Roma Street Parklands with Andrew

[Striker (Tony)]

Thanks Andrew had a great time and was very happy with results, not as good as your bee shots but I am still happy.

Check out the Pollen on these guys.

All taken with the Canon 100mm F2.8 Macro..."awesome lens"

These are far from perfect but never the less I am stoked.

No images are cropped they are as imaged just reduced in Rez for forum.

Hope you like.

[Dennis]

A lovely set of bee and flower photos Tony; nice to see the more sensitive side of IIS blokes through their work!

Cheers

Dennis

[astro_south (Andrew)]

Nice shooting Tony.

it has been a while for me and macro shooting, so I am way out of practice ... my bee shots may have looked OK on the LCD, but not really passable when viewed on the PC (and when compared to yours) - maybe next time. Those bee shots of yours were certainly worth the trampled flowers

Attached ia a selection of shots that seemed to work. I definately need to get out more.

Thanks again Tony for an enjoyable morning - we will get out and do it again soon.

[Dennis]

A great collection of photos Andrew, with a broad and interesting range of themes. It certainly looks like you guys had a great day out. How did you manage to avoid all the tourists in those shots?

Cheers

Dennis

[Striker (Tony)]

Yes Andrew it was very enjoyable and cant wait for the next day out.

It was your tips that gave me the results in macro Imaging so thanks for that....really appreciated.

It's a shame your Bee shots didn't turn out as they did look good on the camera but I know how that feals.

Those bee shots of yours were certainly worth the trampled flowers

Shoosh....lol

How did you manage to avoid all the tourists in those shots?

Easy we just told them China is going for another Gold Medal so they all went indoors to watch the telecast.

[RB (Andrew)]

Great shots guys !!

Tony I really like #3, that shot of the fly with the blue sky.
I knew you'd love the 100mm macro.

Andrew who left the bathtub water on in that 2nd shot, LOL, great shots.

[Striker (Tony)]

Tony I really like #3, that shot of the fly with the blue sky.

Typical I spent like 2 hours looking for and imaging bee's and 5 seconds imaging this fly I got 1 shot off on.

[ving (David)]

cool shots guys
love the macro shots!

[Matty P (Matt)]

Great shots Tony and Andrew.

Well done guys.

[Liz]

Spectacular shots guys

[Robert_T]

Hi Tony, so you've been in my favourite hunting grounds (roma st parklands) with my favourite bit o'glass (100mm f2.8 macro). I'm very impressed, the detail on the fly and bee is extraordinary. I'll have to start pushing myself harder - any tips?

cheers,

Rob

[Striker (Tony)]

Thanks guyw,

Robert the only tip I can give you and this was given to me by Andrew on the day is too have it on Manual focus, turn to closest focus then move the camera until in focus...I hope that makes sense.
The 100mm F2.8 Macro is awesome it come with a lot of recomendations.

[astro_south (Andrew)]

Thanks for the feedback guys - certainly not my best but I have been out of the macro game for a few months and I am testing a new lightling setup.

Robert - the other tip I gave Tony was to get the lighting right. Natural light looks nice but it is hard to get the right conditions and have the shutter at a speed high enough to stop camera shake (and subject movement) while still having a small enough apeture to have most of the subject in focus (especially at 1:1). The solution is a flash - so I sent Tony to get his (I don't think he has posted any of his flashless shots above).

I usually set the camera to M for manual control, then set the shutter to around 1/200sec to allow full illumination with the flash (any quicker and you will require 2nd Curtain flash or strobing) and then depending on the ambient conditions I dial in an apeture (usually between f9 and f20) to provide a reasonable exposure and a workable depth of field. A few test shots will help you set the apeture. If you have a reasonable flash you can also play with the power of the flash to get the exposure right - there is no set rule with these, just need to test with the ambient for correct exposure. It is also a good idea (almost essential) to difuse the flash light. I have been using the basic plastic cover diffuser over my 580EXII, but recently I brought a softbox and last Sunday was my first use of this in any anger. I still have a bit to learn about the settings (balance between apeture and flash power) and that is why my keeper rate was down, but overall I am happy with this setup with the flash giving a very natural unflashed look without too many highlights.

All my shots were with the 100 f2.8 ... absolutely my favourite lens

When is the next gathering?

[Robert_T]

Thanks Tony and Andrew for the tips, especially to set to minimum focus and manual... I'd been using the AI servo mode and trying to track the little beegers . I'd recently worked out the benefits of flash and that's helped me a lot. I've got the 580EXII and after the 100mm F2.8 is my next favourite bit of kit! I haven't been using a diffuser though and I can see that would help as I lose details in shiny insect bits. thanks again guys and GREAT pics. cheers, Rob

[RB (Andrew)]

Great advice there Andrew.
Also when shooting macro outside, I sometimes use a monopod for extra stability.

[Striker (Tony)]

Yeah I had the monopod but found when chasing bee's it just got in the way...it would be better for non moving targets like flowers.