIII mpe@3x f4 1/200 iso100 MT24Ex 1:2 ETTL; 95 frames, stepsize +/-0,05mm, stacked in Zerene and retouched from DMap


4: I reshot one anther with more pollen,
5DIII mpe+TC1,4@7x f3,5 1/200 iso100 MT24Ex 1:2 ETTL; 59 frames, stepsize +/-0,03mm, stacked in Zerene and retouched from DMap



C&C welcome

[Cantab]

Rudi, I have very very little macro experience but your photos look like they turned out well. Congratulations

[billtils]

A most enjoyable series Rudi. I am particularly impressed with the excellent quality of the images over a wide range of subjects. Looking forward to seeing those yet to come!

[rudi]

Thanks Bruce and Bill for the comments. Future will tell what to come

[rudi]

Week 8: Thanks to the colder weather, I had a few cooperatif models this week: WOODLOUSE

All taken 'handheld'; canon 7DII, mpe 1,5x to 2,5x; diffused MT24EX; All stacked using Zerene Stacker.

1: The whole beasty:


2: A young model, perhaps a little bit shy, trying to hide...


3: A bit older, and already bolder...


4: The oldest from the bunch..


C& C Always welcome

[skitterbug]

My reaction when I opened your post was "WOW" such good work you do! Even for an ugly bug than ends up looking very interesting because of your skill! <chuckle>

[Cantab]

Rudi, these are good!

I originally saw them a few hours ago on my iPad; they looked fine. But now that I'm looking at them on my desktop monitor, I can see just how good they are.

[rudi]

Thanks Sandy and Bruce for the nice comments.

[Geoff F]

Once again, these have excellent details.

I always find woodlice to be a tricky subject. Reflective surfaces and a tendency to keep moving.

[rudi]

Thanks Geoff.

I shot those over a +14 day time period with varying succes. I know a few good places where they are hiding. The cold weather gave me a big advantage, but though the body remained nearly unchanged the antennae kept twitching quiet often. So I was going back over and over again... I still have a few 'side shots' from 'oldest' to process. Which I will post iff good enough..

[rudi]

Week 9: Aphids, on Cymbidium (Orchid). Thought I had plenty off 'models' this week, until the 'Big Chief' cleaned up almost all off them...

With the woodlice last week, I thought I had the macro twinlight reasonably under controle. Most off the time, I use it in manual mode, this week in ETTL mode. Once downloaded , I found out that exposure was not very consistent from frame to frame, resulted in more specular highlights than I thought I would have.

Shot with 7DII canon mpe65, diffused MT24EX; on a 'bipod' with a Gimbal head, for more stability. the first is a single shot, the others are stacked using Zerene Stacker. All uncropped
1:


2:


3:


C&C always welcome.

[Geoff F]

Aphids are a common problem for reflective surface issues, Rudi. I have always struggled to photograph them no matter what I tried in the manner of camera adjustments.

So, compared with my attempts, these look good to me.

[Wavelength]

Amazing images!!!