Moths

canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
edited July 14, 2012 in Holy Macro
Today I decided to go to a local nature reserve at Eskrigg, Lockerbie and I took these moth images. There are no less than 194 species of moth recorded at this reserve.
Cheers
Bob
1
Barred-Red-Moth-2-L.jpg
2
Clouded-Border-Moth-L.jpg
3
Mottled-Beauty-Moth-2-L.jpg
4
Poplar-Hawk-Moth1-L.jpg
5
Poplar-Hawk-Moth-2-L.jpg
6
Poplar-Hawk-Moth-3-L.jpg
7
The-Drinker-Moth-1-L.jpg

Comments

  • unique93unique93 Registered Users Posts: 69 Big grins
    edited July 12, 2012
    You have fantastic camera and lens, but your photos are very bad...sorry :(
  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited July 12, 2012
    unique93 wrote: »
    You have fantastic camera and lens, but your photos are very bad...sorry :(
    Yeah I haven't done any macro for a long while. No probs.
    Cheers
    Bob
  • rob marshallrob marshall Registered Users Posts: 224 Major grins
    edited July 12, 2012
    Bob

    This is a good effort, but the main problem with some of them (#3 - #6) is the lack of difference between the subject and the background. That makes it very hard to visually pick out the subject. Most butterfly and moth shots seem to me to work best where they are on a plant and the background bokeh hides the background detail. Try a different background?
  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited July 12, 2012
    rob marshall wrote: »
    Bob

    This is a good effort, but the main problem with some of them (#3 - #6) is the lack of difference between the subject and the background. That makes it very hard to visually pick out the subject. Most butterfly and moth shots seem to me to work best where they are on a plant and the background bokeh hides the background detail. Try a different background?

    Thanks Rob for looking and replying. I knew the tree didn't make a good background for them the shots were mainly for identification purposes.
    Cheers
    Bob
  • Lord VetinariLord Vetinari Registered Users Posts: 15,901 Major grins
    edited July 13, 2012
    Agree the focus could be better on some but i have no problem with bugs taken against their natural background.
    Brian v.
    Brian V.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/
    http://www.lordv.smugmug.com/
  • basfltbasflt Registered Users Posts: 1,882 Major grins
    edited July 13, 2012
    if you cannot use a smaller aperture , try to make several shots at different distance
    then you can do some manual stacking

    all of above photo's could have been fixed that way
    Bas

    /ɯoɔ˙ƃnɯƃnɯs˙ʇlɟsɐq//:dʇʇɥ
  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited July 13, 2012
    basflt wrote: »
    if you cannot use a smaller aperture , try to make several shots at different distance
    then you can do some manual stacking

    all of above photo's could have been fixed that way

    Thanks Brian and Basfit for looking and replying. I will attempt to do that in future.
    Cheers
    Bob
  • paddler4paddler4 Registered Users Posts: 976 Major grins
    edited July 14, 2012
    Stacking requires either that you are steady enough that the images are reasonably well aligned, or manually aligning them. There are folks on this forum who do this all the time with hand-held shots--and I do it all the time with tripod shots--but I have had a hard time being steady enough, and I have not often gotten stacking to work with handheld shots.

    If you have the same problem, there are several steps you can take. Close the aperture down, say, to f/13. (Truth is that you will probably find that you can go somewhat smaller than this without visible problems, even though you will generate some diffraction. The greater DOF may more than offset the softness from diffraction in terms of the overall impression of sharpness.) Second, try to keep the subject as close to parallel to the sensor as you can, to minimize the needed DOF. Third, worry about focusing on things people will most notice, in particular, eyes.

    For example, I took this one with a 50D, a 100mm macro lens, and a 36mm extension tube. It is a single shot at f/13, with no stacking. I shot it with a monopod for support. I'm posting it just to show that there is a lot you can do with handheld shots without stacking.

    MG7252-L.jpg
    http://dkoretz.smugmug.com/
  • basfltbasflt Registered Users Posts: 1,882 Major grins
    edited July 14, 2012
    paddler4 wrote: »
    Stacking requires either that you are steady enough that the images are reasonably well aligned, or manually aligning them. There are folks on this forum who do this all the time with hand-held shots--and I do it all the time with tripod shots--but I have had a hard time being steady enough, and I have not often gotten stacking to work with handheld shots.

    that goes for software-stacking ( Zerene , and similar )
    manual stacking can always be done , weather images are aligned or not

    i do it all the time
    simply because i cannot get all my shots aligned either
    Bas

