Beginner Common Darters Ovipositing.

The only way that you will get them in focus/sharpe/etc is to try the following

position yourself in a level plane with the subjects ....... i.e. flat onto them .......... that's probably the most important. ........ because that close even at small fvalues to DOF is very shallow.......... before you tell me so, I know it's difficult

use the smallist f value that you can manage, i.e. f16 minimum

use a reasonably fast shutter speed

use a small tripod as a "prop" ... with a "loose" head .........if you know what I mean

200mm is fine, (what you have used) .......... I tend to use 300mm sometimes with a 1,4 TC - i.e. 420mm ........... I have never had particularly good results with a dedicated macro/micro, say 105mm lens

don't worry about high ISO's to start with .. concentrate on getting a sharpe and in-focus image

look at your results, in particular the DOF, figure out what's wrong ........ and don't alway think that you have to focus on the head

experiment using a flash ..... either the one on your camera or a separate flash
 
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Strictly speaking isn't this mating? Nice pics although it would be worth making sure the second image was processed to look the same as the first & third to make a set.

FWIW to *me* the crucial bits are in focus.
 
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BillN_33 said:
The only way that you will get them in focus/sharpe/etc is to try the following

position yourself in a level plane with the subjects ....... i.e. flat onto them .......... that's probably the most important. ........ because that close even at small fvalues to DOF is very shallow.......... before you tell me so, I know it's difficult

use the smallist f value that you can manage, i.e. f16 minimum

use a reasonably fast shutter speed

use a small tripod as a "prop" ... with a "loose" head .........if you know what I mean

200mm is fine, (what you have used) .......... I tend to use 300mm sometimes with a 1,4 TC - i.e. 420mm ........... I have never had particularly good results with a dedicated macro/micro, say 105mm lens

don't worry about high ISO's to start with .. concentrate on getting a sharpe and in-focus image

look at your results, in particular the DOF, figure out what's wrong ........ and don't alway think that you have to focus on the head

experiment using a flash ..... either the one on your camera or a separate flash
Click to expand...
It was my intention to have a shallow DoF.
I do use a flash for macro stuff, I didn't want to take a big flash rig with me while walking along the river though.

ancient_mariner said:
Strictly speaking isn't this mating? Nice pics although it would be worth making sure the second image was processed to look the same as the first & third to make a set.

FWIW to *me* the crucial bits are in focus.
Click to expand...
These were two different pairs, their colours were slightly more vibrant on the pair in the third picture. I see what you mean about the first two though, I will have a look at the colour temperature on the second one as that seems to be the main difference.
 
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