A few macro

[lesno1]

i doubt i will see another ladybug this year this one was healthy it flew away ,tha last fly was on a upvc window frame hence the bland background and the cat just comes to say hello so i took her picture

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[Wavelength]

Nice images...reflections of flash is a bit annoying

[lesno1]

Thanks wavelength so how do i stop that ?

[madcrow]

Nicely done.

[Geoff F]

The ladybird is one of the Harlequin variations. The next image is a hoverfly; Eristalis pertinax male.

Not sure about the other fly, that is one of the tricky ones where you need some really good fine details just to get to the family level.

What camera settings are you using?

Flash is difficult to get correct but without it you often end up with excessively slow shutter speeds, wide open aperture or high Iso; and sometimes all three of them!

Sometimes, shooting without flash can be just as troublesome for this type of shot, particularly in sunshine where many shiny insects will have over exposed areas no matter what you do.

My default position is to use flash on most macro scenes but with careful adjustment of the camera settings. Typical macro adjustment for me would be around 1/200 between F11 and F16 Iso 200 to 400 (800 maximum) all entered with the manual settings mode option. Then I vary the flash output compensation to suit each individual scene. That takes a bit of experimentation to get correct but with practice it becomes much easier and you can usually guess the best level fairly accurately.

Your cat is another very tricky subject where you have to be so careful to avoid over exposure of the whites. Metering for the white areas, or just messing about with a little negative exposure compensation should get the whites correct but that is likely to make the shadows a bit dark; however, they can usually be adjusted during editing.

[lesno1]

Hi Geoff thanks for your help the settings are f/11 1/200 sec iso-400 im using a ring flash it has 3 power settings 1/4 1/2 and full these were taken on full oh and manual focus

[Shadowman]

Nice exposers.

[Wavelength]

Les, Geoff has given a nice explanation, i hope, Les Further i am not into macro too

Regards

[Geoff F]

Can you vary the flash output compensation on your camera so it applies to your ring flash output. Les?

Going to half or quarter flash settings would be useful when you get really close to a subject but it looks as though these options are fairly coarse settings and you will often need something between them.

I use the basic on camera external flash. Ring flashes have their place when it comes to really close work but I don't use them for two particular reasons. I worry about accidental damage when I bump into bits of branches or my tripod falls over and I like to keep the end of my lens as clear as possible to avoid scaring nervous subjects by having what looks like a large pair of eyes on the end of my lens.

Your shooting settings sound about right for average conditions.

[lesno1]

Thanks Geoff i think ill try the basic camera flash there was plenty of natural light anyway when i took these so probably didnt need the ring flash

[dem]

It is quite tricky to get the angle and the focus point right when shooting moving insects, not to mention getting the light and the background right at the same time. A lot of practice and a lot of shots is the answer.

Are you sure the flash was used for these shots?

f/11 1/200 sec iso-400 is about two stops under the sunny 16 rule, which means that the images might get overexposed in direct sunlight even without a flash. The shadow in the first image with a ladybird seems to be from the sun - no evidence of a fill ring flash (I think the specular reflection is that of the sun). The EXIF says "Flash: Off, Did not fire".

[DanK]

Les,

It helps to have the flash, whatever kind you use, heavily diffused. I use a regular flash held near the front end of the lens, usually with a large diffuser made out of two soda cans:



One of the real battles in insect macro is focusing and depth of field. Even at a nominal f/11, DOF is very thin at this distance. (I generally shoot bugs at f/13, but that isn't a huge difference.) If you search the site, you will see a number of threads in which people talk about how they cope with this. I do three things:

-- I decide what I want to be in sharp focus--typically the eyes. That's worth doing anyway because shots from behind usually aren't as interesting.

-- For many shots, I try to position myself so that the bug is fairly close to parallel to the sensor, which minimizes the DOF you need, so it minimizes how much of the bug is out of focus.

--I set the focus on the lens and then move the camera until I see the key areas in focus. That's one reason I use a monopod--it makes this easier. Even so, I miss a lot of shots. This is particularly so if there is wind or if the bug is skittish. For example, if I recall, I had to take about 40 shots to get one I wanted to keep for this one, because it was a windy day:



I just take a bunch and count on throwing most of them out. Some days I don't come back with a single keeper, but usually I can get a few.

Dan

[lesno1]

Thanks guys for all your info just what i was looking for

[JohnRostron]

Flash highlights or not these are fine macro shots.

Your cat is another tricky subject where you have to be so careful to avoid over exposure of the whites. Metering for the white areas, or just messing about with a little negative exposure compensation should get the whites correct but that is likely to make the shadows a bit dark; however, they can usually be adjusted during editing.

Yes, and the other problem is that by the time you have adjusted the exposure, the cat has stalked off!


John

[lesno1]

Thanks John the cat was just of fun