Inspired by Derek and back my macro roots!

Hi everyone

I like to look at derek897's macro images as it reminds me of what I used to do a lot of. I used to spend hours in the back garden with all manner of home-made kit, shooting macro images with my K-x or my K-5. These past few years, I don't seem to have had much spare time, but decided yesterday to spend a few minutes with my K-5iis and D FA 100 F2.8 Macro WR lens. Then tonight I rolled out the best bit of kit I ever cobbled together, which is my de-glassed FA 28-80 zoom lens, with a reversed Nikkor F2.8 Enlarger Lens fixed to the front. With a powerful manual flashgun on the hotshoe and a cheap ebay Softbox attached to the flash, this is a versatile and powerful macro combination, capable of pretty extreme magnification levels.

Here are a few shots from my venture back to macro, hope you like, all comments welcomed.

1. Damselfly Eyes with Butchered Zoom + Nikkor lens, Aperture F32, Flashgun





2. Pollen Beetle on Bird's Foot Trefoil Flower with Butchered Zoom + Nikkor lens, Aperture F32, Flashgun





3. Damselfly with D FA 100 F2.8 WR Macro lens on extension tubes, Aperture F13, Flashgun





4. Marmalade Hoverfly with D FA 100 F2.8 WR Macro lens, Aperture F5, Daylight, no flash





5. Marmalade Hoverfly with D FA 100 F2.8 WR Macro lens, Aperture F5, Daylight, no flash




Cheers
David

Wow - your old kit still works then!!

Phil

They do don't they,

Well it didn't take you long to get back into the groove, with shots like these,
Super.
The pollen beetle is my fav, just love the light, tones and composition
Back with a bang sir.
Looking forward to seeing much more.

Thanks for the mention too

Superb set, excellent photography and with butchered kit as well !!

My favourite pastime even though I get robbed for it. Great shots.

You members of the Professor Branestawm society can certainly deliver the results

That first shot is pretty scary first thing in the morning - I like the softening of highlights you've created with the softbox, good overall illumination without receding into blackness. Nice little set, and I'm glad to see you're getting your Macro Mojo back

Great set David. I love the opening shot, albeit a bit sinister looking, Also the pollen beetle looks good too. Must get back into this as well...

great set David, welcome back. the landscapes are to follow i trust

very nice

Impressive magnification and IQ, for such a (I presume) small outlay. The bugs have never been an area of photography I really enjoy looking at, however as I tell Derek, I can certainly appreciate the skill and stealth involved.

Well you certainly haven’t lost your touch David... super set... not my area of expertise so can’t offer any technical thoughts, but I particularly like the head-on shots 1 & 3... really direct... top stuff...

Best

Superb David!!

Thanks all for the comments, I do need to do more of this stuff, I enjoy it and used to be a lot more prolific than I am recently!

I might use the spare afternoon we now have on Sunday since England went out of the World Cup!

Cheers
David