Bugs

GREAPER · September 5, 2004

I decided to get out the extension tubes today and go for a walk.

I was looking for little things and here is what i found.

GREAPER · September 9, 2004

I was really hoping for some comments on these, it was my first attempt at shooting small insects.

SeeMoon · September 9, 2004

Hi Brian! Great stuff! I really like #1. Because of the matching colors (girl's oppinion

) and the shallow DOF. It makes the bug stand out from the surrounding. #3 is great too, also like the flowers he's on.
It must be difficult to focus, these things move fast!
I would'nt say this was your first attempt..they look really cool!

Inspiring also; i'm going to check out some spiders in our garden..

cmr164 · September 9, 2004

GREAPER wrote:

I was really hoping for some comments on these, it was my first attempt at shooting small insects.

Blame it on the flakey read/unread flags. I did not even see these until now.

Very impressive, with great depth for the amount of magnification. Extension tubes were my first accessory purchase. If you can tell us the focal lengths of the lens(es) and the size extension tubes you were using.

lynnma · September 9, 2004

GREAPER wrote:

I decided to get out the extension tubes today and go for a walk.

I was looking for little things and here is what i found.

Hi Greap.. I did'nt see these either! I love the colors.. specially the first one, I wish his little body was all there tho, it's cropped a bit on the edge..makes me want to get out and look for bugs now..:D

SeeMoon · September 9, 2004

Looking at them again, not sure what it was at first..there's one thing that makes them a bit unnatural and that's the flash reflected on them..is there something like an adjustment layer where you can tone that down with a little?

GREAPER · September 10, 2004

I'm not sure what combo of tubes I had on at the time, I used a couple of variations so which variation is which I dont know. I have the set of three Kenko auto extension tubes and I used the pop up flash on my D100. I think the only way to eliminate the flash would be either to use a much higher ISO and shoot natural light, or buy a flash ring designed for this sort of thing. I think they give better results because the light is nearly omni-directional. I dont do enough of this sort of thing to warrant the expense as of yet, maybe someday.

I shot them with a sigma 28 to 80 zoom on the extension tubes. The zoom has a macro mode and it gives nice results but useing the tubes with it in normal mode gives more magnification. Using the tubes with it in macro mode does not seem possible. I think it reduces the depth of feild to a negative number

FreeUps · September 10, 2004

Possibly a small sheet of diffusion paper taped over the flash would do the trick Reaper?? It'd probably give you just the right amount of light while shooting that close. If its still too much then you could double it over. I've never tried it on insects, but it's worked nicely in the past for me. It's worth a go.

jwear · September 10, 2004

osprey lynnma

lynnma wrote:

Hi Greap.. I did'nt see these either! I love the colors.. specially the first one, I wish his little body was all there tho, it's cropped a bit on the edge..makes me want to get out and look for bugs now..:D

jwear wrote:

Thats a great shot of the osprey i have tried on several trips to get one in the wild but no last time was at a fishery and i saw him or her over head but with my camera at the time missed the p/u at water level.Thanks again for the help on last challenge and i did keep my word and
released the bee but that bee is not too smart J

ginger_55 · September 10, 2004

GREAPER wrote:

I was really hoping for some comments on these, it was my first attempt at shooting small insects.

Uh, Greaper................ re your insects. They have an exoskeleton. (sp?)
I canot stand anything whose insides are held together by a hard casing.

The grasshoppers in biology, I could not touch them without screaming. The better your bugs are the less I am going to be comfortable looking at them. I did the biology lab grasshoppers with tweezers.

The first, actually the last shot I saw of your bug, it looked nice and clear and colorful, smile...................aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh

ginger

snapapple · September 10, 2004

Bugs eeeek!
Hi Brian,
I just spotted this thread. With all the talk of night shooting and RAW etc. I must have missed it. I like number 3. He's the most colorful and his whole body is in the picture. Great creepy bugs you have there. Um, what's an extension tube?
Snappy

GREAPER · September 12, 2004

Extension tubes are an accessory to increase the magnification (close up) of your normal lenses. They have no glass in them they just move your lense's glass farther from the "film Plane"Here is a link that explains them:

http://www.toledo-bend.com/gallery/index.asp?request=ExtTube

jwear · September 12, 2004

GREAPER wrote:

Extension tubes are an accessory to increase the magnification (close up) of your normal lenses. They have no glass in them they just move your lense's glass farther from the "film Plane"Here is a link that explains them:

http://www.toledo-bend.com/gallery/index.asp?request=ExtTube

jwear wrote:

thanks in looking up the tubes from your info also found much more thanks again there is an article in the same mag. as you ref. in archives under flowers gives a good explain on the types thanks again Jeff

MainFragger · September 15, 2004

More Bugs!
Just to add to the collection of bugs..

