My hand at some fly and spider macro

[akskirmish]

It's the direct flash that causes the harsh lighting. Usually when using the flash you have to diffuse it by bouncing it off of something or by using some sort of diffuser to hopefully soften it up a bit. If it's a very bright and sunny day you may want to use the available light instead of firing the flash. Or you can use the flash as fill flash to get more detail out on the dark areas. Also having it on top of the camera and shooting close to subject isn't advisable either since you can get shadows from the lens or uneven lighting.



If I understood what you said correctly then you should be already applying everything you know every time you take a pic otherwise you won't see any improvements. And there are a ton of things to learn cause even professionals learn new things every time they shoot.



Yes you can do multiple crops or you can do it with one crop the same way you probably cropped the fly pic. In the 2nd pic you have too much space on the left and the bottom of the pic. Those areas doesn't do anything to enhance the pic itself so cropping those out will make for a better composition. You can also crop the other spider pics and concentrate tighter on the face since it looks like that's what you were after in those pics. You can also apply the rule of thirds during cropping if the pic allows it. I don't really follow that rule myself all the time and just go by what looks good to me.

Here's my quick edit in photoshop. Basically what I did was played with the levels, cropped, then sharpened. I think some people would have cropped it even tighter on the top and bottom.

Thanks man for the info-It's really appreciated-
I do understand I need to apply the knowledge I do know to my pics-It's just one of my downfalls at this point in time-I try to basically perfect one thing at a time----
I'm not much of a reader and have a bit od a learning disability----So most everything is trial and error for me....And that slow going.....
I did manage to take a few of the suggestions and apply them to the new fly pics I took today though-
I will start a new thread pretty soon and see what everyone has to say about them.....Of course I'm going to try my hand at edditing them though-So they might not turn out to great...


Is your monitor calibrated by chance.....If so what did ya use to do it....
I have calibrated mine with an online one that a friend sent me---And honestly the pic you did above-Looks all jacked up on my screen-Way to damn light...Maybe it's on my end-Hence why I am asking which one you use....Cause I'm sure yours is also calibrated...

 

[Chaitika]

Nice detail in those pics. You dun good.

Macro photography typically calls for a tripod and lots of lighting, but not bright sunlight. You could use a polarizing filter to kill some glare but I wouldn't worry about that until a little later.

The bottom line with macro work is the lack of depth of field regardless of aperture. Even if you went to F25, you'd still feel like you weren't getting all the critter in your pic.

Kenko tubes/diopters allow you to get in real close with your lens, but they make depth of field even more challenging. You can also get into bellows, but then you need a tripod for sure and a subject that does not move very much since getting the focus you want will require some very very fine tuning with your lens.

Ring flashes are very nice but to justify what they sell for is tough for a hobbyist, unless he has gobs of cash burning a hole in his pocket.

The fly pics show the entire bug and that's good. The spider pics leave me wondering what you're trying to show. If it's a close up of the face you want to show, then crop your pics accordingly. If it's the whole animal, back off a bit, shoot the whole animal and then crop for good framing. No one will know the difference. If you want to get the whole animal in focus, consider shooting from above.

Unlike myself you have a nice steady hand.

There is som enice macro work on Aquatic Photography. Andreas Worth in particular has done some amazing macro work with bugs.

 

[is300zx]

Is your monitor calibrated by chance.....If so what did ya use to do it....
I have calibrated mine with an online one that a friend sent me---And honestly the pic you did above-Looks all jacked up on my screen-Way to damn light...Maybe it's on my end-Hence why I am asking which one you use....Cause I'm sure yours is also calibrated...

I don't have a calibrator yet. I'm using a crt which is a bit dark so that's maybe why it might be too light on yours. Honestly all of your pics looks dark to me even on my laptop. They look underexposed to me, I don't know about how it looks like to others though. I wouldn't really trust an online calibrator either. Look into a spyder monitor calibrator.

 

[Chaitika]

I don't have a calibrator yet. I'm using a crt which is a bit dark so that's maybe why it might be too light on yours. Honestly all of your pics looks dark to me even on my laptop. They look underexposed to me, I don't know about how it looks like to others though. I wouldn't really trust an online calibrator either. Look into a spyder monitor calibrator.

The second spider pic looks under-exposed to me, but your edit of his pic does look a little hot on my monitor.

I use an LCD which is very hard to get calibrated right for editing photos. I had such a hassle calibrating this monitor manually, I went out and bought a ColorVision Spyder II. Made all the difference in the world, but no 2 monitors are calibrated exactly the same, so no one really seems the same version, really.

It's not a bad idea to intentionally under-expose a pic if the subject is very light in colour or it's in direct sunlight. You can also get filters for your lenses that will do the same thing.

 

[Dudzy]

Very nice.

 

[is300zx]

The second spider pic looks under-exposed to me, but your edit of his pic does look a little hot on my monitor.

