Little fly.

Having a play with 100mm macro, extension tube and Pentax 1.7x adapter.

Really like that mike. Excellent stuff.

Super shot Mike.

Interesting lens combo and a good result. I'll try that!!

This is a really fantastic shot, can I ask about the lighting?

Wow - what macro ratio would this have been Mike?

A simple Pentax AF200T flash with a cut out piece of plastic milk bottle stuck to the front. Cost me £10 a few years ago, nice thing about that flash is you can stick it on manual and then control the output from the switches on the back.

To be honest Bob, I have no idea ... it wasn't full magnification though, there was plenty left. I may put the Raynox 250 on as well next time.

It looks fairly soft to me and I don't like the crop, I think there needs to be more room top and bottom.

Macro is like an alien planet to me. But I love to see other people's work in this style. Terrific stuff.
David

PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

I couldn't disagree more. You have to appreciate that the focal plane is so terribly narrow here. Side-on, we get the majority of the head/torso/abdomen very sharp. And that's what you want. As parts of the fly come out of that focal plane, then they will become soft etc (such as the legs closest to the viewer).

Fairly soft isn't an attribute I'd give to the shot at all, as its the depth of field that's at work here, not a failure to focus correctly on the subject.

The 100mm macro lens at 1:1 without the tube or the 1.7x adapter would have produced an image much clearer and sharper , so really it's a bit of a pointless exercise .

I have to say that I think this comment is nonsensical! There is nothing 'soft' about this image and the crop is fine. It's a great shot and not easy to do, particularly with both tubes and a TC! I haven't tried this combination yet, may give it a go.

Well done Mike.

I disagree with this one too. The 100mm macro lens on its own would not be capable of producing anything close to this image. Yes, it would be sharp, but the magnification wouldn't be there and after cropping sufficiently to get the same size image of the fly, the quality would be poor. I think you should try this yourself anniem and post us your images so we can see what you can do with just a 100mm macro lens!

Regards
David

Just would have filled the frame with the background and very little fly!

By the way Mike, I like the crop and the rest of the composition. Nice shot.

You have posted no details about what equipment you used to take this shot, how much it's cropped or anything else. That is not an image taken with just a 100mm 1:1 macro lens, the magnification is too high.

Also, I think the crop on this is far more severe (and worse) than that on Mike's picture. I think you should come clean with us here and tell us what was used to shoot this image.

Regards
David