MainFragger

MainFragger · September 15, 2004

More Bugs
Just to add to the collection of bugs

MainFragger

MainFragger · September 15, 2004

More Bugs!
Just to add to the collection of bugs

MainFragger

MainFragger · September 15, 2004

More Bugs!
Just to add to the collection of bugs

MainFragger

Andy · September 15, 2004

whoa, greaper!
holy moly these are good!

i'm very very impressed with those of you who do macro stuff. i've not yet gotten into that and i want to.

one of these days!

congrats, man, on a fine fine set of pitchas!

thanks so much for sharing.

andy

RocketMan · September 16, 2004

Here's a few recent bug pics from a walk I took this month thru an area called the "Pods" that is part of the wetland preserve behind my housing developement.
I was actually taking a pic of the flower when this little guy decided to get in on the act!

Not sure what kind of bug this is, looks like a "modified" dragonfly

RM
http://roadrunes.com

GREAPER · September 16, 2004

Thanks Andy,

Great shots fragger n rocket. Love the ants, I haven't got an ant yet.

Sometimes the close up shots are a fun thing to do when you are having trouble finding interesting things to shoot. It makes you take a little more time and look a little closer at things.

pathfinder · September 17, 2004

ginger_55 wrote:

Uh, Greaper................ re your insects. They have an exoskeleton. (sp?)
I canot stand anything whose insides are held together by a hard casing.

ginger

Are you saying you do not like shrimp or lobster Ginger??????:D

pathfinder · September 17, 2004

GREAPER wrote:

Thanks Andy,

Great shots fragger n rocket. Love the ants, I haven't got an ant yet.

Sometimes the close up shots are a fun thing to do when you are having trouble finding interesting things to shoot. It makes you take a little more time and look a little closer at things.

Your shots of smaller insects were very good, Greaper. Nice color balance, slightly cool perhaps, but crisp and detailed.

Macro is a nice way to shoot on days when it is overcast or midday when the light is not good for scenics. I play at shooting butterflies, but I have a book on composition where they recommmend shooting in a junkyard for macro shots. I'll have to give that a try. This is my only macro of a non-organic subject....

GREAPER · September 17, 2004

Fantastic texture on that hook.

You have to look small when you are out shooting macro. There are interesting shots everywhere, It is hard to train yourself to see them.

I am still working on it.

GREAPER · September 17, 2004

More Bugs

tmlphoto · September 18, 2004

Nice bug shots Greaper. The flash is a little harsh, but you were able to get great depth of field & sharpness. Are you familiar with a Sto-fen Omnibounce flash diffuser? www.stofen.com It works pretty well and is inexpensive.

Here is a dragon fly using natural light. Its tough to get the DOF you need without a flash though.

I was trying out my new 100-400 with a 2x convertor ( 900mm equiv).
Interesting way to shoot "macro".

GREAPER · September 18, 2004

You did pretty well with it, the background is nicely blurred and the "bug" is in nice focus, only the far wing seems really out of focus but not so much it "dissappears", nice shot.

tmlphoto · September 19, 2004

GREAPER wrote:

You did pretty well with it, the background is nicely blurred and the "bug" is in nice focus, only the far wing seems really out of focus but not so much it "dissappears", nice shot.

Thanks. Here is another that I wish I had a little more DOF, but I really like the way the purple background looks ( it was a bunch of purple flowers)

GREAPER · September 19, 2004

That one is extremely nice. I really like the purple background.

MainFragger · September 28, 2004

Thirsty Bee
This is a thirsty bee I caught drinking from some flowers. To date, this is the best face first bee shot I have gotten.

MainFragger

Thwack · September 29, 2004

I caught a couple wasps on a partially eaten apple this weekend (not my apple). Does the background need to be blurred out more? Should I crop out more of the apple to bring more focus on the wasps? Or just nuke it and keep trying?

wxwax · September 29, 2004

Thwack, I'd be tempted to play with: cropping, saturation and contrast - there might be a way to recompose the shot to make the center bee the object of attention, maybe even have the background be nothing but the apple. I don't have time to play now, so I'm whistling in the wind a bit.

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