Macro in the Garden

[Wildieswife]

Today is sunny/showers – but it’s a bit windy. I had to hold the twigs still on the fly shots and I got a tad sodden lying down on the wet grass for the tadpoles.


Billy No Mates




Dining out on algae




A couple of very small (about 4mm) flies on my buddleia bush.



one more....................

[Wildieswife]

...........They were joined by another fly of the same variety. Who knows what was going on - perhaps one was a desirable female? One seemed to be chasing another about.




Pat

[sury]

Nice set of Macros Pat. I liked the 4th one the best.

With best regards,
Sury

[Omega892]

...........They were joined by another fly of the same variety. Who knows what was going on - perhaps one was a desirable female? One seemed to be chasing another about.
Pat

Well spotted, and shot.

Are we the only ones taking pictures of pesky flies. I have a few I'll line up.

Youngest grandson likes following me around the garden whilst we have some fine weather and I am hoping to put my new A77 to the test. Will be doing it hand-held. Have to work fast to focus and shoot with these skittish creatures.

Getting used to handling the A77 now and it seems just made for macro work. No more cricked necks peering into a Minolta Angle Finder which I doubt will fit the A77 anyway. I manage to get my Velbon Macro Slider attached to my Manfrotto tripod. I have been investigating a Manfrotto solution as the camera base tends to rotate on that Velbon when warms up even when tight if there is a weighty lens assembly at the front.

[Birma]

Great shots Pat. Number 2 for me, love those tadpoles

[Dr. Harout]

Great shots Pat. Number 2 for me, love those tadpoles

+1

[Omega892]

Here is one I shot earlier, whilst hunting something else.

[Omega892]

Today is sunny/showers – but it’s a bit windy. I had to hold the twigs still on the fly shots and I got a tad sodden lying down on the wet grass for the tadpoles.

Did you use a polarising filter for the tadpoles?

Yes, wind can make some subject tricky especially with keeping focus.

[Wildieswife]

Thankyou for the kind comments.

Today is sunny/showers – but it’s a bit windy. I had to hold the twigs still on the fly shots and I got a tad sodden lying down on the wet grass for the tadpoles.

Did you use a polarising filter for the tadpoles?

Yes, wind can make some subject tricky especially with keeping focus.

No polariser - but next time I may use one as I got some reflection off the water. I just tried to avoid sunny spots.

Also - I only use a tripod when doing indoor macro. I've a steady hand and the onboard AF is great.As long as I avoid a slow shutter speed, by juggling the ISO/aperture/occasionally using a blip of diffused flash, I usually get around 10% success rate which isn't too bad. I find tripods etc are very constricting for most wildlife work. I will use a bean bag (when I can) for birds.

Pat

[Omega892]

A couple more



and

[Wildieswife]

I'm not entirely sure how this forum works - is it usual for others just to add their own images to your thread instead of starting their own? This is often termed as 'hijacking' but if this is usually the case here I'm happy to start this as an 'open thread' for anyone's Macro images.

Perhaps I, or a moderator (not sure I can do this without my moderator hat on this forum) should change the title to "Macro - open thread"

Omega - did you use flash on these as the lighting seems quite harsh?

Pat.

[Omega892]

Omega - did you use flash on these as the lighting seems quite harsh?

Pat.

Sorry if you think I was hijacking your thread. I had no idea it was intended as a personal thread, maybe the title 'Macro in the Garden' rather than 'Macro in my Garden' lead me astray.

As for flash, yes. But various forms. The shrub that white tailed was on had the sun behind it as it faces NW, so there was little chance of getting a good shot stopped right down for depth of field up close at low ISO. The flash would have been a 5600 HSD with a Stofen fitted, so not as harsh as it might have been with a ring-flash.

