It is my birthday and what was I doing? C&C

Izzie, happy (belated) Birthday.

I'm been out and about this last few days, so a bit slow to catch up, Your dead fly is a great shot for a first attempt with extension tubes... well done, they are almost as tricky to use as juggling jelly (or is that jello? in the US?) ... :) James

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Originally Posted by Stagecoach

Hi Izzie, to save any confusion regarding the above the reference I made to the 105mm 1:1 macro in comparison to the 50mm + 36mm tube you had used was that for the roughly equivalent magnification the 105 macro would give you an advantage of greater working distance from the subject, not a better IQ.

Although, I suspect a purpose made macro lens would give better image IQ than a 'standard' lens but have never investigated this.

Grahame

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I understand this. Grahame but I only have the 18-105mm zoom and thinking that the 105 mm is near the size of the 100mm macro and it is not a dedicated macro but a zoom lens, by putting one of my tubes in it, I was able to shoot macro with it. Just my coconut thinking in I thought a linear manner...

Now my only problem is removing the noise of which I had already google last night and saved my file...

Thank you for this, Grahame...I have the high ISO because I was inside the house and I do not want to use my camera's built-in flash...the high shutter speed is because the little guy keeps moving...I have some mug shots of him with this legs very blur because of his movement plus the fact that I was shooting under a ceiling fan...I could have lowered it, my images were dark so I upped the ISO. I will try to find another bug tomorrow to photograph. This one that I saved in the tissue was forgotten because I have to do some domestic stuff and he died perhaps suffocated by the weight of my other two remaining tubes I put near the end of the folded tissue...unfortunately.:(

OK, I have to do so far...

1) to shoot outside instead in natural light because hubby can't be called to stop what he was doing just to hold a flashlight to my object...
2) lower ISO
3) Lower shutter speed
4) get back a little to get more sharpness, not the first sharpness that I thought was right with my lens too close
5) use a tripod if possible to avoid shakes for slow moving bugs...
6) Check WB
7) Check metering...

I find that On-One strips some data from my EXIF when I chose to move the file to Photoshop straight off from the program. I need to check this file transfer too. I might go via Photo Ninja soon, see if it retains the entire EXIF...

Thanks again Grahame. I appreciate your help very much...If I find another bug, I will put it in another post..

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Originally Posted by Stagecoach

Hi Izzie, again:)



No problem. So you are going to join the bug club, excellent, but you need to start learning bug language as well then:D



Um, there is no way that you are going to be able to shoot a 2mm bug and produce a worthwhile result with a 50mm and tubes. I'm not sure what your set-up was but if it was the 50mm + 36mm tube at the closest possible working distance (max magnification) from the subject this equates to 27mm recorded across the width of the sensor (which is 24.6mm).

So that equates to the 2mm bug being just 1/13th of the frame width, the result may be acceptable if you want to keep it at small postage stamp size:eek: In addition, because of the noise ISO800/1000 this will kill any sharpness that you may have achieved with perfect hand-holding:)

For the 50mm + 36mm tube, it's best to keep to bugs around 1/2 inch long or greater and you will be able to produce high IQ images once we can get you dropping that high ISO.

Grahame

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Izzie,

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Originally Posted by IzzieK

Thank you for this, Grahame...I have the high ISO because I was inside the house and I do not want to use my camera's built-in flash...the high shutter speed is because the little guy keeps moving...

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All as I expected with the settings, and for info if you have a 50mm + 36mm tube fitted and use the built in flash you will get a dirty great shadow over the lover half of your pic due to being so close:)

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Originally Posted by IzzieK

OK, I have to do so far...

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Yes, but..........

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Originally Posted by IzzieK

3) Lower shutter speed

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Beware if you are hand-holding or the bugs moving, but unlikely it is the way you treat them:D

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Originally Posted by IzzieK

4) get back a little to get more sharpness, not the first sharpness that I thought was right with my lens too close

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Sharpness has nothing to do with the distance from the subject but how you were focussed (where you wanted) and how steady the camera or bug was.

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Originally Posted by IzzieK

7) Check metering...

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Metering is a bit hit and miss at times when working very close from my experience so go by your histogram also.

