Hanging on Lunch

Every 30 days the site administrators will pick a favorite macro or close-up image from one of the "Macro and Close-up" galleries to be featured on the front page of the www.photomacrography.net website.

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Dalantech
Posts: 694
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:57 am

Hanging on Lunch

Post by Dalantech »

Solitary Bee actively feeding -gave me all of three frames.

Tech specs: Canon 40D (F13, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MPE-65mm macro lens (@1x) + a diffused MT-24EX macro twin flash (-2/3 FEC).

Link to a larger version -just click on the link to expand it. I also blogged about this, and a few other photos, in a post called Difficulty and Deception.

Image
Last edited by Dalantech on Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

augusthouse
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Joined: Sat Sep 16, 2006 1:39 am
Location: New South Wales Australia

Post by augusthouse »

John,

Fascinating series of images.

You've outlined the technique for this series on your blog; but for the benefit of viewers who don't happen to click through; could you briefly summarise the use of the flash as your shutter aspect?

Craig
To use a classic quote from 'Antz' - "I almost know exactly what I'm doing!"

Dalantech
Posts: 694
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:57 am

Post by Dalantech »

augusthouse wrote: You've outlined the technique for this series on your blog; but for the benefit of viewers who don't happen to click through; could you briefly summarise the use of the flash as your shutter aspect?

Craig
Excellent question Craig!

Kinda tough to sum it up in just a few words though.

At life size magnification, F11, ISO 100, and 1/250 of a second for the shutter there is very little natural light getting though the lens and onto the image plane (the sensor in the camera). If the flash does not fire, then the resulting image is going to be almost completely black -only the most reflective objects in the scene are going to get recorded (barely). At higher magnifications the image will be totally black if the flash doesn't fire.

Since the flash is the only significant light source being recorded by the camera it becomes a "virtual shutter" and the short duration of that light can be used to freeze motion. We've all seen images of a balloon in mid pop, frozen in time by a short burst of light from a flash (if you haven't then look here). The same principles that apply to high speed stop motion photography, freezing motion with a flash, apply to macro -IMHO macro is just one form of stop motion photography.

In my experience the shorter the duration of the flash the sharper a macro image will be. So getting the flash close to the subject, and using a good diffuser (one that actually diffuses the light and not just block it) is key to getting high quality macro photos.

If you'd like, in another thread, we can get into the difference between diffraction and what I call "macro motion blur" induced by a flash duration that's too long to freeze the motion in a scene.

augusthouse
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Joined: Sat Sep 16, 2006 1:39 am
Location: New South Wales Australia

Post by augusthouse »

Dalantech wrote:
If you'd like, in another thread, we can get into the difference between diffraction and what I call "macro motion blur" induced by a flash duration that's too long to freeze the motion in a scene.
:smt045 Yes Please!

Craig
To use a classic quote from 'Antz' - "I almost know exactly what I'm doing!"

gpmatthews
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Location: Horsham, W. Sussex, UK
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Post by gpmatthews »

Since the flash is the only significant light source being recorded by the camera it becomes a "virtual shutter" and the short duration of that light can be used to freeze motion.
This is pretty much how flash photomicrography works - I use continuous illumination that is adequate for manual viewing, but will produce a black field at the camera settings used with flash, if the flash is not fired. Hence the flash duration governs the exposure time.
Graham

Though we lean upon the same balustrade, the colours of the mountain are different.

Dalantech
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Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:57 am

Post by Dalantech »

Will do Craig -what forum do you want it in?

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Dalantech wrote:Will do Craig -what forum do you want it in?
Macro and Micro Technique and Technical Discussions

--Rik

Dalantech
Posts: 694
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:57 am

Post by Dalantech »

rjlittlefield wrote:
Macro and Micro Technique and Technical Discussions

--Rik
Done :)

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