Beginner New flash gun and diffusion setup practice.

[Orangecroc]

This was an exposure test because I had managed to blow out the yellow highlights last time.
small yellow flowers Exposure test with manual flash by Ben Gray, on Flickr

This fly was so small, I almost didn't even see it land on the top of the fence. Probably 1.5mm wide at the most.
Tiny Fly 280817 by Ben Gray, on Flickr

Not sure if the first two of these are too dark, making them lighter anywhere made the pictures seem to lose a lot of contrast.
Hoverfly (3) 280817 by Ben Gray, on Flickr
Hoverfly (2) 280817 by Ben Gray, on Flickr
Hoverfly (1) 280817 by Ben Gray, on Flickr

And last but not least, the biggest Garden spider in our garden so far this year, though they're all likely to start getting bigger now.
Garden Spider 280817 by Ben Gray, on Flickr

 

[Orangecroc]

I think these improve on the hoverfly processing.
Hoverfly (1)a 280817 by Ben Gray, on Flickr
Hoverfly (2)a 280817 by Ben Gray, on Flickr
Hoverfly (3)b 280817 by Ben Gray, on Flickr

 

[Paul-H]

first few look a touch under exposed but from the spider onwards they look spot on, well done

 

[Graham]

Looking good there, the photos not you
I`m liking the hoverfly, lighting looks better now, that spider looks H U G E
At least now you are getting somewhere with the lighting, it has made a big improvement.

 

[Orangecroc]

Looking good there, the photos not you
I`m liking the hoverfly, lighting looks better now, that spider looks H U G E
At least now you are getting somewhere with the lighting, it has made a big improvement.

Yeah, getting used to the manual flash speedlight is a bit of a learning process. I did underexpose slightly because shadow recovery seems to be better from this camera than trying to come back on highlights. Recovering highlights leaves nasty grey patches.

 

[Phrasemaker]

Definitely an improvement. The hovers are looking good. Quite like the soft look with the flowers, kind of dreamy.

 

[GardenersHelper]

Looking good. Definitely better to raise shadows (or leave them alone, or just raise them a bit) rather than trying to pull back overcooked highlights. The reprocessed hoverflies look better to me too.