Blue-green Sharpshooter

[Thomas Barbin]

167051
Canon 7D, 65mm MP-E 1-5X f/2.8, Canon 430 EXII.
1/160, f/6.3, ISO 320, manual flash with homemade diffuser.

I found a group of Blue-green sharpshooters on a Himalayan Blackberry bush in Goldstream Provincial Park. I had a really hard time getting a photo of them because they would react to my camera by turning away from me and hopping away. One finally hopped on to a horsetail and sit still long enough for me to get a few photos.

This photo was hand held and basic slider adjustments were made in Lightroom with selective noise reduction in Photoshop.

I appreciate any critique.

Cheers,
Thomas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Thomas and welcome, nearly there! I would suggest a little more depth of field (DOF) and keep an eye on the lighting maybe a little more flash would have helped reduce the stripe.

[Thomas Barbin]

Thank you for your comment Jonathan. I wish the sharpshooter would have stuck around long enough to try focus stacking, I think that will be a goal of mine for this upcoming summer! I think that more flash might actually illuminate the stripe even more?

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thomas by more flash I mean fill in i.e. a little on top of relativity bright is little but that same amount on a darker area would be significant.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Very nice image. These critters look really cool from close up. I ditto the comment on the DOF. The plane of focus is now just in front of the animal, so a large part of the animal is now OOF. Focus stacking could be a solution for stationary subjects, but you also still have a lot of DOF to add by decreasing the aperture, especially since you are using flash. If you are stuck with little DOF, try getting at least the eye in focus.

[Steve Maxson]

A cool looking subject, Thomas - and welcome to the Macro forum! Good sharpness within your DOF, but as noted above, you really need more depth to maximize the potential of this image. Jon and Jerry have offered excellent suggestions on how you can accomplish that. Another method to increase DOF that is appropriate in some situations is simply to back a bit further away from your subject and then crop more in post. I hope to see more of your work here in Macro! :S3:

[Thomas Barbin]

Very nice image. These critters look really cool from close up. I ditto the comment on the DOF. The plane of focus is now just in front of the animal, so a large part of the animal is now OOF. Focus stacking could be a solution for stationary subjects, but you also still have a lot of DOF to add by decreasing the aperture, especially since you are using flash. If you are stuck with little DOF, try getting at least the eye in focus.
Thanks for the advice Jerry. I had thought about having just the eye in focus, but I really liked the colouration of the body so I prioritized that instead hoping that the eye didn't look too out of focus. I typically set my camera to f/8 for macro and leave it there, but I'll try experimenting with smaller apertures. Is there a recommended limit for the 65mm MP-E before diffraction becomes an issue?

Thanks again,
Thomas

[Thomas Barbin]

Thank you Steve! I'm going to try out some smaller apertures, as I mentioned below I typically just set it to f/8 and leave it there. I've tried shooting at lower magnifications and cropping in, but the image quality seems to be better when I shoot at higher magnifications for small subjects despite the tiny depth of field. I haven't done any back to back comparisons though so i could be mistaken!

Thanks,
Thomas

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks for the advice Jerry. I had thought about having just the eye in focus, but I really liked the colouration of the body so I prioritized that instead hoping that the eye didn't look too out of focus. I typically set my camera to f/8 for macro and leave it there, but I'll try experimenting with smaller apertures. Is there a recommended limit for the 65mm MP-E before diffraction becomes an issue?

Thanks again,
Thomas

Hi Thomas, the colors and textures on these leafhoppers are amazing, aren't they? One generally does not see them this close up. Looking at your image, I think the central point of focus is nog on the perch. The part of the perch sticking out to us and the feet of the hopper are sharpest. So I think you were just a little off with the focal point. I believe this is the toughest part about photographing with the lens you have at very large magnification. I'm not sure about diffraction with this lens, but with most lenses you will be safe up to at least f/16. It helps to shoot a test series. Just take any stationary subject with tiny details and some contrasty areas, place your camera on a tripod and make a series of photo's where you only change the aperture. I believe your lens has manual focus, so you don't have to switch of the autofocus. It is essential that the initial focus is spot on and doesn't change. Set your focus with liveview, where you can magnify to see what you are doing. With this series you will be able to scrutinize on your computer which aperture gives you the sharpest images. It is also a good way to get to know the DOF of each aperture with your lens, which helps you when you are shooting in more messy conditions.

[Amanda Robinson]

Wow, I think that's the most sharpness in relation to the length of the <acronym title="Depth of Field" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial, 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">DOF</acronym> I've ever seen you post! Amazing work!