Assortment of macros with my new lens

[StephenM]

Hi all,

My new Tamron 90 macro arrived yesterday afternoon ($377 delivered from DWI - not bad!), so I spent a couple of hours at the Mt Coot-tha botanical gardens this morning testing it out. It's the first macrophotography I've done for 2 years, and the first time I've used flash as a light source, so it took a while to work out what I was doing. I'm quite happy with how these turned out, and I think this lens has lots of potential! Looking forward to testing it some more.

I was lucky enough to find a baby green tree snake (only about 25 cm long), which hung aroud for long enough for me to photograph it [image #1]. Image # 2 is a mosquito resting on a crucifix orchid, #3 and #4 are little jumping spiders, #5 is a dragonfly of some sort, and I'm not sure what #6 is!

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,
Stephen

[RobF]

Wonderful pics David! All of them most enjoyable.

I could see them as posters at the gardens - "see if you can find us as you walk around...."!

[StephenM]

Thanks Rob!

Cheers,
Stephen (not David!)

[Liz]

Fabulous images Stephen - snake looks cool, and the mozzie, but all good. Spiders a bit scary though. :eyepop:

[StephenM]

Thanks Liz! The snake was definately the highlight because they are so hard to find.

Cheers,
Stephen

[multiweb]

All amazing shots! :eyepop: The first one is very cool though. :thumbsup:

[lacad01]

Nice set of shots, especially the tree snake :thumbsup:

[Paddy]

Very nice shots Stephen. You've done well with the lighting, they're all really clear and not hard.

[StephenM]

Thanks Marc! Glad you like them.



Thanks Adam! I think I got lucky with the tree snake!



Thanks for the comments Paddy. As I said it was the first time using a speedlight for macro work, so i was quite pleased with these results. I think I will look into a DIY macro diffuser to attach to the speedlight just to get a bit softer light.

Cheers,
Stephen

[RobF]

D'oh! Sorry Stephan!

[StephenM]

No worries Rob!

[RobF]

Agggghhh.
Sorry STEPHEN
I'll just go crawl under my bed now :doh: :ashamed: :D

[Dennis]

An excellent set Stephen – you must be very pleased with that lens. As you mentioned, the light may be a little harsh but that is really a nit pick, especially for a 1st light set!

The last one looks a little like a katydid.

Cheers

Dennis

[hotspur]

WOW! without a doubt you the very best photographer in IIS Stephen!

Well done on these fine images!:thumbsup:

[bloodhound31]

Awesome stuff Stephen. What's your flash setup? I love the lighting.

Baz.

[StephenM]

Thanks Dennis! Yes, I'm very impressed with the lens, and my initial assessment is that it's better than the pentax 50mm macro that I used a few years ago.

I'm looking forward to the next BIMBO meetup so that I can inspect everyones flash diffuser setups... (we must be due for a BIMBO meet soon, before the warm weather ends?)

Cheers,
Stephen



Thanks very much for the encouragement Chris! - but I think I'm fairly average compared to the standard being set here!

Cheers,
Stephen



Thanks Baz, appreciate the comments! Interesting that you like the lighting, as these were taken just with a "naked" 430 EX II. I was adjusting things as I went along but generally had the flash operating at 1/4 to 1/8 power (in manual mode), and the camera also in manual using f/13, 200 iso and 1/250 sec. I'll experiment with DIY flash diffusers over the next few weeks and see if these improve things.

Cheers,
Stephen

[gregbradley]

Great shots Stephen.

I am amazed at how close up you got the mozzie.

Greg.