Metallic beetle at 3x

Dalantech

These guys are pretty boring at life size, but take the magnification up a notch or two and they don;t look too bad

All Canon gear: Xti (manual mode F16, 1/200, ISO 200) + 62mm of extension tubes + 100mm macro lens + 500D diopter for about 3.1 times life size -like shooting with a bazooka!

MR-14EX ring flash set to a 4:1 ratio and -1/3 FEC. Lots of dust spots to rub out, but otherwise the post processing was minimal.









All the conditions were good -the critter just moved a lot. So my success rate with this series was about 5 to 1.

Skippy

Dalantech wrote:

These guys are pretty boring at life size, but take the magnification up a notch or two and they don;t look too bad
All Canon gear: Xti (manual mode F16, 1/200, ISO 200) + 62mm of extension tubes + 100mm macro lens + 500D diopter for about 3.1 times life size -like shooting with a bazooka!
MR-14EX ring flash set to a 4:1 ratio and -1/3 FEC. Lots of dust spots to rub out, but otherwise the post processing was minimal.
All the conditions were good -the critter just moved a lot. So my success rate with this series was about 5 to 1.

They sure are colourful we used to get Beetles called Christmas Beetles down our way when we were kids, they were similar in colour to this beetle you have shown us today.

One of the biggest problems trying to shoot Macro's besides lighting of course, is dealing with a creature that continues to move, it's amost impossible to keep it in focus as it moves.

Caught some great colour in this lot .... Skippy
.

Dalantech

Skippy wrote:

They sure are colourful we used to get Beetles called Christmas Beetles down our way when we were kids, they were similar in colour to this beetle you have shown us today.

One of the biggest problems trying to shoot Macro's besides lighting of course, is dealing with a creature that continues to move, it's amost impossible to keep it in focus as it moves.

Caught some great colour in this lot .... Skippy
.

Thanks Skippy! The head on that critter is not much more than a millimeter wide, and I only have a few millimeters of sharp focus, so the slightest movement... :cry

Lord Vetinari

Lovely series John
Brian V.

Dalantech

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Lovely series John
Brian V.

Thanks Brian!

I'm going after the ants again this weekend, but this time at F22. I want to see if I can get a shot where the eyes and the tongue are both in focus. Focus stacking won't work for this one, cause they really do lap up the sugar water like a kitten goes after milk and I think the movement would be a problem for Combine Z.