Common Blowfly

[Ray Walker]

450D, 105 macro with extension tubes,LED flash light for light,diffused flash, manual, s/s160, f/13, iso 400.
All tips gratefully excepted..:S3:

[John Robinson]

Hi Ray
Looks like you could have done with a bit more Depth of field. F22 or something might have helped- or even pulling back a bit. These days blow ups are much better than they used to be, I tend to pull back more these days and then crop later- you get so much more DOF. It would have been nice to get the multi facets of the eye in focus. Good try though.
Cheers
John

[Jonathan Ashton]

Excellent focus, just a little further back would have done as John said and also kept the leg in too. exposure looks good, there seems to be a lot of gubbins on the fly.

[David Cowling]

Flies can make very interesting subjects for macro images and this one has almost come off. The lack of DOF has let the image down a bit as the eyes are not really sharp and sharp eyes are a must in insect photography. TFS

[Ray Walker]

Thanks for the excellent critique boys. Much appreciated. Is around f/22 the norm for macro photography? ( depending on light). Also it has been suggested I buy a 1x4 converter. Would that help for close ups?

Cheers Ray.

[Jonathan Ashton]

In general when using a crop camera I would suggest f8- f11 for optimal lens performance, full frame f8-f16, with bigger crop cameras you get more DOF than with full frame so you may be OK f5.6-f8 because that would probably equate to f8-f11 in a full frame. These are guidelines not hard and fast rules.

[Steve Maxson]

Good comments above. At f/22 you will be getting some noticeable softening due to diffraction. I seldom go above f/16. If you need more DOF, backing off a little and cropping more in post is a good way to go. In addition to the comments above, I would suggest that you clean up the image by cloning the bits of debris on the substrate in front of the fly and in the background. Also, it looks like the fly's right front leg is missing the last section (I hate it when that happens! :S3:). Keep trying. The more you work at this the better you get!

[Ray Walker]

Thanks Jonathan and Steve. Great info there. Would a converter help with getting more detail in the close ups?

Cheers Ray.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Ray,
I almost never use a tele-converter for macro - so others may wish to chime in here. My thought is that a converter would give you the equivalent of a longer focal length, but would not affect detail in the image. However, you would be able to get the same size image by shooting farther away from your subject which can be an advantage when photographing a skittish insect.


Thanks Jonathan and Steve. Great info there. Would a converter help with getting more detail in the close ups?

Cheers Ray.

[Jonathan Ashton]

A converter would indeed help, ensure it is matched to your macro lens i,e, Canon Canon Sigma Sigma etc. For a given distance you would have the benefit of magnification 40% or 100%. Usually the image quality is better with 1.4x as opposed to 2x.

[Ray Walker]

Thanks Jonathan. I have a mate with a 1.4 , and we will put it on my rig and see if it works. If so I will purchase one.
Cheers Ray.