Taken at Random

[Ken Ramos]

Most of the time I like to shoot specific things but that unfortunately is not always the case and most of the time I like to have a bug in them. Why, I don't know. I guess it is because I don't have cool things like dead animal artifacts lying around the house like a few of our members, though I wish I did have a few oddities lying around though. Maybe I can find something out on the highway.

Oh...Hi ya'all! Just thinking out loud, you know what I mean, us old folks who live alone do that a lot, talk to themselves you know . I was out back of the house this afternoon and came across these.


Aphid
EOS 20D
Manual mode/hand held
1/250 sec. @ f/7.1 ISO 400
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro
Canon 430EX Speedlite @ -1/3
Metering = set @ partial
Low to the ground, deep woods, in shade of course

Don't know how I managed such a clean background or if in fact I really deserve such a one but I thought it looked very good anyway and the aphid does look nice against it. However I wish for some odd reason that the aphid was a bit more sharp but not much more. The depth of field I am quite pleased with, wish I could get that more often. Anyway I know there is something I have missed here, there always is.


Honeybee
EOS 20D
Manual mode/hand held
1/200 sec. @ f/4.5 ISO 100
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro
Metering = set @ partial
Daylight, bright sun, front yard/lawn

I commented to Rik in another post, about how I like to photograph bees but never seem to get a good shot of them, meaning that what ever I do to them they always look like they are out of focus or I get them to where they look over sharpened. I suppose this one turned out okay but the depth of field concerning the clover is really not much to my liking, maybe I really should have stopped down more.


Harvestman
EOS 20D
Manual mode/ hand held
1/250 sec. @ f/10 ISO 100
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro
Canon 430EX Speedlite @ -1/3
Metering = set @ partial

I thought it a bit early in the season for these but I guess not. Here I am happy with the depth of field, everything...unless I missed something and I probably did and if so tell me please, seems to be just where I would want it. However I wish that I had gotten the abdomen a little sharper. I am really pleased that the eye of this critter turned out as sharp as it did. Does this remind you of something that you would see in a seafood tank, at some restaruant somewhere?

[beetleman]

I like the aphid photo..you know they are small and I think you captured a lot of detail on her and the background is perfect. The bee shot is good but I see what you mean about the clover needing more DOF. The harvestmen always look very creepy up close, they remind me of the old SiFi movie "The Crawling Eye" http://www.atomicmonsters.com/crawlingeye.htm

[Bruce Williams]

Three very different shots here Ken. I note that you applied quite diferent exposure settings and a switch of ISO from 400 on pic1 to 100 for the other two pics.

Pic1 shows good DOF and l like the levels too. It's quite a light/bright subject so even at ISO400 noise was unlikely to be a problem (and isn't).

Pic2 - focus is spot-on (although DOF is narrow) and in my opinion could take a slightly tighter crop to show more detail on the bee's head.

Pic3 is my personal favourite. The image creates a real sense of energy and movement and (like you) I think the eye helps to make the photo. More DOF bringing the abdomen into crisp focus would have improved the picture (as you felt yourself), however 1/250s might have been an equally important consideration helping to freeze motion and avoid camera movement.

Lobster

Exposure is excellent on all three pics.

Bruce

[Ken Ramos]

You know I really would like to see that eyeball movie. They just don't make good sci-fi like they used too Anyone remember the "Brain Eaters."

Depth of field can be subjective I suppose. How much one wants in the foreground or how much one wants in the background and then there is that sweet spot that probably most of us seek or have found, where everything is in harmony, one with another. I usually check my DOF preview or try to anyway but somehow it just does not turn out in the download like you see it in the view finder, seems I am always a day late and a dollar short most of the time. But I will keep chipping away at it, as I have often heard, practice makes prefect, then again...sometimes it forms bad habits.

I like shooting at 1/250 sec. for the most part, sometimes maybe 1/200 sec. I worry about an unsteady hand or stance destroying the sharpness of the image. Though I have a tripod and a monopod, I find both to be cumbersome at times but not around home.

So you guys pretty much keyed in on what I did. To stop down more or open up...that is the question I suppose. Thanks guys!

[cactuspic]

Good series Ken. Depth of field is always a battlingbear. There are so many conflicting choices that run counter to it-camera shake, subject movement, cluttered backround, diffraction, increased noise. That said, I think the images work. I particularly like #3.

A number of bug shooters I know use a diffused flash so they can stop down and avoid movement.

Irwin

[Ken Ramos]

Thanks Irwin. I used to use a diffuser a lot but now I don't for some reason. I can't recall why I stopped, I think I will go back to using it.