Pollen

[geordie01]

Decided to have a go at serious go at macro/close up so c&c's welcomed


Pentax k-r DFA 100mm Sigma macro flash

[Donald]

George - Not having ever shot a macro image, I'm not best qualified to comment on the technical aspects of this. However, in compositional terms, I wondered if the colours and tones across the image were 'different enough'. The background is fine. It's the ???? (thing) and the flower I was wondering about.

Now, it's obvious which is animal and which is plant, but when you first glance at it, it's maybe not instantly apparent. Maybe that doesn't matter. Just a point to ponder.

I'm always amazed at the narrow depths-of-field you macro guys work with. I notice this was f14 and yet it looks as if you're working with a DoF of millimetres. Me - I need hyperfocal distances measured in hundreds of yards ..... and even then I get it wrong!

[DanK]

I like it. It looks like you might have missed focus slightly--it looks like the focal point is just in front of the bug. I do some bugs, so I know just how hard this is to nail. f/14 with flash is about as small an aperture as one would want, and it leaves only razor thin DOF. My approach is to worry about the nearest eye and let the rest fall where it may. If you have good batteries i nthe flash, you might be able to fire off a few before the critter gets annoyed and leaves. It also helps (but is not always practical) to get the bug close to parallel to the sensor.

[Geoff F]

Yes, as Dan mentioned, focus is a little bit ahead of the best option. The front leg is sharp but that sharpness is lost by the time we get to the antennae.

Whilst Dan's advice about getting absolutely square with the beast for maximum area in focus is the ideal angle for identification purposes etc, you can sometimes get more artistic results by shooting from the sort of angle which you used here.

In which case, get the eyes etc sharp and don't worry about the tail being blurred.

[geordie01]

Thanks for the comments guys taken on board this was hand held at 1.1 rocking back and forward to try to get focus so probably working with a dof of about 5-7mm and it was windy
This is so much fun

[Dave Humphries]

Ah, so I'm not the only one to use "sway-focus" technique then

I'd be pleased if I'd shot this George, although it is a tad over exposed (blown red channel).

Good effort,

[Geoff F]

This is so much fun

Be warned George, like many things which start out as a bit of fun, macro photography can quickly get addictive and end up costing you serious money!

[Bobobird]

Be warned George, like many things which start out as a bit of fun, macro photography can quickly get addictive and end up costing you serious money!

Now that is the quote of the century. Still 88 years to go so something better better not turn up. That statement is of course true for any addiction.

With the way technology is going, soon we will only need to visualise something and a pic is made.