DetmoldDick
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MacroHere is the result of my first session of macro photography.
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Boxer6
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Very impressive effort DD.
Was the fly flying, or a dead 'un strung up?
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DetmoldDick
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The fly was very much an ex-fly. The shot was taken with the fly on its back and then rotated.
I used the limited depth of field to try to give the impression that the wings were flapping.
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Big TC
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You could add blurr to the wings in PP....?
A good shot anyway!
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DarthBalls
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great shot - all my insect macros have been a bit crap.
What did you use for lighting/setting up the shot?
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the old man
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Great shot DD, what lens did you use? I have the Sigma 105mm EX DG macro and it is a lovely lens to use.
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DetmoldDick
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| DarthBalls wrote: |
What did you use for lighting/setting up the shot? |
I placed the fly on the perspex lid of a screwdriver set. This was to eliminate shadow. This was placed on a white sheet of paper for the background colour.
For lighting I used a 500watt site lamp (as used in building sites). Very powerful and also very cheap but also extremely hot.
| the old man wrote: |
what lens did you use? |
I used the Nikon 18-55mm kit lens with extension tubes. The tubes were 5.99 from Amazon. They allow you to get in real close. The disadvantages are that this setup suck up a lot of light and they have no contacts for metering/autofocus. I may invest in a set of Kenko tubes that have the contacts. I would love a dedicated macro lens but they tend to be quite expensive (beyond my current means). My next purchase is likely to be the new Nikkor 35mm/f1.8 that comes out 16 March. I don't have a primary lens as yet.
Here is my latest effort
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DarthBalls
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| DetmoldDick wrote: | Here is my latest effort
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Nice Orchid here's one I took on Sunday using my Minolta 50mm f1.8
BTW - the Tamron 90mm Macro can be quite reasonable on eBay.
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the old man
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Two cracking Orchid shots. Great DoF in both.
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DarthBalls
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| the old man wrote: | | Two cracking Orchid shots. Great DoF in both. |
Cheers - the orchid in mine is a present for my gran - I'll also be framing a print of the photo to go with it.
I discovered that my 5 in 1 reflector is actually 6 in 1 (or more) as I used the diffuser panel as a background with a halogen work light behind it to blow out the background and off camera flash in front of the orchid.
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Matt
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I don't tend to do Macro much, but I used the Sigma 105 today for a change.
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Matt
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Took a few today.
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Boxer6
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I don't think these are as good quality as any of those above, but any (constructive!) criticisms are welcomed.
This one was off the back of a "snatched" shot earlier - posted it in the "silly/pretty" thread.
Mr bug just wouldn't keep still, and I missed him taking off from our fence and flying away!! Got him on the wall a few minutes later, but not as crisp as I would have liked.
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Matt
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I got a couple of bee shots yesterday, which turned up to the plant I was shooting for a change and not me having to track them until they land!
The first was over-exposed as I forgot to adjust the shutter with the enjoyment of having got it sharp with manual focus, but the second was OK, just not much definition on the bee.
The water droplets on my empty bottle made for a fun subject, too.
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Matt
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Great capture, Boxer. Only thing I'd suggest is perhaps removing some of the yellowy tinge and make the white balance towards the bluey-aqua end. That's just superficial enhancing though, there's no problems with the composition to my eye.
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Boxer6
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| Matt wrote: |
Great capture, Boxer. Only thing I'd suggest is perhaps removing some of the yellowy tinge and make the white balance towards the bluey-aqua end. That's just superficial enhancing though, there's no problems with the composition to my eye. |
Cheers, Matt, I'll give that a go if I get time (jk!)
'course, I had to be quick taking the shot, before H drank it!! 
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Matt
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I didn't see the other shot you took before I posted my reply, I thought it was pouring water on its own, not in a glass, so that ambiguity makes it even better, imo.
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Boxer6
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Got these two today. Biggest problem(s) being,
1. The wind kept moving the bloody things, and
2. My pain pills are playing nasty tricks with my close-up focus! 
Anyway, here we go.........
This one I've "tweaked" somewhat in Irfanview, rather than ELements - I still haven't learned it well enough yet!!
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Matt
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Plants, especially yellow ones reflect ambient light really well, so a full stop under when exposing cures some of the issues in the picture above and then saturation can be post-processed back in to a picture.
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Matt
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These were taken under flashlight just now.
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Boxer6
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A couple from today....
And lastly, my favourite.....
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Boxer6
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Dunno what happened there - one minute I was mid-post, next ~ nothing!!
Anyway, I played about on PB with the bubbles in glass shot from earlier ... this is my favourite.
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Matt
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Your favourite flower shot is excellent and I like the 'Tron' style of the water shot. 
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Boxer6
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| Matt wrote: | | Your favourite flower shot is excellent and I like the 'Tron' style of the water shot. |
Wine, dear boy - wine!!
And thanks.
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the old man
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A Hoverfly
Strange beetle
Waterlilly
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Big TC
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Here's one I took on my recent wildlife photography day out, with an 'effect' added later, courtesy of Digital Photo mag and instructional dvd.
Dunno if it works or not, really...
Lens was a 80-300 (I think) Sigma Macro, on a Nikon D40
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Rodge
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Taken last week in the garden
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Boxer6
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Really excellent shot, Rodge.
Taken on my phone a couple of weeks ago...... nothing like as good as Rodge's though!
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Matt
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I was using the manual focus on my Canon G10 today.
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