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Originally Posted by IzzieK

I find that On-One strips some data from my EXIF when I chose to move the file to Photoshop straight off from the program. I need to check this file transfer too. I might go via Photo Ninja soon, see if it retains the entire EXIF...

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I'm seeing the full exif on all your images as I scroll over them and with one click I can check your histogram, beware:D

Grahame

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Originally Posted by george013

Grahame,

I thought lesson 1 was discovering the possibilities of the gear she owns. So the lens is the 18-105. It would be nice to come to that knowledge without determination.

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No George, Lesson 1 is to determine Izzie's capability and patience to shoot and reshoot bugs until she gets good at it enough to join the bug shooting club. Of course gears is just one of the requirement as a 70-300mm is useless in this situation and of course flash and other kind of lights...both natural and man-produced.

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Izziek,
Noise isn't coming from movement. Noise is coming from your high ISO. In one of the last photo's you use ISO 800 and EV-3. Why boosting up your ISO and getting a lot of noise and at the same time bringing back your exposure with a value of -3? In this example you could use ISO 100 and EV 0. I don't know if 100 is on the D300s. Or your settings are wrong. The exif isn't clear about that either. The camera is part of your gear too.

George

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I only copied the EXIF info from On-One this time around because of reasons I have explained to Grahame awhile ago...I was shooting inside the house in my kitchenette in the late afternoon. The shutter speed is the result of the ceiling fan and the movement of the bug. My only light light was the one coming in from the deck door and it was a cloudy day. I do not want to use my flash so I got a little tiny flashlight (not even an LED one) near the kitchen window. I only grab what is near where I can get it. because my gear/accessories shelves is upstairs. The bug was alive and I fear that if I turned my back it might fly away. I do not know what sort of bug it is and I do not want it lurking around the house...IT IS a bug for crying out loud...I have to accept that I will have one or two or even more lurking around here somewhere despite vacuuming twice a week. The two dogs are/might be bringing some of them inside too. I am sure they do but I do not want to think of it. :(

My system is that I mix my ISO, SS, and aperture to get my EV to move to the middle so if my shot is dark, I move either two left or right and see how I go, take another shot until I am satisfied I got it right. I cull in camera which ones I do not like, keep the passable ones. I have a zoom and un-zoom option at the back of my camera to check sharpness or passable ones at least to a point. I also watch my histogram and getting good at it too lately.

I have lower than 100 on all of my Nikon cameras including the D810. My setting is right on where I am and what I am doing, it is my way of shooting that was wrong and this is what I reckon is wrong. That is why I need help.

I once read an article about Exposure Triangle that says that you have to balance the SS, Aperture and ISO together to get a good shot. But always make sure that your EV is right in the middle each time, take a shot with one in the middle, then move either of the three in the triangle left or right to get your image right. In a dark environment, use a high ISO, in a windy environment, use higher SS and if you choose the Aperture to get depth of field right, adjust either ISO or Shutter speed. This article that i read changed the way I was using my camera and the way i shoot. Worse comes to worst, I look at my histogram, too much to the left, I move my ET to the right and vice versa. Or watch my RGB highlights...even if sometimes, a little bit of highlight does not hurt.

Izzie, I do like your beetle (despite the noise). At first glance I thought that it had lost its head, and that explained why it was so slow moving. A close look showed a pair of eyes though, so perhaps it wasn't an Anne Boleyn beetle. There is enough IQ for me to be able to spot the eyes so it can't be all that bad!

John

Izzie, you sure that bug was not dead:o I can count 8 stab marks on its back:eek::D

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Originally Posted by IzzieK

No George, Lesson 1 is to determine Izzie's capability and patience to shoot and reshoot bugs until she gets good at it enough to join the bug shooting club. Of course gears is just one of the requirement as a 70-300mm is useless in this situation and of course flash and other kind of lights...both natural and man-produced.



