First attempt at macro

[Jim A]

A large cockroach. These are found in our back section (plot, land, garden, or whatever you call it in your country). Not photographed in its natural environment - that will come later. Must do better at getting the light more evenly distributed.

Nikon D5200 with Sigma 17-70mms lens 2.8 to 4.0 with a Digital High Grade Marumi Achromatic +3 filter. Taken at 52mms; ISO100; 1/30sec; f3.8. Although hand held I did have image stabilisation on, so that should have been ok.

[Stagecoach]

Well done Jim, these have to be a nightmare to light due to their surface.

It's an ambition of mine to get up real close to the face of one of these

[Jim A]

Thanks Grahame, much appreciate the feedback.

[JBW]

really nice for such a nasty beasty.

[IzzieK]

Very good as a first attempt, Jim...even if I do not like the cucaracha and its relatives. Yikes!!

[dem]

Jim, I am not sure there are any benefits of using Marumi filter on your Sigma lens. If I'm not mistaken about the lens, it is a macro lens with the closest focusing distance of 22 cm throughout the zoom range. Adding a +3 filter brings the infinity focus point to about 33 cm, so the filter only improves magnification of lenses that cannot focus closer than 33 cm.

If you are shooting from about a foot away, which I think you did, you will be better off taking the filter off.

For this shot I would also stop down the lens from f/3.8 to about f/8. This would need higher ISO to keep the exposure right, but would give you a wider depth of field so more of the bug is in focus.

[pnodrog]

The formula given in Wikipedia indicates that a lens that can focus down to 22cm will be able to focus down to 13.25cm when using a +3 filter.

Xmin = X/DX+1 = .22/3*.22 + 1 = .22/1.66 = .1325m

From what I can gather the 33cm relates to the new focus point when the lens is set to infinity.

Not my area of expertise so I will not be offended by correction or amendments ....

[Wavelength]

Very well captured; i wonder this one does not have the wings of flight and the protection scales upon it?

[Shadowman]

Nice effort.

[Geoff F]

Patches of over exposed light are something which comes with macro photography of shiny surfaced insects, Jim. If they have bright areas when you look through your viewfinder, that is what will appear in your image. Even avoiding direct sunlight or using controlled lighting can still produced some problems.

I often find that using flash gives me the best results because it brightens the darker areas but doesn't affect the already over bright spots.

The other suggestions have already been made.

[Jim A]

Many thanks for all your comments and suggestions! Here is another taken from the front, before it ran off. The head is not quite sharp enough it seems. I do think it is drinking on a drop of water.

Paul - my limited experience seems to support your calculations.
Dem - this new image is taken at f8, as per your suggestion.
Nandakumar - I am not sure.
John - thanks
Geoff - I took lots with flash but not worked. Probably I am too much of a novice with the speedlight or I should have had it off to the side instead of bouncing off the ceiling.

[Geoff F]

Flash photography is a bit of a specialist subject, Jim, and there aren't any firm 'always do this' rules.

When I got my first modern 'self thinking' flash unit I was attempting to shoot like an old fashioned fixed output flash and was getting nowhere.

Nowadays, I normally set my camera manually to suit the scene, but bearing in mind any restrictions such as maximum usable shutter speed. Then I add or subtract a little bit of flash output compensation as required. After a while, you should be able to guess the amount of compensation required, but a test shot is always a good idea.

Attaching the flash unit 'off centre' is a good idea in theory, such as to the side or facing down on top of your subject. However, a lot of my insect flash photography requires shooting through holes in the foliage so I tend to simply mount my flash straight on top of my camera and worry about any problems when they arise.

Bouncing flash was definitely required with the old flash units but I find, unless you are careful and do some experiments to get the angle and output level exactly correct, it can cause more problems than it solves. Accidental flashing behind the subject resulting in hard shadows facing the camera has happened to me far too often. Ideally I like to use some form of 'studio lighting' for my indoor insect shots. Just a couple of desk lamps with daylight quality bulbs can be useful.

My typical outdoor settings for insects in average weather would be 1/200 F14 Iso 400 (manual mode) and a flash compensation of +/- 1. If you need more than 2 stops of flash compensation you probably need to change the Iso setting.

But as previously mentioned, some insects, and other shiny objects, will always present a problem whatever you do in the way of camera settings.

ps. regarding your latest image. You appear to have a focus point which is behind its head so the front legs are sharp while the head is well out of focus. Do you use auto or manual focusing? Most macro photographers usually shoot in manual focus mode to avoid this very problem.

[Jim A]

Many thanks Geoff - that is an extremely helpful summary, much appreciated. If i could give a double "helpful post" instead of just a single, then I would.

[JBW]

Many thanks Geoff - that is an extremely helpful summary, much appreciated. If i could give a double "helpful post" instead of just a single, then I would.

Just one correction to Geoff's post: We shoot in manual focus mode to try to avoid misplaced focus.