Diane Miller
06-28-2014, 06:48 PM
I was trying to catch up here and left a few comments earlier today. What I really wanted to do was go to every post and say how incredible it is -- I'm completely blown away, and embarrassed to post anything, but I'm going to toss this out anyway. Out here in the dry western US, a paper-thin layer of the bark of the Manzanitas (at least what we see as the common native variety -- there are several species) and Madrones peels away to reveal a lovely greenish underlayer. The designs are very interesting, but it's a challenge to crop to a design with simple edges.
Canon 5D3, ISO 800, 1/200 at f/16, Sigma 180 macro, on-camera Speedlite with Lumiquest Big Bounce, which gives about an 8 inch square diffusion screen that is centered maybe 8 inches above the lens, so you get some softening of the shadows. It was very shady and shooting with ambient light was too flat for my tastes. And with the working distance of the 180, the Canon Ringlite is too flat, even with the ratio set for as much difference as you can get. I think it would work better with a 100mm macro if you want any definition. I'll try this again tomorrow and hold a larger diffusion screen about a foot in front of the Lumiquest. THAT will give soft shadows.
I would like to shoot focus stacks but the ground is soft with years of leaf mold. Might try weighting the tripod but I have my doubts.
Canon 5D3, ISO 800, 1/200 at f/16, Sigma 180 macro, on-camera Speedlite with Lumiquest Big Bounce, which gives about an 8 inch square diffusion screen that is centered maybe 8 inches above the lens, so you get some softening of the shadows. It was very shady and shooting with ambient light was too flat for my tastes. And with the working distance of the 180, the Canon Ringlite is too flat, even with the ratio set for as much difference as you can get. I think it would work better with a 100mm macro if you want any definition. I'll try this again tomorrow and hold a larger diffusion screen about a foot in front of the Lumiquest. THAT will give soft shadows.
I would like to shoot focus stacks but the ground is soft with years of leaf mold. Might try weighting the tripod but I have my doubts.