I only copied the EXIF info from On-One this time around because of reasons I have explained to Grahame awhile ago...I was shooting inside the house in my kitchenette in the late afternoon. The shutter speed is the result of the ceiling fan and the movement of the bug. My only light light was the one coming in from the deck door and it was a cloudy day. I do not want to use my flash so I got a little tiny flashlight (not even an LED one) near the kitchen window. I only grab what is near where I can get it. because my gear/accessories shelves is upstairs. The bug was alive and I fear that if I turned my back it might fly away. I do not know what sort of bug it is and I do not want it lurking around the house...IT IS a bug for crying out loud...I have to accept that I will have one or two or even more lurking around here somewhere despite vacuuming twice a week. The two dogs are/might be bringing some of them inside too. I am sure they do but I do not want to think of it. :(

My system is that I mix my ISO, SS, and aperture to get my EV to move to the middle so if my shot is dark, I move either two left or right and see how I go, take another shot until I am satisfied I got it right. I cull in camera which ones I do not like, keep the passable ones. I have a zoom and un-zoom option at the back of my camera to check sharpness or passable ones at least to a point. I also watch my histogram and getting good at it too lately.

I have lower than 100 on all of my Nikon cameras including the D810. My setting is right on where I am and what I am doing, it is my way of shooting that was wrong and this is what I reckon is wrong. That is why I need help.

I once read an article about Exposure Triangle that says that you have to balance the SS, Aperture and ISO together to get a good shot. But always make sure that your EV is right in the middle each time, take a shot with one in the middle, then move either of the three in the triangle left or right to get your image right. In a dark environment, use a high ISO, in a windy environment, use higher SS and if you choose the Aperture to get depth of field right, adjust either ISO or Shutter speed. This article that i read changed the way I was using my camera and the way i shoot. Worse comes to worst, I look at my histogram, too much to the left, I move my ET to the right and vice versa. Or watch my RGB highlights...even if sometimes, a little bit of highlight does not hurt.

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Izzie,
I don't want to take over Grahams lessons. And I don't know your skill. But when I read your last comment and the exif in the image, I don't think you changed that, then I think you try to shoot manual with the Ev-correction on -3. If it is this way, then you must know that the meter shows you a corrected EV. What you think is 0, is -3. Push that +/- button and set the value to 0.
I'll leave it to Graham now.
George

Hello Izzie!

First - I offer belated Birthday wishes to you! I've read various posts of yours but this "takes the cake"! If your neighbors toss you out, you are always welcome to come live in my area!

The idea that you saw a fly, swatted him and then started shooting (definitely a dead fly now) sparked my imagination! I had a good chuckle and I thank you for providing humor as well as starting a thread full of interesting technical advice.

Cheers ~ Sandy

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Originally Posted by IzzieK

Very early morning, I was looking for insects and bugs in the garden! Didn't find any so I went up front, no camera, just my shorts on top of my pajamas! The neighbours will already be thinking that a lunatic lives across the street from them...:eek:

I saw a fly. I have nothing with me to catch it so I went inside and got me a fly swatter (David will faint!!!), a bottle of honey, my curly ruler and a tissue paper... I looked and looked for my victim and couldn't find any but I found a spider. It ran away from me, silly bugger! So I went to the other side of the garage, no nothing with me either -- I left my "tools of the trade" at the front yard. I saw a fly!! I went back and he left too. So I armed myself with a fly swatter just in case...<g> ... I found him!!!!! I swatted him and picked him up with the tissue and brought him to my tools and my camera...and started shooting...

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Try holding jelly on the wall, does it remind you of how to take care of teenagers? :D Thanks, mate...

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Originally Posted by James G

Izzie, happy (belated) Birthday.

I'm been out and about this last few days, so a bit slow to catch up, Your dead fly is a great shot for a first attempt with extension tubes... well done, they are almost as tricky to use as juggling jelly (or is that jello? in the US?) ... :) James

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I am glad I made you laugh at least...thanks for the comments... I do appreciate it a lot...I love learning something out of comfort zone and this one is...I tried to find some bugs outside but cleaning the house today is first priority because I shoo everyone out of the house so they don't get in my way...I resting now so here I am at CiC, where else? :p

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Originally Posted by skitterbug

Hello Izzie!

First - I offer belated Birthday wishes to you! I've read various posts of yours but this "takes the cake"! If your neighbors toss you out, you are always welcome to come live in my area!

The idea that you saw a fly, swatted him and then started shooting (definitely a dead fly now) sparked my imagination! I had a good chuckle and I thank you for providing humor as well as starting a thread full of interesting technical advice.

Cheers ~ Sandy

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