Mommy, where do bugs come from?

[Ed Vatza]

:o:o Have you no modesty! :o:o

Made this image up in the meadow at Jacobsburg State Park on Sunday morning. So its some beetles from the flower guy.

Canon Rebel XT; Sigma 150mm Macro lens with Sigma 1.4x TC; Canon 430 EX Flash with LumiQuest Softbox; tripod-mounted with Novoflex Focusing Rail

1/100 sec @ f/10; ISO 800; -1 EV; FEC -1; Focal length 210mm (35mm equivalent 336mm)

[Julie Kenward]

Ha! I spotted these two at the botanical garden this weekend and they were going at it here as well!

I'm having trouble figuring out why, at an aperture of f/10, the top bug's back and head is a little blurry. You'd think f/10 would totally do the trick, expecially since the lower half is in perfect focus and its further away from the action! Not sure if a little selective focus might help here or not...it's certainly not enough to make me not like the image.

However...may I ask why you chose a horizontal crop Ed? Theoverall image feels a bit tight up top and wide on the sides. Is it just me?

[Ed Vatza]

OK, Let's see. First of all, I decided to focus on the head of the beetle on bottom in this image (I have others where I focused on the top beetle). Given what they are doing here, the lower part of the top beetle's body is bent downward and therefore closer to the same plane as the bottom beetle's back. Therefore the focus is a little better there. That said, I could try sharpening a bit more and see if that helps.

As far as why horizontal? I wanted to get some of the yellow of the petals into the frame to serve as a counterpoint to the yellow in the beetles' backs and thought a horizontal would catch it better than a vertical. But I see your point.

[Aristotle Georgiou]

I think you did a great job here Ed, like the composition, light and a great capture. I do have one question about the sigma 150mm lens.
Is there away to manual focus without holding the shutter half pressed?

[Ed Vatza]

Thanks Aristotle. I appreciate the feedback. Gald you like the image.


I do have one question about the sigma 150mm lens. Is there away to manual focus without holding the shutter half pressed?

Yes. There is the AF/MF button on the side of the lens. Slide it to MF and that will shut off the AF and just give you fully manual focus. At least that is how mine works.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Ed, the critters pop real nice. I agree with jules on the soft head, and I like your horizontal comp, but agree it would also work in a vertical with the petals filling up the bottom of the frame.