Fungi & moss

gus

.

gus

.

gus

I sat here for ages with a drinking straw i made into a reed valve to make her think there was an insect in distress but she knew the trick. Always a worry when you get a flighty one & they run up the straw before you have time to move....imagine a bite on your lip. She is just a black house spider but can still sort the men from the boys with a good bite.

gus

Moss flowers......

gus

Nothing other than i liked the colour on the tree.

gus

So guys in the moss shot...where the focus is right in the middle. Would have i been able to get the lot in focus by using a higher appature # ?

wxwax

I like the bottom of the mushroom. Nice visual of someting we don't usually look at - a new way of seeing something. And the lighting's good, the shape interesting.

Someone may correct me, but I don't think you can have much depth of field if you're in macro mode. (I assume you were.) So changing the f-stop would not give a great deal of depth of field, unless you were outside of macro mode.

wxwax

Humungus wrote:

Always a worry when you get a flighty one & they run up the straw before you have time to move....imagine a bite on your lip. She is just a black house spider but can still sort the men from the boys with a good bite.

How often do you blow with a straw on a spider's web, oh Lord of the Wasteland?

gus

wxwax wrote:

I like the bottom of the mushroom. Nice visual of someting we don't usually look at - a new way of seeing something. And the lighting's good, the shape interesting.

Someone may correct me, but I don't think you can have much depth of field if you're in macro mode. (I assume you were.) So changing the f-stop would not give a great deal of depth of field, unless you were outside of macro mode.

Hmmm...didnt think of that macro /F.stop bit.

Im a hack newbi photographer so i tend to try & look at crap most people dont to get an edge on my pics. Anyone can take a pic of a landscape but it takes a madman to craw through a garden for a few hours when he's at a holiday house on the beach in 100+ heat.

Bit of alcohol will draw a spider out without hurting them also (i NEVER kill spiders, bad ju ju) It fumigates them for a bit.

wxwax

Here's the only macro I've saved, madman. It wasn't hot, it was a cold morning in the 20's F. (minus 0 C.)

gus

Mate i just love macro....lets us look at stuff we so often walk past. Just sit on your back steps & start looking around yourself, there is soooo much to photograph.

gus

Nuthery of the toadstool.

cmr164

A good topic and some fabulous shots from all.

The moss shot below might be a little too 'busy'. Any suggestions?

DigitalAirman

cmr164 wrote:

A good topic and some fabulous shots from all.

The moss shot below might be a little too 'busy'. Any suggestions?

Im a beginner as well, but, maybe you could have zoomed in and concentrated on one or two clumps of moss. Like, the bigger one in the center, but position it in a corner of the picture. Or position it just off center. Just my $0.02.

Parker

DigitalAirman

Kind of like this, what do you think of this?




Ok, so I guess that was my $0.04 worth, but what the heck.

Parker

april

It's very pretty, I like the moss on the trees.

April

cmr164

I think I needed to use a wider lens and get a bigger view and/or really get in close to one clump. Oh well... gives me an excuse to go back.

knary

cmr164 wrote:

I think I needed to use a wider lens and get a bigger view and/or really get in close to one clump. Oh well... gives me an excuse to go back.

The difficulty with something like spanish moss is that it has no tangible structure with little variety in tone or color.

lynnma

macro envy
so... now I have macro envy. I was going to wait (why?) and be strong but now I desperately need a macro lens looking at you guys. If one was going to recommend a macro lens for my Dig Rebel, which would it be pray tell. And about the spider thing... does the alchohol thing work on other bugs? (me being terrified of spiders)... can one just "breath" on them after a couple of hefty gins? I can't wait to try it.
Lynn

patch29

lynnma wrote:

so... now I have macro envy. I was going to wait (why?) and be strong but now I desperately need a macro lens looking at you guys. If one was going to recommend a macro lens for my Dig Rebel, which would it be pray tell. Lynn

There are three ways to get macro capabilities out of your camera. You will have to ask yourself what you want to spend and what quality are you looking to get, typically the more money you spend the higher quality image (lens) you will get. If you have a local camera store it may be worth going down there and seeing if they will let you test out the different methods with your camera and see which works best for you and your wallet.

• Close Up Lenses
• Extension Tubes
• Lens with true macro capabilities

The close up lenses are the least expensive option. They simply screw onto the front of your lens. Probably $50-$150. They will come in different magnification ratings. The quality will be ok.

Extension tubes fit between the lens and the camera body. They will probably be $80-$220. The longer the tube the more magnification you will get. The quality should be good depending on the lens you use it with.

A true macro lens will be designed to focus closely and retain a flat field of view and be sharpest edge to edge when used as a macro lens. Some lenses will be able to cross over and be used as a regular lens, some only as a dedicated macro lens. Most will run between $200-$1300. If you want one of the best Canon offers, this is it (around $820.00 manual focus only)

Canon Telephoto MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Manual Focus Lens for EOS

A unique lens exclusively for use in the macro realm, the MP-E 65mm can fill a 35mm frame with an object as miniscule as a grain of rice! Floating internal lens elements keep the resolution sharp throughout the range of focus. The lens also has an element of ultra-low dispersion glass. For macro shooters with a desire to document the diminuitive, the MP-E is a quantum in ease-of-use compared to previous solutions involving bellows.

Here is one that can be used as both and is AF ($1240.00)

Canon Telephoto EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM Autofocus Lens

The EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM is a telephoto lens that shoots high quality, photos throughout the focusing distance range from 1x to infinity. Three UD-glass elements are present in order to correct any residual chromatic aberrations. Operability is further enhanced through a wide manual focus ring. Another advantage of this lens is its internal focusing feature which does not cause the lens length to change or the front element to rotate.

Good luck. I would like to have the 65mm lens myself after seeing all of these great shots.

gus

lynnma wrote:

so... now I have macro envy. I was going to wait (why?) and be strong but now I desperately need a macro lens looking at you guys. If one was going to recommend a macro lens for my Dig Rebel, which would it be pray tell. And about the spider thing... does the alchohol thing work on other bugs? (me being terrified of spiders)... can one just "breath" on them after a couple of hefty gins? I can't wait to try it.
Lynn

Sorry lynnma, i have no idea which lens for your camera. Mine has a macro & a super macro (3/4 ") so i just turn the dial. I had a search & the rebel looked like a bloody nice camera though....

The spider thing....problem with breathing on them after you have had a few is that you may fall into the web ;-).

I really shouldnt be giving away my secretes here but get a long straw & lower it into a bottle of metholated spirits....put your finger over the end & remove the straw thus creating a vacuum & then put a few drops into a web.

Now for venomous snake action shots, simply .......narrr that trick is mine.

lynnma

patch29 wrote:

There are three ways to get macro capabilities out of your camera. You will have to ask yourself what you want to spend and what quality are you looking to get, typically the more money you spend the higher quality image (lens) you will get. If you have a local camera store it may be worth going down there and seeing if they will let you test out the different methods with your camera and see which works best for you and your wallet.




Thanks so much... looks like I'm gonna be waiting a while after all for those shots. I still have so much to learn with my 18 - 55mm let alone crawl around chasing bugs as well. Thanks again.
Lynn

wxwax

Humungus wrote:

Now for venomous snake action shots, simply .......narrr that trick is mine.

Lynn, I'll tell you what, the jump from Point-and-Shoot to dSLR sure is an expensive one, isn't it?