I looked at it on my laptop and I see what you guys are talking about. I think the problem was with the pic having uneven exposure and not exactly the editing. The abdomen itself looks nearly overexposed especially in the center compared to the rest of the pic, and so when I corrected for exposure the abdomen became overexposed. I think the ground itself looks like what it would look like on a bright sunny day. And just to correct myself, I think pic 2 and maybe pic 1 are underexposed the rest looks ok on my laptop.

 

[akskirmish]

Nice detail in those pics. You dun good.

Macro photography typically calls for a tripod and lots of lighting, but not bright sunlight. You could use a polarizing filter to kill some glare but I wouldn't worry about that until a little later.

The bottom line with macro work is the lack of depth of field regardless of aperture. Even if you went to F25, you'd still feel like you weren't getting all the critter in your pic.

Kenko tubes/diopters allow you to get in real close with your lens, but they make depth of field even more challenging. You can also get into bellows, but then you need a tripod for sure and a subject that does not move very much since getting the focus you want will require some very very fine tuning with your lens.

Ring flashes are very nice but to justify what they sell for is tough for a hobbyist, unless he has gobs of cash burning a hole in his pocket.

The fly pics show the entire bug and that's good. The spider pics leave me wondering what you're trying to show. If it's a close up of the face you want to show, then crop your pics accordingly. If it's the whole animal, back off a bit, shoot the whole animal and then crop for good framing. No one will know the difference. If you want to get the whole animal in focus, consider shooting from above.

Unlike myself you have a nice steady hand.

There is som enice macro work on Aquatic Photography. Andreas Worth in particular has done some amazing macro work with bugs.

Thanks-
I hear what ya sayin about the DOF-I did try multiple setting yesterday Rangeing anywhere from f8 range up to the f 25 range-And it was hard to tell a huge difference in them...
I tend to do everything free hand-I do have a tripod of decent quality-But need better....

Would you suggest I look into them kenko's or just stay to cropping them..
As far as ring flashes goes-Thats not happening anytime soon....I got other advaentures I'm sinking money into right now and certainl can't justify the cost of them....Maybe if I ever found a good used one---But I also dont think thats happening as well..

I'm going to take my time and re-edit these shots and take my time before I post the new shots and see what I can come up with this time around for you guys.....

I certainly appreciate the info given....

 

[akskirmish]

I don't have a calibrator yet. I'm using a crt which is a bit dark so that's maybe why it might be too light on yours. Honestly all of your pics looks dark to me even on my laptop. They look underexposed to me, I don't know about how it looks like to others though. I wouldn't really trust an online calibrator either. Look into a spyder monitor calibrator.

LOL-
I have no idea what a crt is....

All of my pics look pretty good on my screen-
But I do notice that when I use someone else's computer and look at my pics they generally tend to be really dark on them---
I had the same issue with mine comp at home-And got fed up and went and bought a new monitor(spent good money on it).Made all the difference in the world on my end atleast.....But they are still dark on anyother comp I bring them up on still-
I dont know what to do about it----I'm about as dumb as they come when it comes to comps----Might be an easy fix-Might not be also--I dont know for sure...

And yes you are correct-99% of my photo's are under exsposed----Just trying to learn new things and am basically a newbie at photography(as if one couldn't tell)...

 

[akskirmish]

The second spider pic looks under-exposed to me, but your edit of his pic does look a little hot on my monitor.

I use an LCD which is very hard to get calibrated right for editing photos. I had such a hassle calibrating this monitor manually, I went out and bought a ColorVision Spyder II. Made all the difference in the world, but no 2 monitors are calibrated exactly the same, so no one really seems the same version, really.

It's not a bad idea to intentionally under-expose a pic if the subject is very light in colour or it's in direct sunlight. You can also get filters for your lenses that will do the same thing.

I use an LCD as well-Best investment I have made so far....
I dont know how to calibrate though if it complicated at all----The one I used was very easy and basic...

I got just about every filter under the sun man----One of the big mistakes I got led into when I first started buying camera equipment....
What should I try useing for some of these.....

 

[akskirmish]

I looked at it on my laptop and I see what you guys are talking about. I think the problem was with the pic having uneven exposure and not exactly the editing. The abdomen itself looks nearly overexposed especially in the center compared to the rest of the pic, and so when I corrected for exposure the abdomen became overexposed. I think the ground itself looks like what it would look like on a bright sunny day. And just to correct myself, I think pic 2 and maybe pic 1 are underexposed the rest looks ok on my laptop.

Basically here is what I did for the spider shot-
Went and found spider-
Yanked his ass up with a stick-
Took it to my garage to try and get out of sunlight-
Used my flash-
You see the end results..

So I was prepared for critism......I new people would beable to tear it apart-
But thats the reason why I post them-So I can try and take the info given and try to apply it to the next round of pics----
Just takes me a bit longer then most other's......

But do appreciate all info-Good or bad......