Bad hair day

[JBW]

[Wavelength]

I think the flash spoiled the quality this time......

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Brian,

I see what Nandakumar means.

I would say it needs more 'fill' light, it is too high contrast, all specular highlights and dimness in between. Maybe that's what you want, in which case, ignore me.

It is also huge (2,000px × 1,551px) and doesn't make so much sense when you can't see the detail at 100% - but if you go to 100%, you can then only see a part of the composition, so you lose the context implied by the title.

Dave

[Geoff F]

That is one of those problems with macro photography, Brian.

Flash causes a few hotspots but shooting without it means a high Iso or very slow shutter speed. I often clone out any faults but that is difficult in this case.

I had a few issues with this sort of thing today. Natural sunlight can be just as problematic, even worse sometimes. Eventually I created a bit of shadow with my body and pushed the Iso up to 1200 which gave me a shutter between 1/60 and 1/125 (F14) with a bit of positive exposure compensation. Not sure yet if any will be keepers but I know I always get a lot of rejects from this method; and some noise problems in the keepers.

[JBW]

I agree with all of you. I shot 50 or more shots in 4 outings and this was as good as it got. My choices were flash (he was in the shadows) seriously slow shutter speeds, or unacceptably high ISO.

I think my lessons to take home are that some shots just aren't going to work and that if I had not been so intent on a head on shot I just might have gotten an interesting and worthwhile shot of his body hair.

The up side is that Myra is attending a seminar out of town and was having a bad hair day yesterday so she appreciated the shot as it was presented on the blog

Still a lousy shot but it made her smile.

[Dave Humphries]

I think my lessons to take home are that some shots just aren't going to work

This is true, but I hate to give up


I wonder if a diffuser on the flash would have helped?

e.g. a mini soft-box - or some DIY alternative.

If he's still there, might be worth a try to see if it helps.

[Stagecoach]

Brian,

You can use all different types of flash and diffusers but there are times when none of them seem to give the 'ideal' result. From my experience I suspect the type of hair, it's oilyness, dampness or opacity can affect the result also.

[JBW]

This is true, but I hate to give up


I wonder if a diffuser on the flash would have helped?

e.g. a mini soft-box - or some DIY alternative.

If he's still there, might be worth a try to see if it helps.

H e has wandered off but there will undoubtedly be more.

[JBW]

Brian,

You can use all different types of flash and diffusers but there are times when none of them seem to give the 'ideal' result. From my experience I suspect the type of hair, it's oilyness, dampness or opacity can affect the result also.

i would have been happy with good let alone ideal. Reality check is that when I shoot in my comfort zone I do alright. But I lack experience. Luckily ignorance is curable

[Geoff F]

There are a lot of times when I shoot just for identification purposes, knowing full well that I'm not going to get a prizewinner.