Green Ladybug

Maestro · June 4, 2007

It's that time of the year again to practice my macro photography. The narrow DOF and the nature of macro focusing have always been my bane. My shots came out with only a small area in focus and dark. So today, with my new 580 EX II Speedlite I went to work playing with small apertures (larger DOF) and better light. I still have to hand-hold which stinks because my lens, the Canon 100mm doesn't come with a collar nor do have rails for the tripod which is necessary. With that in mind, I present to you Mrs. Green Ladybug from Maestro's garden. Except for the light reflection I was happy with the greater DOF. Now to invest in some tubes. :rofl Oh and in a few shots of a flower I really increased the F-stop number and man did I have dust bunnies showing up when I had never seen them before. Why is that? Why is dust more visible with high F-stops?

F 14
ISO 200
Manual Exposure and focus
Shutter speed 100

Vince · June 4, 2007

Maestro wrote:

It's that time of the year again to practice my macro photography. The narrow DOF and the nature of macro focusing have always been my bane. My shots came out with only a small area in focus and dark. So today, with my new 580 EX II Speedlite I went to work playing with small apertures (larger DOF) and better light. I still have to hand-hold which stinks because my lens, the Canon 100mm doesn't come with a collar nor do have rails for the tripod which is necessary. With that in mind, I present to you Mrs. Green Ladybug from Maestro's garden. Except for the light reflection I was happy with the greater DOF. Now to invest in some tubes. Oh and in a few shots of a flower I really increased the F-stop number and man did I have dust bunnies showing up when I had never seen them before. Why is that? Why is dust more visible with high F-stops?

F 14
ISO 200
Manual Exposure and focus
Shutter speed 100

I like the colour in this photo, Stephen, but to me it seems a bit soft. Did you use any USM and Curves/Levels in photoshop? Perhaps the slight blurriness/ OOF stems from you shutter of 1/100 using 100mm lens? with the crop factore of your DSLR, i'd probably consider 1/150 or faster? Just some thoughts. Perhaps bumping ISO to 400 can increase SS.

Thanks for sharing . Enjoyed this one.

riddim_maker · June 5, 2007

Now you got me searching for bugs in the garden again.
Guess the birds can use a little break from my prying lens.
Love the colors on this shot

Thanks for sharing, Stephen

Maestro · June 5, 2007

Vince wrote:

I like the colour in this photo, Stephen, but to me it seems a bit soft. Did you use any USM and Curves/Levels in photoshop? Perhaps the slight blurriness/ OOF stems from you shutter of 1/100 using 100mm lens? with the crop factore of your DSLR, i'd probably consider 1/150 or faster? Just some thoughts. Perhaps bumping ISO to 400 can increase SS.

Thanks for sharing . Enjoyed this one.

Thanks Vince. I agree it may seem a bit soft. It's probably due to the low shutter speed coupled with having to hand-hold the shot. Plus, I drink way too much caffeine so put that altogether and it doesn't make for a steady hand. I did apply some slight curves and USM but not very much. I think you are right about the ISO bump as well. I will certainly do that next time. Thanks for suggestions.

Maestro · June 5, 2007

riddim_maker wrote:

Now you got me searching for bugs in the garden again.
Guess the birds can use a little break from my prying lens.
Love the colors on this shot Thanks for sharing, Stephen

Thanks Russ. It sort of goes well with your avatar.