Geckoes, Dragonfly, Ants, Bee in Flight, Frog and Duck macros from Brisbane

[Dennis]

Here’s a selection of some recent macro photos taken either at the Roma Street Parklands (Brisbane CDB) or in our back garden. Mostly taken with the Canon 7D and Canon 100mm F2.8 macro lens. Lighting provided by an off camera Canon EX600-RT flash.

The fighting Geckoes were so engrossed with their arm wrestle on the back door mat, that I was able to sneak up to the close focus distance of the 100mm F2.8, which is approx. 30 cms.:)

Cheers

Dennis

[Regulus]

Wow, an excellent set of photographs Dennis. The insects must really like you, because they pose so nicely :lol:

[allan gould]

Ouch! So sharp.
Excellent images Dennis.

[AstralTraveller]

Wow. Great shots. Love the geckos and the second bee shot. :thumbsup:

[acropolite]

Outstanding shots of the fly and bee in flight Dennis, your images never fail to impress.:thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

awesome bits of nature Dennis

[Saturn%5]

Love the bees Dennis but they are all very nice.

[Spookyer]

Bravo:eyepop:

[Miaplacidus]

Marvellous!

[RickS]

Lovely crisp macro shots, Dennis! Not that I'd expect anything less from you :thumbsup:

Cheers,
Rick.

[Derek Klepp]

What a great set .I like the Dragonfly one with its different positioning .

[ourkind]

These are brilliant!

[Dennis]

Thanks for all your comments, I appreciate you looking.:)

It is nice to enjoy a day time hobby as well as the night time one of astronomy, especially when it is cloudy!:lol:

Cheers

Dennis

[LightningNZ]

Super awesome shots! Are the stripes on the bee in the 2nd image fluorescing? They sure look like it to me. That's not something I'd heard of before.

[Dennis]

Hello, Cam

The bee in #2 is a Blue Banded Bee. Sometimes the intensity of the blue stripes can be quite strong and appear almost luminescent. They move very rapidly and as they only seem to alight on a flower for what seems like less than a second, I find them very difficult to photograph in-flight.:)

Here is a rear-end view, cropped straight out of the camera (i.e. a Raw capture with no processing) to show the intensity of the colours from a different angle.

Cheers

Dennis

[peter andre]

Beautiful images Dennis, congratulations. I love them all. So sharp and such high resolution. Would you mind telling us what lens you are using?
Peter

[Dennis]

Thank you Peter, I appreciate your comments.:)

Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens (details in original post). The closest focus distance is approx. 30cms (that’s 12 inches in the old money!).

Cheers

Dennis

[peter andre]

Thanks Dennis,
How stupid of me not to notice that . No doubt it's the L series one.
You must be very patient to get such fine results.
Peter:)

[Dennis]

Hello, Peter

Not stupidity, it’s just how Forums seem to work once the thread begins to expand!:)

The lens is the non-L version as I couldn’t justify the additional cost of the L version. From the user anecdotes, it seems that the non-L and the L versions have similar image quality. The main reason for going to the L version could be that it has Image Stabilisation (IS).

As I shoot all my macros using off-camera flash, the duration of the flash virtually eliminates camera shake, so I don’t really need IS.

I under-expose for daylight, by around 4 stops and so the flash provides the illumination. I auto focus using the centre point and usually try to place it on a high contrast feature such as the insect’s eye.

Cheers

Dennis

[peter andre]

Thanks Dennis for your explanation how you achieved in obtaining these beautiful macro images.
I agree that some of Canon's less expensive lenses(non L) can be just as good in producing very sharp photos.
I recently bought a Canon 50mm f 1.4 lens. It has a very plastic feel, but is unbelievably sharp and 1/3 of the price of the L series equivalent.
Needed the lens for a special indoor wedding and were not allowed using a flash.
cheers,
Peter:)