First December images

GardenersHelper

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Nick
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The little wood opposite continues to provide subjects. I captured these hand-held yesterday with a Laowa 100mm 2X macro lens and two 2X teleconverters on a Sony A7ii with a Venus Optics KX800 twin flash.

The raw files were processed with DXO PhotoLab, Adobe Lightroom and Topaz DeNoise AI.

The images are taken from this album at Flickr, which contains 1300 pixel high versions of the images and image sequences for some of the subjects,

#1 22-spot ladybird? But from the side we can see it looks like 20-spot or, if you count the spots on the head, 24 spot.

1841 01 2020_12_02 DSC06228_PLab4 LR 1300h DNAIcMedHi
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#2

1841 04 2020_12_02 DSC06259_PLab4 LR 1300h DNAIcMedHi
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#3

1841 07 2020_12_02 DSC06276_PLab4 LR 1300h DNAIcMedHi
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#4 Are these fungi growing out of/through the leaf?

1841 11 2020_12_02 DSC06304_PLab4 LR 1300h DNAIcMedHi
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#5 A slug. As with snails, I like the continuously changing shapes they make with their antennae.

This subject showed up a significant shortcoming of the setup I'm currently using. It is good for small subjects, but the working distance is huge for subjects this size. I had to get so far away for a full body shot of this slug, which was around 50mm long, that the flash was ineffective even with a very high ISO.

1841 17 2020_12_02 DSC06349_PLab4 LR 1300h DNAIcMedHi
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#6 From the sequence of this scene it looks like this bug can clamber over spider silk with no problem. Also, there was a spider very close by, just underneath the stem the bug was moving along. It didn't make any move on the bug. This reminds me of a sequence from some years ago when I photographed a shield bug seeing off a crab spider. In that case the two of them actually made contact as far as I recall. I can look those out if anyone is interested.

1841 31 2020_12_02 DSC06391_PLab4 LR 1300h DNAIcMedLoAISf55,0
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#7 This spider was hanging under a leaf which made it difficult to get a line on it and also difficult to illuminate it.

1841 35 2020_12_02 DSC06406_PLab4 LR 1300h DNAIcMedHi
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#8

1841 45 2020_12_02 DSC06469_PLab4 LR 1300h DNAIcLoLoAISf40,0
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
 
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More stunning close ups Nick. (y)
I'm surprised there is still a lot about TBH though.
 
They’re superb, hand held as well that’s super impressive (y)
 
Very good.

Thanks David.

I think that it is unusual to see a 22 spot. I rarely see it in real life or on flickr.

Is that "It's unusual to see a 22 spot" or (because this one looks like it didn't have 22 spots) "it's unusual to see one that actually has exactly 22 spots"?
 
More stunning close ups Nick. (y)

Thanks Chris.

I'm surprised there is still a lot about TBH though.

You and me both. With it being just across the road, and with me only just having "discovered" it, and wanting to get as many experiments in as I can while there are still subjects, I've kept going back. I was expecting to give up as everything disappeared, but there have been things to find so far even on the coldest days. I've never previously photographed invertebrates much at this time of year because I haven't found much or indeed anything in our garden at this time of year, and I didn't bother going to the local nature reserves as I assumed there wouldn't be anything to see there either.

I initially thought that it was because I'm now better able to handle rather small subjects, as I was seeing mainly springtails, barkflies etc. But in the past few days it has turned out that there are some larger things around too.

And it's only a single small area I've been working in too most of the time, perhaps 30ft x 30ft or so. Not sure. But not very big. I just settle down in two or three little areas in the course of a 90 minute or so session and look around very, very slowly, and move just a few feet every now and then.
 
They’re superb, hand held as well that’s super impressive (y)

Thanks Pete. I used a tripod for several years, when I was mainly using natural light, and for a while after I started using flash. I came to the conclusion though that on balance I got on better working hand-held. Although the tripod was extremely flexible ..........

0575 22 Composite 1 by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

......... there were several disadvantages:
  • In the time needed to get the camera properly positioned I lost opportunities
  • It could be difficult to track subjects that were moving around (something that I like to do whenever I can)
  • I couldn't reach some awkwardly located subjects that I could get at when working hand-held
  • It was awkward to carry around along with all the other bits and pieces I would often want to have with me.
I find working hand-held is better for all of those issues. On the other hand working hand-held makes it more difficult to frame shots and place the plane of focus accurately because the scene and subject are continuously bobbling around in (and sometimes out of) the frame, producing a higher failure rate, increasingly so as the magnification goes up.

Like much else in close-up/macro it is a matter of trade-offs, experimenting to work out what works best for our own particular purposes and preferences.

Also bear in mind that I typically capture several hundred shots in each session. I shoot over and over again if the subject is around long enough. You don't see all the ones that didn't work, and only get to see the few that work out best.
 
Thanks Pete. I used a tripod for several years, when I was mainly using natural light, and for a while after I started using flash. I came to the conclusion though that on balance I got on better working hand-held. Although the tripod was extremely flexible ..........

