Critique Harvestman

[TimmyG]

It seems like an age since I started a new thread here! Work never seems to end at the moment as we head towards the end of the year, and I've currently got a cold which is keeping me indoors. Oh well, hopefully I'll recover soon and I am looking forward to some time off over Christmas.

Anyway, being trapped indoors means I get to go back through some older sessions, and found this series of harvestman shots. The first is a 5 image stack, the second a single shot and the third is 2 shots. I'm not sure if I got the ID right either, so let me know if you have a more of clue than I do with these guys!

Harvestman by Tim.Garlick, on Flickr

Harvestman by Tim.Garlick, on Flickr

Harvestman by Tim.Garlick, on Flickr

 

[Tintin124]

Welcome back lol

It's a cute harvestman #1 stack is very good will check out the full res on Flickr see if you missed any sections as I know you are good at this process

#2 is my fav of the set pov and composition is smashing super great!

Look forward to you getting over cold and showing us lot how to actually do it.

 

[TimmyG]

It's a cute harvestman #1 stack is very good will check out the full res on Flickr see if you missed any sections as I know you are good at this process

Cheers Bryn. There is a blurred segment on the "knee" joint on the large leg on the right of frame. I did actually get all of this in focus, but must have burred it from the wrong frame when retouching in Zyrene. I didn't realise until I had nearly finished processing, but was too lazy to go back and start again! I didn't think you would be paying such close attention, I'll be more careful in future

 

[Tintin124]

Cheers Bryn. There is a blurred segment on the "knee" joint on the large leg on the right of frame. I did actually get all of this in focus, but must have burred it from the wrong frame when retouching in Zyrene. I didn't realise until I had nearly finished processing, but was too lazy to go back and start again! I didn't think you would be paying such close attention, I'll be more careful in future

Always pay close attention, especially when someone is far better than me. If I do stacking which you know I don't do very often I will want it to be as near perfect otherwise it was a waste of my time. Hence the lack I have done a few stacks sometimes only 3 shots and it doesn't work so it just ends up to be edited folder probably be deleted when hard drive gets near capacity.

I had a cold a couple of weeks back just as getting loads of globbies. Then had 2 weeks off work and didn't get chance to use camera for macro . Every time I did get a chance weather was against me. Still plan to get some icy shots.

 

[T0p cat]

The lighting on Number one is exceptional and it looks like he is attacking you.

 

[TimmyG]

The lighting on Number one is exceptional and it looks like he is attacking you.

Thanks. I was using my old ice-cream box diffuser on the 430 ex II flash, off camera on a gorilla pod for this, triggered by the 90ex (on camera). I've still not found a lighting setup I am happy with for the 90ex, and I get much better results with the large surface area of my ice-cream box.

 

[orionmystery]

Great set, Tim. Really like the pov in #2!

 

[Paul Iddon]

Me Likey Tim


Paul.

 

[G.K.Jnr.]

"Excellent" set Tim, good lighting with some great stacking. The detail on #1 is amazing.

George.

 

[Carlh]

Great set tim, as others have said, fab detail and great angles/pov. Not sure if the images look a little too warm though?, they're very yellow but it might just be the surroundings are that colour.

 

[TimmyG]

Great set, Tim. Really like the pov in #2!

Me Likey Tim


Paul.

"Excellent" set Tim, good lighting with some great stacking. The detail on #1 is amazing.

George.

Thanks guys! Much appreciated.

Great set tim, as others have said, fab detail and great angles/pov. Not sure if the images look a little too warm though?, they're very yellow but it might just be the surroundings are that colour.

Thanks Carl. Re: the colour balance, I usually find my shots a bit warm SOOC (I think Canon's in general seem to be strong in the reds). It becomes more saturated if I play with whites and blacks for some reason, so usually end up cooling the colour temperature. With this one, I was beginning to get some blues coming into the shadows, so didn't really want to push it any further. In this case I also desaturated the yellows a touch, mainly to bring the colour of the subject closer to how I remember it. Of course, as you suggest, there will be a colour cast from the surrounding brown/orange leaves. In this situation, I don't think there is much you can do, although I agree they do appear quite warm. Of course all the adjustments I make are done by eye, and I haven't calibrated my monitor (well laptop screen), so when I do finally get around to sorting it out, no doubt I'll spend another year or so re-processing my entire collection with the correct colour balance

I think the ultimate solution would be to find a contrasting background (warm subject, cold background and vice versa). This would also give you better subject separation and likely result in a better image all round. The problem is trying to find that alternate background when shooting invertebrates in their natural environment, especially when that subject has invariably evolved over millions of years to blend in with their background as best they can!

 

[alfbranch]

Nice shots Tim.

 

[TimmyG]

Cheers @alfbranch !

 

[GardenersHelper]

Nice. I particularly like the first one. I wouldn't have noticed the soft knee if you hadn't mentioned it.

Interesting about the ice cream box diffuser. For now I've pretty much settled on my dual layer pie tin diffuser, which I suspect has a surface area similar to your ice cream box diffuser. It works ok with my non-extending-lens+achromat setups, but I've found that it doesn't work so well with lenses that extend a lot, especially at higher magnifications/short working distances, because the light can get blocked by the lens barrel, which would presumably be the case with your MPE-65. So using it off-camera makes sense. Are you using the secondary flash attached to a grip?

Hope the cold is better now. My wife and I have both had a really nasty cold++ that's been going on for ages and kept us indoors. Still, it's a good time of year to be working on backlogs, and doing indoors kit and technique experiments - if you've got the time to do it, and the energy (this cold or whatever it is has been really draining ).