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.

Everyone can post 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 !

Brian V.

Here's a lily petal with the focus off a bit. Just stuck a 500d on the end of my sig 150.

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.

Maybe this will do?

All taken with Nikkor f4.5 300mm manual focus lens and extension for about 7/10 lifesize.

Kenny- I suspect out of comfort zone means something like shooting macro in the nude
Brian v.

I doubt these Aggies will let me get away with that.

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

Does shooting a highly reflective insect with the MT-24EX count?

Seen Better Days

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 !

Brian V.




















Brian, I love these shots.... number 2 is FAB.... what was your setup on there....

Thinks Bignorm
#2 was just a bluebell flower laying on the car bonnet taken around 2:1 I think and focus stacked using a 40D/MPE-65/430Ex flash

Brian v.

That first one LordV is amazing, I could see that in print may I ask the setup and processing please?

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.

Brian V.

Tech specs: Canon 40D (Aperture Priority F6.3, ISO 400) + a Canon 180mm L macro lens with an 81A warming filter. No flash.

WOW!

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.

Tech specs: Canon 40D (aperture priority F6.3, ISO 200) + a Canon 180mm L macro lens with an 81A warming filter and a Canon 1.4x teleconverter. No flash.

Pssst Tom! I took this one last year...

Dalantech wrote:
Tech specs: Canon 40D (aperture priority F6.3, ISO 200) + a Canon 180mm L macro lens with an 81A warming filter and a Canon 1.4x teleconverter. No flash.

Agree with Tom. IMHO this is also one of your very best dragon shots John. Magnificent!