bzzzzzzzz Full size Shot this yesterday with a 100mm Canon macro. I think it's my best yet. Composition isn't the most exciting but I think I nailed focus pretty good so I'm quite happy with as a step in the right direction
For me the lack of anything on the left hand side draws my eye away from the fly. A tiny bit more depth and I think this shot would be amazing!
in general this is a pretty good shot. i think most of the area on the right side and some of the bottom part of the image are pretty pointless and i would crop them out the warm colors and the soft lighting you were shooting at, made this shot a successful one, too bad no exif is available, but a bit more of DOF would do wonders in this case. a stop or 2 would be sufficient, at least thats what i think
Next time ask your subject to stand still so you can take a proper macro shot. Joking aside, it's an amazing photo - well done!
Thanks for the feedback guys. I think ssR is onto something.. a vertical crop might actually improve it a bit. WRT depth... I could have gone one stop or two up but then I would have to taken the ISO up as well. I think the solution for future macro work is some flash trickery. Maybe Vers could share some pics of his "ghetto" rig? Perhaps I should acquire a small nuclear device for the flash... I'll just have to make sure the shot is taken before the blast hits the subject. Otherwice it'll be lots of shots of charcoal insects
Macro is tough and takes a lot of getting used to--specifically when shooting animate subjects. That being said I think the shot is a good one...it could use some small alterations such as a new crop/orientation (not sure how I feel about the fly facing at a downward angle) and maybe a bit of curves adj. and selective sharpening. As for my ghetto rig I don't have any images on hand but ill get some to you guys as soon as I can. All it is is a slightly modified flat/straight bracket, off shoe cord, small giottos ball head and a 580EXII with a joe demb flip-it as my reflector. I'm thinking about getting a second bracket, flip-it and ball head for one of my other 580's to provide a temporary twin-lite set up, although weight may become a bit of a problem at that point.
nothing beats the natural lighting, once i learned to use it properly i never go back to flash unless i really have no choise since you have 40D you can easily go up to iso 800 and then just mask off the fly and clean the noise on the background
Thanks Matt I think you're right about the adjustments. Right now I'm using Apple Aperture but I think the adjustment options are a bit too quirky. I will have to switch to Adobes solution some day soon so I can get all my PS'ish controls I tried a crop for a desktop wallpaper at work and it made the picture a lot better. Amongst other things I changed the angle to level. @ssR: Well... I completely agree that nothing beats natural lighting but shooting with 100mm+ in less than ideal places out of direct sunlight. And I suspect I'd have a whole lot more natural light to work with if I lived in Israel and not Denmark The above was shot at ISO800 at f/3.8 at 1/100 sec. Anything below 1/100 at 100mm will make everything a blur and going above ISO800 would make it grainy. Going above f/3.8 would have given a bit more depth detail but I fear I would have lost it in blur or I would have had to underexpose. My birthday is coming up in a few days and I have a good hunch that a certain lens is coming this way I'm so excited. Getting a macro this time of the year is just perfect. It's already itching in me to go do a lot of insect and flower macros. Man I can hardly wait
Inspired by your hi-tech I done gone did myself a little ghetto diy In the meanwhile it's been my birthday and I'll be picking up the Sigma 180 tomorrow! I'm so looking forward to it. Then I'll be out testing my ghetto shizzle I also have an off camera flash cord in the mail for me Yes.. a lot of smilies in this post. I'm excited like a little kid.
Unless you've got a specific use for the 180 I think you may want to think twice about it on a 1.6X crop as my 150 is a bit too long for use with my 40D, IMO. As for your reflector, you may want to put some tin foil or a white piece of paper on top of it as it makes for a better diffuser than a reflector. In other words you're going to lose a lot of light. If anything look into a DIY macro snoot if you'll be keeping the flash mounted on camera.
thank you thehippoz I like that detail too. I only wish I had gotten more detail of the eyes @Vers - Sorry I mistyped in glee. It is the 150 (on your recommendation ) and I just picked it up this morning. I haven't done anything besides a few test shots in the house but I'm itching to go catch some bugs with it this weekend The diy reflector is definitely letting a lot of light slip... I'll probably ditch it, but hey it was free so no loss there ;-)
I just made one reflector out of two sheets of overhead plastic and some alu foil and a second one of the semi-transparent material in the photos above and alu (tin) foil and a thick piece og black cardboard to give it some sturdyness. Now if only I can figure out how to make a hinge then they'll be perfect
Great photo and great lens. Have one myself and found it to be great value for quality. Have you got many other macro shots?
