[Kate]

Taken with a 300D, 50mm F1.8 with 12mm extension tube attached, and my Centon ringflash (detached from camera). Also had a desk lamp shining on it to aid focussing.
ISO: 100
Aperture: F8.0
Shutter speed: 0.59sec

Cropped, resized and unsharp mask applied (100%/0.3/0)

It just doesn't look as good as I reckon it should.... Any ideas on what am I doing wrong and how I could improve??

The spiderling is about an inch long and bright metallic turquoise in colour.

[IanC_UK]

Im not an expert, but to me the background is taking over the picture and overpowering the subject !

I dare say one of the resident genius can explain how to sort it

[Steep]

How do you 'think' it should look?





and will you please stop photographing spiders! I won't sleep tonight now!

[Matty]

i think it needs a more contrasting background, the wood distracts...

im with steep, stop it, or the slipper is coming out!

[CT]

There's nothing technically wrong with the shot at all Kate. Spidey is dead sharp. Depth of field at macro distances is usually just a whisker as you are no doubt aware, which makes the subject stand out from the surroundings which are usually very blurred. In this case the background is flat enough, sufficiently in one plane, and close enough to Spidey to be sharp enough to compete with him for attention, particularly as it's such a detailed texture.

I don't think using a larger aperture than f8 would have helped much, it's just a distracting background - which is a long-winded way of saying Ian is right. :lol:

[Matt]

Try softening the lighting Kate, There are some hot spots below the spider.
I would also position the spider in the left of this frame as it is looking towards the right hand corner.

How should it look? in your opinion.

[Steve]

To add to what Ian and CT has already said, the problem is definately the background being so detailed and busy. If there is no way to get around the background then photographing the spider from a different angle would have helped a great deal. From above as shot here, we keep detail but the image looks flat in a 3 dimentional sense.

[Kate]

Originally Posted by Matt

How should it look? in your opinion.

Good question!

Well, I managed to do this the day I bought my camera on AV mode, with the onboard flash and no extension tubes.. just basically pointing and shooting. This one is spot on in my opinion, so I'd like the others I do to be of this quality or better. It's perfectly sharp, and the colours are perfect.


I'm guessing that you lot are right, and it has something to do with the background. I don't think I've ever taken a good photo of a spider on this bark. However, I take the photos on soil because it's an arboreal species and the natural habitat would not be on soil. Perhaps I need to get a more flat/boring piece of wood to photograph it on. The only trouble with flat pieces of wood is that the little buggers never stop walking

[MyPix]

i assume u fired the flash for this pic ( but i often get these things wrong, lol )

i just seems that the spider appears more irridecent in natural light rather than forced light ?
try the same pic withut the flash, place the spider/container in a naturally lit area ( window etc ) and see what you get,

i dont think the bark is too distracting, but too bright as it catches the light better than the spider

look forward to your next effort, top marks so far

MyPix

[CT]

Originally Posted by Kate

Good question!

Well, I managed to do this the day I bought my camera on AV mode, with the onboard flash and no extension tubes.. just basically pointing and shooting. This one is spot on in my opinion, so I'd like the others I do to be of this quality or better. It's perfectly sharp, and the colours are perfect.


I'm guessing that you lot are right, and it has something to do with the background. I don't think I've ever taken a good photo of a spider on this bark. However, I take the photos on soil because it's an arboreal species and the natural habitat would not be on soil. Perhaps I need to get a more flat/boring piece of wood to photograph it on. The only trouble with flat pieces of wood is that the little buggers never stop walking

[CT]

Originally Posted by Kate

Good question!

Well, I managed to do this the day I bought my camera on AV mode, with the onboard flash and no extension tubes.. just basically pointing and shooting. This one is spot on in my opinion, so I'd like the others I do to be of this quality or better. It's perfectly sharp, and the colours are perfect.


I'm guessing that you lot are right, and it has something to do with the background. I don't think I've ever taken a good photo of a spider on this bark. However, I take the photos on soil because it's an arboreal species and the natural habitat would not be on soil. Perhaps I need to get a more flat/boring piece of wood to photograph it on. The only trouble with flat pieces of wood is that the little buggers never stop walking

That must be quite a big spider Kate if you managed that shot without a macro lens. I think the reason that you like this shot so much is possibly because the on board flash has given you strongly directional lighting and more modelling Look at the quite pronounced shadow under the spider. One of the biggest problems with ring flashes, convenient though they are, is that they give very even shadowless lighting and can make your shots look a bit flat. I note you're using the flash off camera probably to combat this, but try to get a more oblique angle with the flash.

I actually think there's nowt wrong at all with your original shot in this thread - the pic could well have been taken in it's natural environment where no doubt it would look very much as it does in your shot.

[Kate]

Right, just had another go, taking into account flash angle, wood texture etc. and came up with this. REALLY pleased with it Colour is absolutely spot on, and the detail is fantastic! Changed to the 20mm ext tube. I haven't had to sharpen this one either

Results:



click for fullsize

Thanks so much for your help guys Really happy.

CT - The spider with the blue fangs was approx 1.5" long.

[CT]

Wow - what a colour, I can see what you were after now.

I used to have a curly wurly flash extension cord which plugged into the hot shoe of my Nikon F4 and enabled me to use the flash (SB28 speedlight) off camera. In conjunction with a Nikon 100mm macro lens it was fantastic, giving good auto exposures right down to macro distances and good modelling, although with the short distances involved between the subject and camera there wasn't much room to play around with the flash in between. This is the main reason why I eventually want to get the Canon 180mm Macro which will give fantastic working distances.

[Steve]

Stunning results there in that last shot Kate!!! I can see now why you where upset with your original results. Your perseverance has paid off though proving that practice makes perfect and to get results as good as these requires real effort. Hopefully the results have made all the effort worthwhile for you.

[Kate]

Originally Posted by CT

Wow - what a colour, I can see what you were after now.

I used to have a curly wurly flash extension cord which plugged into the hot shoe of my Nikon F4 and enabled me to use the flash (SB28 speedlight) off camera. In conjunction with a Nikon 100mm macro lens it was fantastic, giving good auto exposures right down to macro distances and good modelling, although with the short distances involved between the subject and camera there wasn't much room to play around with the flash in between. This is the main reason why I eventually want to get the Canon 180mm Macro which will give fantastic working distances.

Yep, I have the curly wurly cord too It's fab! Working so close to the subject does limit what I can do with the flash somewhat (and makes the little sods more likely to run off), but I've found it to be so much better than the onboard flash as it brings out the detail without casting ghastly shadows everywhere. Next step should be a proper macro lens I guess.

Thanks again for the help, really appreciate it

[Matty]

great shot Kate, i can appreciate the fascination with the hairy bugs now, i think i will leave it to you enthusiastic types though