    /ɯoɔ˙ƃnɯƃnɯs˙ʇlɟsɐq//:dʇʇɥ
  • OverfocusedOverfocused Registered Users Posts: 1,068 Major grins
    edited July 14, 2012
    Yeah the main issue is plane focus... you gotta think about the plane of detail that is going to be recorded and also what your main focal point is.
    www.overfocused.com
  • basfltbasflt Registered Users Posts: 1,882 Major grins
    edited July 14, 2012
    here is one of the methods i often use
    http://www.flickr.com/groups/macroviewers/discuss/72157624267681728/
    Bas

    /ɯoɔ˙ƃnɯƃnɯs˙ʇlɟsɐq//:dʇʇɥ
  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited July 14, 2012
    paddler4 wrote: »
    Stacking requires either that you are steady enough that the images are reasonably well aligned, or manually aligning them. There are folks on this forum who do this all the time with hand-held shots--and I do it all the time with tripod shots--but I have had a hard time being steady enough, and I have not often gotten stacking to work with handheld shots.

    If you have the same problem, there are several steps you can take. Close the aperture down, say, to f/13. (Truth is that you will probably find that you can go somewhat smaller than this without visible problems, even though you will generate some diffraction. The greater DOF may more than offset the softness from diffraction in terms of the overall impression of sharpness.) Second, try to keep the subject as close to parallel to the sensor as you can, to minimize the needed DOF. Third, worry about focusing on things people will most notice, in particular, eyes.

    For example, I took this one with a 50D, a 100mm macro lens, and a 36mm extension tube. It is a single shot at f/13, with no stacking. I shot it with a monopod for support. I'm posting it just to show that there is a lot you can do with handheld shots without stacking.

    MG7252-L.jpg

    Thanks ever so much Paddler for taking the time in replying in so much detail which I truly appreciate.
    That is a first class image for a single shot. I would have had to use my MPE-65 to achieve a shot like that. Having said that I find it very difficult using that lens and mainly stick with the 100L.
    In actual fact I did take several shots with a view to stacking with Zerene Stacker. I was hand held and tried to start at the head and work my way to the tail. I think I must have had my settings wrong as I had my F stop at F6.3 and F.8, because when I put them through Zerene Stacker they were not good at all so I chose to send a single shot of each.
    I will use my monopod the next time. yesterday I took a shot of a Large Yellow Underwing moth two frames through Zerene Stacker. I didn't dare send it in view of the initial remarks but in view of your post I decided to give it a go.
    Yellow Underwing Moth
    Large-Yellow-Underwing-2-L.jpg
  • basfltbasflt Registered Users Posts: 1,882 Major grins
    edited July 14, 2012
    canon400d wrote: »
    http://canon400d.smugmug.com/Other/Moths/i-bB56qJz/0/L/Large-Yellow-Underwing-2-L.jpg

    i got the feeling you could easily use a smaller aperture here
    try to experiment with different settings , untill you find a setting that works
    then use that as base setting
    Bas

    /ɯoɔ˙ƃnɯƃnɯs˙ʇlɟsɐq//:dʇʇɥ
  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited July 14, 2012
    basflt wrote: »
    i got the feeling you could easily use a smaller aperture here
    try to experiment with different settings , untill you find a setting that works
    then use that as base setting

    Thanks for that Bas I will try that when it stops raining!!!!!
    Cheers
    Bob
  • IPClarkIPClark Registered Users Posts: 2,355 Major grins
    edited July 14, 2012
    Bob, I shoot with a 7D and a 100L. I tend to shoot at F11 all the time unless I decide to change for various reasons.
    I'll shoot at shutter 1/200th and ISO 200 with my Speedlite 430 EXII Flashgun.

    As for raining, don't wait for the rain to give up. Find something in the house to practice with :).

    A screw is always a good subject. Focus at 1:1 and Shoot it at F2.8, F8, F11 and F22 to see the differences. Then try some cutlery or something and you could even get creative with a bowl of water and some oil in it with a CD underneath. Shine a lamp from one side so you get the spectrum and photograph from directly above. No Flash, you can get away with a wider aperture for stuff like this
    Ian Clark
    My Smugmug gallery

  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited July 19, 2012
    IPClark wrote: »
    Bob, I shoot with a 7D and a 100L. I tend to shoot at F11 all the time unless I decide to change for various reasons.
    I'll shoot at shutter 1/200th and ISO 200 with my Speedlite 430 EXII Flashgun.

    As for raining, don't wait for the rain to give up. Find something in the house to practice with :).

    A screw is always a good subject. Focus at 1:1 and Shoot it at F2.8, F8, F11 and F22 to see the differences. Then try some cutlery or something and you could even get creative with a bowl of water and some oil in it with a CD underneath. Shine a lamp from one side so you get the spectrum and photograph from directly above. No Flash, you can get away with a wider aperture for stuff like this

    Great stuff Ian and thanks for that I really appreciate it and I will have a go right away and be guided with what you have told me.
    Cheers
    Bob
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