Macro Photo thread

[Ed_P]

Ok ANOTHER springtail ...


Dewdrop Dicyrtomina by Ed Phillips 01, on Flickr

[ddarno]

Not a great shots, but does anyone know what sort of fly this is?


Fly of some sort by ddarno, on Flickr

[RobbieKB]

ddarno said:

Not a great shots, but does anyone know what sort of fly this is?


Fly of some sort by ddarno, on Flickr

I think that is a pretty great shot! Also, I don't know. Ed will be able to tell you.

[Ed_P]

RobbieKB said:

ddarno said:

Not a great shots, but does anyone know what sort of fly this is?


Fly of some sort by ddarno, on Flickr

I think that is a pretty great shot! Also, I don't know. Ed will be able to tell you.

Yes, lovely shot. Looks like Mesembrina meridiana, (the Noon Fly).

Edited by Ed_P on Sunday 1st December 19:35

[DibblyDobbler]

Ed_P said:

Yes, lovely shot. Looks like Mesembrina meridian, (the Noon Fly).

My thoughts exactly

[ddarno]

Ed_P said:

RobbieKB said:

ddarno said:

Not a great shots, but does anyone know what sort of fly this is?


Fly of some sort by ddarno, on Flickr

I think that is a pretty great shot! Also, I don't know. Ed will be able to tell you.

Yes, lovely shot. Looks like Mesembrina meridiana, (the Noon Fly).

Edited by Ed_P on Sunday 1st December 19:35

Thanks guys. I'd not seen one before, so had no idea. I would have like to get a bit more detail in the eyes, but it didn't hang around long.

[Ed_P]

Thought you might be interested in the setup I'm using for "ultra" macro work at the moment. By brother-in-law made the bespoke flash bracket for me (he used to build single-seater hillclimb cars in his workshop, so making this was a piece-of-cake). All machined out of solid aluminium sheet/tube.


Bespoke Flash Bracket for Macro by Ed Phillips 01, on Flickr

[RobbieKB]

Ed_P said:

Thought you might be interested in the setup I'm using for "ultra" macro work at the moment. By brother-in-law made the bespoke flash bracket for me (he used to build single-seater hillclimb cars in his workshop, so making this was a piece-of-cake). All machined out of solid aluminium sheet/tube.


Bespoke Flash Bracket for Macro by Ed Phillips 01, on Flickr

Example shot, example shot!

[Ed_P]

RobbieKB said:

Example shot, example shot!

OK then! These are Hypogastrura springtails, about 1.5mm long ...


Follow my leader ... by Ed Phillips 01, on Flickr

[GravelBen]

Some impressive stuff on this thread! I've only just discovered macro, here are a few shots I took with a friend's rig (Pentax K30 with 35 and 50mm f2.8 macro primes) until I sort out my own...


20131230-MacroIV-104 by gravelben, on Flickr


20131230-MacroIV-47 by gravelben, on Flickr


20131230-MacroIV-100 by gravelben, on Flickr


20131230-MacroIV-70 by gravelben, on Flickr


Fly on daisy (2) by gravelben, on Flickr

[DibblyDobbler]

GravelBen said:

Some impressive stuff on this thread! I've only just discovered macro, here are a few shots I took with a friend's rig (Pentax K30 with 35 and 50mm f2.8 macro primes) until I sort out my own...


20131230-MacroIV-104 by gravelben, on Flickr


20131230-MacroIV-47 by gravelben, on Flickr


20131230-MacroIV-100 by gravelben, on Flickr


20131230-MacroIV-70 by gravelben, on Flickr


Fly on daisy (2) by gravelben, on Flickr

Nice work Ben

You'll get away with a shutter of around 1/200 for stationary bugs so I would probably dial in a bit more aperture and/or wind back the iso a bit (try for 1/200 + f11 if possible). Most guys use flash - advantage being you can get up to f16 + 1/200 with iso 100ish. Downside is that non-diffused flash can be very harsh! All good fun

[TonyRPH]

Not bug related, and not quite as close as many here - but still macro related.



And one of my favourites.

[theinstaller]

Lunch time!!

[GravelBen]

First experiments with reversed 50mm f1.8. Not done anything about improved lighting yet.


Spidey by gravelben, on Flickr


Stamen by gravelben, on Flickr

Had a go with the 50mm reversed onto the front of the 80-200 f2.8 as well. Hard to get good results freehand on a windy day! Starts getting pretty dark once you stop down the 50mm as well, definitely more lighting required for that.


closer spider (1) by gravelben, on Flickr


closer spider (2) by gravelben, on Flickr

Same spider as above for comparison - its a big crop at 1:1 but the last two are full frame, no crop. To give an idea of the magnification with that combination, its body is 5mm wide and its head/neck thing is 1mm wide.

Edited by GravelBen on Sunday 5th January 07:18

[GravelBen]

Just managed to catch this wee fulla too... the smaller they get the harder they are to get in focus!


Spider Mite (1) by gravelben, on Flickr

[RobbieKB]

I'm impressed. Reversing has been something I've wanted to try. So, you used SOME form of lighting for these right? Surely you can't have just used available light!

[GravelBen]

Daylight + on-board flash for the spider, it struggles to get around the end of the doubled up lens well though. The mite had a fairly bright LED torch shining on it as well as it was inside. Neither were in direct sunlight.

This one isn't real macro but I still like it - taken with the 18-70 as its usually the only lens I carry up mountains:


NZ Speargrass Weevils (2) by gravelben, on Flickr

Edited by GravelBen on Sunday 5th January 21:26

[GravelBen]

Available light only with reversed 50mm (might have been at f/5.6 or f/8 I think):


Spider eyes - natural light only by gravelben, on Flickr

Same spider with flash, unhappy with the 'ringing' effect which I think is an artefact from the in-camera sharpening. Have turned the sharpening down now so hopefully it won't happen again. Macro is definitely a learning curve!


Puppy dog eyes by gravelben, on Flickr

Edited by GravelBen on Monday 6th January 10:06

[GravelBen]

At the risk of taking over the thread, I think I'm getting better at this!


Crab Spider (1) by gravelben, on Flickr

[Ed_P]

A selection from my local churchyard this morning ...


Leaf-litter Lifeforms by Ed Phillips 01, on Flickr