This is a challenge to everyone , but I'll pic on two of our more dominant members. Oh Joooohn, Oh Briiiiiian . Now guys this is not an attack on you , but I want you to lead the way with this challenge .
John , no Bees for awhile and no Pink Dragons . Grab the 180 and shoot at 1to1 or under.
Brian , almost the same for you , No Hover flies, and get out of your backyard , go see John at the farm or something. But no Bees.
Everyone else pic your poison, do a self evaluation and run with it .
John and Brian, figure out what you think my comfort zone is and make me a challenge and I'll do my best.
This is meant to be fun . I'll stick this at the top and you can post some images here.
Ive been shooting with the MPe-65 above life size with Flash for over a year now so on sunday went out with the Tamron 90mm and no flash, natural light only. Was definatley out of my comfort zone but it felt kinda liberating in a way. This was my favourite of the day. I definatley plan to take a step back and do more natural light work this year.
Some non buggy shots including natural light and single shots ! . Fraid I don't shoot out of my garden (I'm just documenting what I find there).
As for your challenge Tom - would be nice to see some new macro shots of anything taken at 1:1 or higher - you don't post enough to show us how it should be done !
Can anyone tell me what my comfort zone is? I know I shoot mostly spiders and bugs with a few flower shots that I never uploaded. Don't ask me to do abstract/still life macro because not only is it out of my comfort zone, it's already in my "I don't get it" zone.
OK Tom I'll see what I can do. All of my shooting is in the field and seasonal -this time of year is solitary bee hunting season. But I still carry the 180L in my backpack and I promise not to point it at violet dragons and bees I want to do more between 1/4 and 1/2 life size this year with no flash, but I have to wait for the good light
On the macro side I have been shooting more at 1x with the MPE-65mm -trying to back off and show more of the critter's surroundings.
Here's a couple with the 180L that's not a bee or violet dragon
I've actually been going out of my way lately to look for new angles, compositions, and subjects because I don't want a gallery filled with images that all look the same.
For your challenge Tom I want to see you break in that MPE-65mm. I also want you to stop lurking -you're the moderator so that makes this your forum. If you don't like what Brian and I are posting then jump in...
LordV wrote:
Some non buggy shots including natural light and single shots ! . Fraid I don't shoot out of my garden (I'm just documenting what I find there).
As for your challenge Tom - would be nice to see some new macro shots of anything taken at 1:1 or higher - you don't post enough to show us how it should be done !
Mark-A wrote:
That first one LordV is amazing, I could see that in print may I ask the setup and processing please?
Thanks - The flower was shot against a pale green piece of paper taped to a window in our bay window. Shot with natural light .
I inverted the shot and did a faded fractallius filter on it (faded to 30%). Then reinverted the shot. I then selected the background colour in PS and reinverted just that.
There are so many excellent shots here. Great work everyone! I really love macro shots like these but, have been neglecting my MP-E. This makes me want to go out and start working with macro again.
Tech specs: Canon 40D (shutter priority 1/250, ISO 400) + a Canon 180mm L macro with an 81A warming filter. I used the camera's pop up flash for a little fill (-2 FEC). To keep the camera stead I braced the lens on a hillbilly monopod (a cane close to the dragonfly).
Thought I was gonna get robbed by the background on this one but after seeing it on the computer I liked it.
Tech specs: Canon 40D (aperture priority F5, ISO 200) + a Canon 180mm L macro lens with an 81A warming filter and a Canon 1.4x teleconverter. No flash.
I really love macro shots like these but, have been neglecting my MP-E. This makes me want to go out and start working with macro again.