Was doing ultra close ups at a local garden when this little guy came by to pay me a visit. About 1/4 inch on the body. Mark 3 with a 20mm tube at ISO 800 and f32 for 1/80 sec. and the MT 24 twin lights at Minus 1 all hand held. You can see how quickly DOF falls off at this range. Later i swithed to the 36mm tube.........won't be doing that again hand held......unless i pump the ISO higher!
As always comments welcomed and appreciated.
Nice comp Roman. The bug looks perfect to me. Sharp and I love the iridescence in the wings. You mention the fall off of the dof but the flower looks good here as well. Must be that f/32.
I've been getting some similar bug images but nothing as crisp as this. Good job.
Great color with a nice bonus! And the fly even posed at a great angle for you. But I admire your patience for hand held. I only do it when "prospecting", or practicing comps when I only have a few minutes in the yard or there's bad lighting. Tripodding is my way to go.
Your little visitor certainly added some imapact to this floral capture Roman!! Really brings the image to life.
Love those wing colours and the yellow stamens against the vivid red petals. A very good result for your handheld setup!!
I like it all, too. That insect is so crisp and the colors are spectacular. I do see a bit of OOF on the backside of the flower but only because you mentioned it first. :D All in all, a beautifully made image!
Well I like the image a lot, the colors the comp and the little hover fly all great.
BUT.
One huge issue none of the previous posts even mentions. Every previous critique gets D- score.
In the world of Macro flash photography you have one simple major problem. Look the the details in the flower and the fly's head. You have image smear or ghosting. You really have a multiple exposure here. This is usually caused by the shutter speed being less that 4 stops (not my rule) from ambient. I try to keep SS close to 1/200. Nice image and good example for teaching and learning.
Robert
Last edited by Robert O'Toole; 07-03-2008 at 12:26 AM.
Upon closer inspection Robert is correct. But I would have gotten a D- also as I simply do not have a great eye for detail. I do like the image as above. Perhaps D- is a bit harsh. I'd go with a C. :) No, make that C+ for effort. That's for the previous critiques not for the image.)
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Hi All,
I just checked the original...........Good move on the C+ Artie..............I don't think it's ghosting.............just not critically sharp....probably from the hand hold! Definite softness all around. There goes the delete button!
Roman,
I'm not sure, but do the flower petals look sharp?
They do to me. If they are, that would indicate a miss. Due to hand holding, just a slight move forward would would put the petals in focus and the for ground elements out.
If the petals are soft also, good old fashion motion softness.
Bummer, it is a cool image.
James
Not to be a pain in the rear, the flash exposure will always be sharp so any blur due to slow shutter speed/equipment shake would indeed be termed ghosting. A+ to Robert for that :D.
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BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
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