stink bug macro

[dpastern]

Two from Sunday. I'm way out of practice, took me 3 or 4 shots before nailing focus. That said, the leaves were blowing back and forth a fair bit due to the arvo breeze (always makes macro more challenging). Still, happy with this shot and the crop.

Dave

[TrevorW]

Nice David

[dpastern]

Thanks Trevor. Lighting is still a bit harsh, but I'm using a very simple set up (flash mounted on hotshoe, cheap diffuser - sto-fen, not really meant for macro work). I know I can get lighting better, but I'm mostly too lazy to carry around the flash bracket, offshoe adaptor and buy a dedicate diffuser...

Dave

[lacad01]

Looks pretty sharp to me, nice colours :thumbsup:

[Lumen Miner]

I can just picture, the leaves swaying back and forth with you swaying in time... LoL.. ;)

[ving]

nice work david, but was it really the smelly? ;)

[dpastern]

Ta! I was pretty happy with it. You should have seen the mozzie I saw at the same time...dang, it was HUGE...fair dinkum, approaching an inch in length...I didn't hang around let me assure you...



Yup, you're spot on. Takes a lot of practice. I prolly make it look easy. For someone that's out of practice, I probably have an easier time of it than someone who is in practice ;-)



Nah, but they can be. If they feel threatened enough they WILL drop one...and yes, it does smell.

Dave

[troypiggo]

Nice and sharp mate. Agree the lighting is a little harsh, but it's just great to see you out shooting again. More.

[telecasterguru]

Great shot, very defined.

Am working hard on my macro setup. Focus and working in RAW is the big issue. Camera settings need a lot of tuning of things I don't understand. I will get there. Effort in equals results out.

Thanks

Frank

[dpastern]

Camera settings shouldn't be that hard. Try this:

1) set camera to RAW mode

2) set to metered manual

3) set shutter speed to 1/200

4) set ISO to ISO 400

5) set aperture to f11

6) place flash on hotshoe, or turn on the onboard flash (depending on what you're using)

7) set lens to manual focus (AF is not recommended in all honesty)

If you're using tubes + normal lens, then simply find subject and then use the swaying/racking in and out technique until the subjects eyes are in focus. This takes a *lot* of practice. You only need tiny movements, keep them slow and smooth. Holding the camera correctly (left hand supporting the lens, right hand gently gripping the camera grip), depressing the shutter button smoothly (like pro rifle shooters shot, you want to gently squeeze the shutter button), having good solid footwork (if you've done a martial art you'll know what I mean), elbows tucked in tightly to ribs, locking the upper body in a semi rigid (but not too rigid) flesh tripod, and mostly, smooth and even breathing.

8) If you're using a dedicated macro lens, then set the magnification on the focus ring, keep the lens on manual focus, and then find subject etc...

Dave

[dpastern]

Yeah, lighting has always been my weakest point imho. I'm too lazy to fix it most times lol...

Dave

edit: FEC was set to 0, but I did underexpose the shot by a 1/3 stop in DPP in RAW processing...

[bloodhound31]

Looks like a horse's head. Lovely colours David. Pin sharp.

Baz.

[ving]

my settings are almost the same. :) 1/200th, f16, iso 400, and flash to make up the rest. :)
also never use a tripod.

[dpastern]

Thanks Baz.

Dave - very similar settings to me! I tend not to like to go any deeper than f11 due to diffraction issues with digital sensors. With film you can get away with it, with DSLRs not recommended imho.

Dave

[telecasterguru]

Dave,

What sort of software are you using to process the RAW images? I have an earlier version of PS which does not have bridge and when I load the images they automatically go to jpeg. How do I load them as RAW images?

Frank

[dpastern]

Frank - I mostly use Canon's DPP and at that, not the latest version lol. I do have a legit copy of Phase One's Capture 1 Pro (just updated it to the latest v5), but I'm not really a fan of Phase One as a company and regret buying it. Canon's DPP does 99% of what C1Pro does, in far less time, and in a far more logical UI imho. Don't waste your money.

I've never really used Adobe RAW, doesn't do anything for me.

RAW Therapee (http://www.rawtherapee.com) is free and works pretty well with most RAW formats. If you're using a Canon DSLR get out the disks and install DPP imho.

Dave

[telecasterguru]

Dave,

I figured as much. Thanks for the advice.

Frank

[jjjnettie]

Nice work David.
Very sharp.

[dpastern]

That's OK Frank - I figure that I can help people out with cameras/photoshop etc - it makes up for all the silly questions I ask about astro stuff lol!

Thanks Jeanette :-) If you're curious, I generally tend to do very little sharpening - in this instance, I did smart sharpen, 0.3 pixel, lens blur, 53% to the main image. I then resized to 1024 pixels on the longest side and did USM (23%, 0.3 pixel, threshold 3). For those that don't know, threshold of 0 will sharpen all pixels. 1 is the lowest, up to 20 from memory. I sharpen on resize as you'll lose sharpness in the resizing process (even using bicubic resize, which I do use).

Dave