0575 22 Composite 1 by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

......... there were several disadvantages:
  • In the time needed to get the camera properly positioned I lost opportunities
  • It could be difficult to track subjects that were moving around (something that I like to do whenever I can)
  • I couldn't reach some awkwardly located subjects that I could get at when working hand-held
  • It was awkward to carry around along with all the other bits and pieces I would often want to have with me.
I find working hand-held is better for all of those issues. On the other hand working hand-held makes it more difficult to frame shots and place the plane of focus accurately because the scene and subject are continuously bobbling around in (and sometimes out of) the frame, producing a higher failure rate, increasingly so as the magnification goes up.

Like much else in close-up/macro it is a matter of trade-offs, experimenting to work out what works best for our own particular purposes and preferences.

Also bear in mind that I typically capture several hundred shots in each session. I shoot over and over again if the subject is around long enough. You don't see all the ones that didn't work, and only get to see the few that work out best.
That tripods like your flexible friend. :) Looks a good setup.
Ive tried macro shots hand held with no success whatsoever in the past. I think it’s down to the amount of coffee I drink or I’m just naturally shaky. Either way I’m always bound to a tripod.(y)
 
That tripods like your flexible friend. :) Looks a good setup.

It is good, but even so I prefer to work hand-held.

Ive tried macro shots hand held with no success whatsoever in the past. I think it’s down to the amount of coffee I drink or I’m just naturally shaky. Either way I’m always bound to a tripod.(y)

Is the problem with getting a sharp image, or getting the subject where you want it in the frame?

One of the reasons I turned to using flash was that it let me get much sharper, more detailed images. Since the effective shutter speed is the length of the flash pulse you use a fairly fast (effective) shutter speed irrespective of the ambient light level (unless you deliberately slow down the exposure to gather more light from the background so as to reduce black/dark areas in the background).

Getting the subject where you want it in the frame is a different thing.. Hand shake does matter, increasingly so as magnification increases, and as magnification increases image stabilisation, if available, has less and less effect on stabilising the image in the viewfinder (if using mirrorless) or the rear screen. For the type of magnifications used for these shots, especially for the smaller subjects, I can't get/keep the subject where I want it in the frame for compositional purposes at the same time as catching the moment when the subject comes into focus. (The subject continually and rapidly drifts in and (mainly) out of focus as well as wandering around the frame. I concentrate on trying to catch the moment when the subject is in focus, and the subject ends up where it will (and usually in a different place from when I decided to press the shutter button). I use cropping to make what I can of the composition.

I don't have steady hands btw. You can see that for example from this 7 second video at Flickr, which shows the video I captured in order to make this focus stacked shot. That was with a large subject. You can imagine what it looks like for much smaller subjects.


1630 4 stacked image 1604 09 2018_10_30 P1630556 90f C4+outerB26,4 LR 1300h-DNAI (1)
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

In fact, no need to imagine. I just did an experiment. Here are three videos, at 6X magnification, which is the sort of magnification I use for springtails, barkflies and similar:
While shooting over the past month I have spent almost all the time on my knees. (I have workman's trousers with built in knee pads.)
 
Looking at your videos I’d say the the middle one is a best case scenario for me. I’ve just pulled the trigger on a nissin ring flash, should be here tomorrow but I’m working so I can’t play with it until Sunday. I’m going to practice on some objects around the house to see if I can improve on my technique with the flash. Thanks for all the help/encouragement, it’s one of the biggest reasons I love this place so much, almost everyone helps and give tips etc. Looking at images like yours inspires me to do better which can only be a good thing. (y)
 
Looking at your videos I’d say the the middle one is a best case scenario for me. I’ve just pulled the trigger on a nissin ring flash, should be here tomorrow but I’m working so I can’t play with it until Sunday. I’m going to practice on some objects around the house to see if I can improve on my technique with the flash.

Good move. I think practising indoors with things that don't move and aren't just about to disappear is a very good idea. It's what I do when I get new kit or run into problems using existing kit.

Thanks for all the help/encouragement, it’s one of the biggest reasons I love this place so much, almost everyone helps and give tips etc. Looking at images like yours inspires me to do better which can only be a good thing. (y)

Good. I think we can all benefit from help and inspiration from time to time. I certainly do.
 
Lovely set Nick - I have a new 90mm Macro lens from Sony and I have as yet NOT used it :)

:Les
 
Thanks Les.



I hear that is a terrific lens. I look forward to seeing your results with it.


I hope to be out and about soon as we get warmer weather- I did actually think about a Fungi hunt this weekend, I'll see what the weather's like Nick


Les :)
 
I hope to be out and about soon as we get warmer weather- I did actually think about a Fungi hunt this weekend, I'll see what the weather's like Nick
Les :)

Unusually the air is absolutely still here this morning. Our wind indicator (a pampas grass) is not moving even the slightest amount. Still rather chilly though.
 
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