Insect macro shots @ Botanic Gardens - 19/04/2009

[Alm1ghty]

Impressive ... :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[TroyP]

pixelpixie, TroyP is referring to the dioptre setting of your camera eyepiece, and NOT on the Raynox dioptre, which is fixed.

Ah yep. Well I thought he meant the camera, since there's nothing you can do on a Raynox lol

I guess you gotta try out different settings. How about spot metering on the whites? Or reduce your EV to another 1/3 when it seemed to blow your highlights?

keep trying.... photography is a never ending learning process.

I was using spot metering. What do you mean on the whites? Focus on the white area when shooting?

Impressive ... :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Thanks

 

[Pauche]

I was using spot metering. What do you mean on the whites? Focus on the white area when shooting?

depends on what you are shooting at. If your subject is purely a white flower petal, you can AF and spot meter AE on the whites.

if you are shooting a black bug on a white flower petal, your AF and exposure should be on the black bug, BUT most likely your white flower petal will be blown!

Alternatively, do a stack/exposure blending/HDR using a min of 2 images.

 

[TroyP]

depends on what you are shooting at. If your subject is purely a white flower petal, you can AF and spot meter AE on the whites.

if you are shooting a black bug on a white flower petal, your AF and exposure should be on the black bug, BUT most likely your white flower petal will be blown!

Alternatively, do a stack/exposure blending/HDR using a min of 2 images.

I'm not going to get into HDR.
So how do you shoot a black bug on a large white flower with spot metering with manual focus?
Move my camera's middle focus point onto the white flower, half-press, then move back to the bug and full press? :think:

 

[ProteinLens]

I'm not going to get into HDR.
So how do you shoot a black bug on a large white flower with spot metering with manual focus?
Move my camera's middle focus point onto the white flower, half-press, then move back to the bug and full press? :think:

i think u will have to sacrifice the details on either the flower or the bug. the best in btwn solution i can think of would be to use AE lock or half press on the flower then the bug to find out the ideal exposure for the flower and the bug and average it yourself. this will probably cause both the flower to be slightly overexposed and bug to be slightly underexposed. if you dont wanna do HDR then you need the raw file to do highlight and shadow recovery when doing pp.

just what i think. not sure if its correct or if i interpreted the qn correctly...

 

[TroyP]

i think u will have to sacrifice the details on either the flower or the bug. the best in btwn solution i can think of would be to use AE lock or half press on the flower then the bug to find out the ideal exposure for the flower and the bug and average it yourself. this will probably cause both the flower to be slightly overexposed and bug to be slightly underexposed. if you dont wanna do HDR then you need the raw file to do highlight and shadow recovery when doing pp.

just what i think. not sure if its correct or if i interpreted the qn correctly...

Maybe it would make more sense to use 3D Matrix Metering. I will try to test each metering next time I have the chance.

 

[Pauche]

yup....... there should be an AE lock on your camera.

 

[pixelpixie]

pixelpixie, TroyP is referring to the dioptre setting of your camera eyepiece, and NOT on the Raynox dioptre, which is fixed.

Ah yep. Well I thought he meant the camera, since there's nothing you can do on a Raynox lol


Tchuanye/Troy, both of you guys are right. I tot Troy meant the Raynox :embrass::embrass:
Lol. But i learnt stuff about both dioptres today i'd prob go and set my camera eyepiece too, for more accurate manual focus. Thanks for sharing guys!

Troy, i have said it before, and i'm saying it again, your pictures are amazing. I'm inspired to take better macros (back breaking hard work though) :sweatsm:

 

[shgfun]

well done. very fruitful trip with so many nice captures.

 

[B-setting]

troy,

great shots as usual!

could you post a pic of your diffuser? is it similar to the styrofoam bowl modded by teebs?

thanks.

 

[TroyP]

well done. very fruitful trip with so many nice captures.

Thanks

troy,

great shots as usual!

could you post a pic of your diffuser? is it similar to the styrofoam bowl modded by teebs?

thanks.

Thanks
Nope, it's just 2 sheets of cut-out plastic from a Meiji 2L Milk Bottle.

Here's from the back/side of the Raynox:

 

[TMlim]

Hey Troy, your photos are amazing!! :thumbsup:

Thanks for sharing!

 

[vanattaflowers]

Very cute picture ... i have appreciate your posting .. thanks alot

 

[Numnumball]

Great Work Troy!
Impressive defiunition and clarify in most pics.

 

[lichtleiter]

Troy, you're the man

 

[TroyP]

Thanks for the comments

 

[wenwei]

very nice shot. Cant wait to try it too.. my hands are feeling itchy.

Can i check with you if you have tried youre raynox on your D90 kit lens? does it work? I am using a D90 too, getting a 50mm and raynox soon , so i was wondering if it can work with my kit lens as it is stated that it works for lens from 52mm to 67 mm..

thanks alot... sorry, very new to photography

 

[TroyP]

very nice shot. Cant wait to try it too.. my hands are feeling itchy.

Can i check with you if you have tried youre raynox on your D90 kit lens? does it work? I am using a D90 too, getting a 50mm and raynox soon , so i was wondering if it can work with my kit lens as it is stated that it works for lens from 52mm to 67 mm..

thanks alot... sorry, very new to photography

Thanks.

18-55mm kit lens, or 18-105mm? I have the latter, and you'll see plenty of kit lens + raynox on my older flickr pics. It's a heavier lens so I don't choose to use it (and longer barrel). At the 18mm range there's no problems, but there's vignetting towards the 105mm range due to the fact that the lens is 62mm diameter and the raynox is 49(?)mm.

 

[alvinpaul]

Hi Troy, where did you take these pictures in SGB? I was there last Sunday (evening) and all I saw were lots of ants, a fly and a grasshopper...he he he...I just saw later in a poster that there are lots of insects in the Ginger Garden where I did not go as it is already late.

 

[TroyP]

Hi Troy, where did you take these pictures in SGB? I was there last Sunday (evening) and all I saw were lots of ants, a fly and a grasshopper...he he he...I just saw later in a poster that there are lots of insects in the Ginger Garden where I did not go as it is already late.

http://www.sbg.org.sg/tanglincore/tanglincore.asp

The area should be between Swan Lake and the pond just north-east of it.
If you're looking at a map at SBG, its at "Area G".