[Geir Andersen]

Thank you very much Marcin!
I've wondered what that thing was ever since I shot it

The flash on no.2 is very strong. I've made a diffuser and did use it, but think I need even thicker material to diffuse the light because it is very harsh.

[brian-iow]

Sunday... I had a little tour of the garden and managed to get thes two shots






I was reasonably happy with the first one but notice that the wings are out of focus.
I am not too sure of the best way to correct this when making the shot.
My camera does not have a focusing ring and using the two toggle buttons on the rear of the camera steps the lens in and out too much. I set the zoom to full and then physically moved the tripod, but even a movement of 1 or 2 cm seriously alters the focus.Am I doing this wrong? Sorry for the very untechnical explanation.

[PeteA]

Hi, been viewing all of these macro shots & WOW!
This is my feeble attempt to compete

[marcinklysewicz]

brian-iow nice shots. you are doing it right - manual zoom set up for max and moving your tripod/body is the right way to do it. it is difficult - your movement should be rather in milimeters then centimeters. for macro photography you must be very precise. what about leaving your tripod at home and using only your hands? it's easier. and try to find very comfortable position when taking macro photos. i was trying to crouch but my legs are not made of steel and i was shaking too much so i'm just sitting on the ground or i kneel. it gives me stability and i could make very small and precise movements. about sharpness - it should be rather on head then wings but it depends. on both photos you have nice subjects, colours, and composition. second one is overexposed - look at that white spot on the right. and it would be nice to see this green creature from the front . but i'm not complaining. good job .
PeteA - nice composition and colours. it's also overexposed or your flash light is giving too many reflections. but it's interesting photo .

i don't like those ants because they are too shiny and giving too many reflections but i had a chance to take few photos so let me know what do you think.

[chrisa]

Brian You've really gone for the small subjects here! Good shots, with these small critters, particuarly the small baby hopper/cricket. Funnily enough I shot one of these myself over the weekend, and know how small they are. I'll post them later. Maybe the first shot would benefit from more DOF if possible on camera ?
Also to aid working with tripods, if you can not hold steady enough hand held, you may find a macro bellows/ focusing rail helps. It means you position your tripod then move the rails back and forth by very small amounts to get the thing in focus.

Marcin & Pete V.good shots of the ants and aphids. The trouble with insects with reflective skeletons is you will never remove flash reflections as they are visible on both your images. I've not managed to avoid this either.

[PeteA]

Brian Great shots, as to your getting the subject in focus, it doesnt help that most of the time the critters move , although I do use a focus rail (as chrisa pointed out) on top of my tripod for some shots... this does mean more cost

Marcin Superb shots of the ants
On the over exposure point.
I still use a manual film camera, the olympus OM4Ti, which does not seem to allow you to alter the amount of flash that it puts down (Anyone know different?), plus it always sets the shutter speed to 1/60. Any ideas on how to compensate for these?

[marcinklysewicz]

PeteA i don't know how to set up your camera but if you use diffuser on your flash it should help. if that diffuser i'm showing on the photos at the beginning of this thread is not good enough you could use plastic from milk bottle. i've changed my own diffuser a little bit because there were still too many and too strong reflections.

i have this creature too .



i'll show you my new diffuser today evening.

[brian-iow]

Hi All...Thank you for your advice especially with regard to the rail, something I am not at all familiar with.I will check this out later this week.I look in amazement at the superb images you are all posting,they inspire me to improve.I spent a little time fitting a small thread on to the top of my walking pole and turning it into a cheap monopod and today I tried it out in the garden where I found an interesting spider. I will post a couple of photos in a few moments once I have them off my camera .

[brian-iow]

Tuesday ..Once more a tour of the garden with my homemade monopod.

[marcinklysewicz]

brian-iow good job . no 1 and 3 are sharp exactly where they should be. on no 2 eyes are not sharp but it was very close, it's still aceptable if you ask me. nice colours. no 3 is overexposed a little bit. it looks that your monopod is working very well .

[brian-iow]

Thanks Marchin......I have just looked at your photo galleries on your website today. I must say the images are absolutely stunning. I would say to anyone reading this post to take a moment to check out Marchins' website it really is a delight.

[marcinklysewicz]

ech i have that feeling that it's only us here, like 3 people. but what can i do - we have to keep this thread alive right . some more photos then - from today.

1. F22, exposure time 0/800, ISO125, flash with diffuser


2. F5.6, exposure time 0/16, ISO400, no flash, only natural light


brian-iow it's nice to hear that you like my website. thank you.

[Charlotte]

Originally Posted by marcinklysewicz

ech i have that feeling that it's only us here, like 3 people.

I'm watching this thread closely, and I suspect that there are others too who are just watching quietly and admiringly, so keep up the good work Marcin, Brian, Chris, Pete etc.

Brian, I have never seen someone progress as quickly as you have Your last couple of shots are very good, I am impressed

I too am looking at focus rails (on Ebay)

[Charlotte]

This thread is taking very long to load now - so full of images

There are 2 ways around this ...

1. Start a new thread, Macro Part II, or something like that. This would be a shame, 'cos we wouldn't be able to see all the images in one thread.

2. Use thumbnails instead of full sized images. This would also be a shame, not to display full size, but I personally think it's preferable to the first option.

Of course, there may be other options that I haven't thought of ...

As thread starter, what do you think Marcin?