A few shots from Stockers Lake

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zulupentax

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Name
Amin
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There is always a special buzz in trying to catch these insects in flight. Although it tests the patience but its always fun to catch them like that. Cetainly something I am very far from mastering but in the meantime I will keep trying.

These are a few taken today. C&C welcome.

The damselfly was the hardest one to catch, the best I could get was when it was about to perch, and even that the wing got clipped. But at least I managed to catch it with all its four wings open. Well, may be next time :)

I processed these normally as I do with usual settings in the LR, but as they were taken with flash I am not sure if I should have changed slightly my PP. I haven't bumped up any colour boost, so can someone please tell me if the colours do look normal without looking oversaturated?
Many thanks in advance

1-
Stockers Lake-5090-Edit by ZuluArt, on Flickr
Camera Canon EOS 7D
Exposure 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture f/16.0
Focal Length 420 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias +2/3 EV
Flash On, Fired

2 -
Stockers Lake-5072-Edit by ZuluArt, on Flickr
Camera Canon EOS 7D
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 420 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash On, Fired


3-
Stockers Lake-5138-Edit by ZuluArt, on Flickr
Camera Canon EOS 7D
Exposure 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 420 mm
ISO Speed 640
Exposure Bias +1 EV
Flash On, Fired

4-
Stockers Lake-5079-Edit by ZuluArt, on Flickr
Camera Canon EOS 7D
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 420 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash On, Fired

5-
Stockers Lake-5125-Edit by ZuluArt, on Flickr
Camera Canon EOS 7D
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 420 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash On, Fired
 
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I wouldn't call it oversaturated but a wee bit overexposed maybe for my personal taste.

Very well done for getting them though!(y)(y)

Mind telling us your body and lens combo you used to get these?

What flash did you use...one of those fancy macro flash jobbies or regular flash?
 
Thanks for the comments, I have attached the EXIF to the images.
Sorry forgot to add flash was the off-board standard EX580, no fancy ring flash :)
 
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I'd agree re the overexposure but I still really like this set - I've only managed one in flight shot so far... definately not easy!
 
Thanks everyone for the kind comments.
I will take onboard the fact that they are slightly overexposed and tone it down next time I shoot these little beauties.
I am not used to using flash to expose macro images like this so this certainly was a good learning curve.
Got to learn some more :). of course ideally macro ring flash would be ideal :), but I have a few more stuff in the list before that one gets priority.
Thanks again for your comments and helpful critique

Amin
 
A very nice set of pics indeed.

My personal view is that they are slightly over saturated, especially with the Emerald damsel shot - #3 - that does not portray its natural colour, but the last shot is good.

They dont really look over exposed to me, rather than slightly over saturated and maybe a touch too much sharpening, which is giving the effect of slightly over exposed pics.

Do you use a diffuser on the end of the flash? If not, then it will certainly help. The Lumiquest SoftBox is ideal.

I dont have a ringflash either but find the diffuser almost essential.

Linda
 
LindaB said:
A very nice set of pics indeed.

My personal view is that they are slightly over saturated, especially with the Emerald damsel shot - #3 - that does not portray its natural colour, but the last shot is good.

They dont really look over exposed to me, rather than slightly over saturated and maybe a touch too much sharpening, which is giving the effect of slightly over exposed pics.

Do you use a diffuser on the end of the flash? If not, then it will certainly help. The Lumiquest SoftBox is ideal.

I dont have a ringflash either but find the diffuser almost essential.

Linda
Click to expand...

Hi Linda

that was really helpful, thank you for your comment and suggestion.
When I was processing these images I was struggling with them, particularly about the saturation issue. I haven't bumped any settings that would make them oversaturated. And apart from the default settings that LR has on sharpness I haven't put any extra on it. I did play a bit with curves and levels I think but that was it. My conclusion is really what you touched on, flash issue. I was using direct flash and that I think has brought those issues to light. I too personally like smoother looking macro images without a colour bump overwhelming the subjects and seems the flash is the culprit here. I can clearly see now the flowers showing the typical signs of a bare flash.

Off to get the diffuser you suggested. I will try with it now.
Thanks very much for all your help and comments

Amin
 
Great set, personally I like the end result of all of them.
 
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