I do have a Minolta Macro Flash Controller with Twin Flash 2400 which has two small flash heads each capable of taking two stages of diffusion of which the softer is rather unwieldy and prone to knocking out of kilter when working around shrubbery and if there is much of a breeze. This also requires some extra 'engineering' to attach to some of my now favoured optical combinations as the Minolta attachment only fits the Minolta 50mm or 100mm Macro lenses with the rings provided, a 72mm ring was available separately for the 200mm Macro. I only purchased the 100mm which was the longest focal length available at the time and excellent still.

The lower one was using an A700 with Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM plus http://www.digitaltoyshop.co.uk/RAYNOX_ ... _t932_4989 and a 5600 HSD with Stofen. This was shot at about the same time as the shot including hover flies here http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/vie ... 1&start=45.

With the 100mm Macro one still has to get in uncomfortably close, for the insect. This is why I have been exploring other options.

[Wildieswife]

Omega - did you use flash on these as the lighting seems quite harsh?

Pat.

Sorry if you think I was hijacking your thread. I had no idea it was intended as a personal thread, maybe the title 'Macro in the Garden' rather than 'Macro in my Garden' lead me astray.

As for flash, yes. But various forms. The shrub that white tailed was on had the sun behind it as it faces NW, so there was little chance of getting a good shot stopped right down for depth of field up close at low ISO. The flash would have been a 5600 HSD with a Stofen fitted, so not as harsh as it might have been with a ring-flash.

I do have a Minolta Macro Flash Controller with Twin Flash 2400 which has two small flash heads each capable of taking two stages of diffusion of which the softer is rather unwieldy and prone to knocking out of kilter when working around shrubbery and if there is much of a breeze. This also requires some extra 'engineering' to attach to some of my now favoured optical combinations as the Minolta attachment only fits the Minolta 50mm or 100mm Macro lenses with the rings provided, a 72mm ring was available separately for the 200mm Macro. I only purchased the 100mm which was the longest focal length available at the time and excellent still.

The lower one was using an A700 with Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM plus http://www.digitaltoyshop.co.uk/RAYNOX_ ... _t932_4989 and a 5600 HSD with Stofen. This was shot at about the same time as the shot including hover flies here http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/vie ... 1&start=45.

With the 100mm Macro one still has to get in uncomfortably close, for the insect. This is why I have been exploring other options.

Quite the opposite for me - I have a 90mm macro and am thinking of getting a 60mm as I find I'm not getting close enough on some smaller invertebrates. Although it does create its own problems re DOF, getting close, as with all photography, is the best way to capture detail.

I always try to avoid flash but it's not always possible. When I do I diffuse it (often with a piece of soft frost) and try to use the manual settings so that the flash is as little as possible. Otherwise, it's easy to get blown out areas of dead pixels which doesn't look good.

Pat

[sury]

Pat,
Would using extension tubes on a 90mm get you closer? In your view, how much of a degradation that would be, compared to say
a 60mm macro? I do have a Vivitar 90mm f/2.5 MD mount Macro and a Tamron 60f2.8 MA mount macro hence my question.

With best regards,
Sury

[Wildieswife]

Pat,
Would using extension tubes on a 90mm get you closer? In your view, how much of a degradation that would be, compared to say
a 60mm macro? I do have a Vivitar 90mm f/2.5 MD mount Macro and a Tamron 60f2.8 MA mount macro hence my question.

With best regards,
Sury

Suri - for insects outdoors I wouldn't go anywhere near any extension tubes of any kind! Therefore I haven't seriously ever considered your question.

The resulting lack of light with tubes would limit your DOF and slow your shutter speed which would be no good for a fast moving target! The 'degradation' (I'm presuming you mean of image detail) can be bad enough when encountering diffraction at smaller apertures without any loss of light from tubes. Upping the ISO will lose detail, too.
Flash isn't an ideal solution unless you are using good lighting indoors (as we do in studio work) as it can result in harsh effects/severe shadows and blown areas. Full sun (as with all photography) isn't ideal, either, for the same reasons.

These days at least I have the advantage of extra pixels to crop in which means my 90mm is better than it was and my DOF doesn't have to be as crucial because of a slightly longer FL.

As a good friend once said -"Photography is a series of compromises"



Pat