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Ian Cassell
05-27-2010, 12:57 PM
Canon 7D
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
1/250 sec @ f/13
ISO 400
Julie Kenward
05-28-2010, 07:17 AM
Ian, your camera settings seem good but you've missed the focal point on this one. See how much sharper the front of the leaf is compared to the eyes of the insect? I find it helpful to select one "spot" metering place on my lens and use autofocus to tell me when I'm right where I need to be...in this case, the face/eyes of the insect. Try that next time and take several images so you're sure to hit the nail on the head!
Roman Kurywczak
05-28-2010, 11:18 AM
Hey Ian,
OOOOh so close on this one....but Jules is correct....just missed the focus. I see the title says it was hovering....so my guess is the insect was flying/moving.....degree of difficulty goes up a ton!!! I generally manually focus in thesse situations on an area where I think the insect will land.....more misses than hits. Try pushing the 7D to ISO 640 too....get the DOF to f16....may also help if even just a bit!
Ian Cassell
05-28-2010, 11:38 AM
Grrrrrr ....

Yeah, I guess you guys are right. I usually manually focus my macros. This one was a real challenge because the little guy seemed to hear the shutter button pushed and would move before the shutter finished a cycle -- he was THAT fast. I also should have used high-speed synch on the flash, but it didn't occur to me at the time.

I keep looking for him to return because I want another chance!

Thanks for the comments and tips!
Ken Childs
05-28-2010, 04:53 PM
I also should have used high-speed synch on the flash, but it didn't occur to me at the time.
Did you use flash on this shot? If you aren't already doing so, you should switch the flash to manual when shooting bugs like this. The pre-flash emitted when using E-TTL alerts some over sensitive bugs that something is going on so they start moving before the shutter is actually opened.
Ian Cassell
05-28-2010, 05:14 PM
:headslap:

Of course! Why didn't I think of that? That must be what happened -- the little guy saw a pre-flash and skidaddled!
Ken Childs
05-29-2010, 03:22 PM
:headslap:

Of course! Why didn't I think of that? That must be what happened -- the little guy saw a pre-flash and skidaddled!
Don't feel bad. I found out about this obvious point the same way you did. I kept having problems with Skipper Butterflies and mentioned it in a Usenet photo group I frequent and that's when someone mentioned the problem with the pre-flash. Duh. :D