Dragonfly headshot

tmlphoto

System

you bug guys are good-

very neat-

george

Awais Yaqub

very nice looks like it is saying something

Zoom Raider

tmlphoto wrote:

You must be the King of Macros.

Very detailed shot, especially its red eyes area.

Question: How do all of you that do macros get that black-void background?

R Johns

WOW!!! :eek1

tmlphoto

gefillmore wrote:

you bug guys are good-

very neat-

george

Thanks George. Glad you liked it.

tmlphoto

Awais Yaqub wrote:

very nice looks like it is saying something

Thankyou Awais, your comments are always appreciated.

tmlphoto

Zoom Raider wrote:

You must be the King of Macros.

Very detailed shot, especially its red eyes area.

Question: How do all of you that do macros get that black-void background?

Thanks Zoom, the black background is a "side effect" of using such a small aperture that even daylight lit objects are black. Only objects that are illuminated with the flash show up. Try taking a pic at ISO 100 f/11 1/125, your image will be completely black. It is a good technique to simplify the background. Some folks use a second flash to light the background. The other option is to use a tripod with a slow enough shutter speed to get the proper exposure. This will give a more natural background, but any motion will ruin the picture.

Zoom Raider

tmlphoto wrote:

Thanks Zoom, the black background is a "side effect" of using such a small aperture that even daylight lit objects are black. Only objects that are illuminated with the flash show up. Try taking a pic at ISO 100 f/11 1/125, your image will be completely black. It is a good technique to simplify the background. Some folks use a second flash to light the background. The other option is to use a tripod with a slow enough shutter speed to get the proper exposure. This will give a more natural background, but any motion will ruin the picture.

You're welcome!

All that sounds neat. But I don't think I can get an ISO of 100 while it's in A, M, P or S. Just 200, 400, 800 and 1600 in those settings. Other ISO numbers can be just about anything if I set the camera on the other settings, such as Auto.

I have no idea how to get an aperture of F11 unless it's on any setting except for A, M, P and S. While in Auto or the other regular settings, I've seen it at ISO 100 (or even 50... I think) and as high as an F10.

Could I get a picture that large and sharp/vivid with a 50mm F1.4 lens (which is the next lens I'd like to try out)... or did you crop and enhance all of your macros? All I have is an 18-50mm and 70-300mm and one 2x teleconverter and no extension tubes yet. I'm still working on getting a Lighsphere... Clear or Cloud. Just haven't decided yet. I've heard the LS is great for macros, as well as portraits and just about anything else.

tmlphoto

Zoom Raider wrote:

You're welcome!

All that sounds neat. But I don't think I can get an ISO of 100 while it's in A, M, P or S. Just 200, 400, 800 and 1600 in those settings. Other ISO numbers can be just about anything if I set the camera on the other settings, such as Auto.

I have no idea how to get an aperture of F11 unless it's on any setting except for A, M, P and S. While in Auto or the other regular settings, I've seen it at ISO 100 (or even 50... I think) and as high as an F10.

Could I get a picture that large and sharp/vivid with a 50mm F1.4 lens (which is the next lens I'd like to try out)... or did you crop and enhance all of your macros? All I have is an 18-50mm and 70-300mm and one 2x teleconverter and no extension tubes yet. I'm still working on getting a Lighsphere... Clear or Cloud. Just haven't decided yet. I've heard the LS is great for macros, as well as portraits and just about anything else.

You have to be in Manual mode to set both the f/stop and shutter speed as I described.

The 50mm is a sweet lens, but you are not going to really get macro shots unless you mount it to extension tubes, preferably reversed, which is another discussion all together. I am using a 100 2.8 macro lens which also doubles as a very nice portrait lens, especially on a 1.3 or 1.6 cropped sensor. I use Kenko extension tubes in order focus more closely. The shot above is only slightly cropped. Hope this helps.

Raff

tmlphoto wrote:

Cool shot. Did you know that a dragonfly's life span is only 24 hours? I read it on a cheese wrapper. Was this one alive?

Lord Vetinari

Wonderful Dragonfly closeup Thomas- Just love the eyes . Was this with a twin flash setup?
Brian V.

tmlphoto

Raff wrote:

Cool shot. Did you know that a dragonfly's life span is only 24 hours? I read it on a cheese wrapper. Was this one alive?

Yes, it was alive.

tmlphoto

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Wonderful Dragonfly closeup Thomas- Just love the eyes . Was this with a twin flash setup?
Brian V.

Thanks LV. Yes, it was with the twin flash. I moved my main light to the right side and have been adjusting the postions a little bit.

I think that the larger flashes may work better than the dedicated macro flashes, but they sure are heavier.