Need to work on my 'flash'skills

[JBW]

[Shadowman]

Nice to see you giving it a go. Can you alter the intensity of your flash?

[JBW]

Nice to see you giving it a go. Can you alter the intensity of your flash?

I can but only by putting baby booties over the flash Regrettably I had left them in the house.

[Shadowman]

I can but only by putting baby booties over the flash Regrettably I had left them in the house.

Do you have "rear sync" or "red eye" options? Sometimes a delayed flash will give just enough light exposure before the shutter opens.

[JBW]

Do you have "rear sync" or "red eye" options? Sometimes a delayed flash will give just enough light exposure before the shutter opens.

yes I do. Something new to play with!

[Geoff F]

Moths are particularly troublesome. Any flash tends to get reflected by their wing scales so you often get problems with the fine detail being over exposed. So this is what I do.

Having caught a night flying moth the previous night. Give it a rest in a collecting tube placed in the refrigerator. They will keep overnight without any problems.

Prepare a shallow dish with some background material which is similar to where it would normally rest during the day. Such as old leaves or a piece of bark. Prepare your camera equipment and tip the moth into the container. Let it settle. A suitable container can easily be rotated or tipped to give the best angles.

If using flash, I set the camera using manual adjustments and use a little bit of flash output compensation as required (-2 would be typical for me). Using ETTL flash option.

But this can still cause problems. So my alternative is to set up some daylight quality studio type lights beside the holding tray. A couple of desk lamps with daylight bulbs is often sufficient.

Or place beside a window with good light, but not harsh sunlight; and use the normal room lights.

This means a longish exposure on a tripod and preferably with cable release. I shoot with aperture priority and F11 or F14 but sometimes the Iso needs to be at 800 approx. Some exposure compensation is usually needed. So a shutter speed of 1/20 is quite normal.

If you have some good background material, most moths will happily sit there without any movement, which allows for a couple of shots with different focus points for stacking.

In most cases, the moths are so contented with the background that when I take them outside after shooting I have trouble getting them to actually leave!

Daylight moths, or resting night moths found outside during the day, have to be treated like other insects. And this is where the 'do I, don't I flash' can be difficult. In general, if you can avoid flash it is often better for the reflecting wing scale problem. But bright daylight can cause the same effect particularly if the angle is wrong.

Which is really back to long exposures in subdued light using a tripod.

[JBW]

Moths are particularly troublesome. Any flash tends to get reflected by their wing scales so you often get problems with the fine detail being over exposed. So this is what I do.

Having caught a night flying moth the previous night. Give it a rest in a collecting tube placed in the refrigerator. They will keep overnight without any problems.

Prepare a shallow dish with some background material which is similar to where it would normally rest during the day. Such as old leaves or a piece of bark. Prepare your camera equipment and tip the moth into the container. Let it settle. A suitable container can easily be rotated or tipped to give the best angles.

If using flash, I set the camera using manual adjustments and use a little bit of flash output compensation as required (-2 would be typical for me). Using ETTL flash option.

But this can still cause problems. So my alternative is to set up some daylight quality studio type lights beside the holding tray. A couple of desk lamps with daylight bulbs is often sufficient.

Or place beside a window with good light, but not harsh sunlight; and use the normal room lights.

This means a longish exposure on a tripod and preferably with cable release. I shoot with aperture priority and F11 or F14 but sometimes the Iso needs to be at 800 approx. Some exposure compensation is usually needed. So a shutter speed of 1/20 is quite normal.

If you have some good background material, most moths will happily sit there without any movement, which allows for a couple of shots with different focus points for stacking.

In most cases, the moths are so contented with the background that when I take them outside after shooting I have trouble getting them to actually leave!

Daylight moths, or resting night moths found outside during the day, have to be treated like other insects. And this is where the 'do I, don't I flash' can be difficult. In general, if you can avoid flash it is often better for the reflecting wing scale problem. But bright daylight can cause the same effect particularly if the angle is wrong.

Which is really back to long exposures in subdued light using a tripod.

My moths tend to be resting during the day so overnight cooling is not part of the game plan. Shooting with a higher ISO is worth exploring as is the tripod. I just find it hard to get really close with the tripod and macro + telephoto tends to be a little blurry unless it is a largish object.