Today in the sun

Two shots taken with the sun at noon. Hand held Tamron 90/2.8 @f8

#1[IMG]http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff444/Frogherder/IMGP7700a.jpg[/IMG]

#2[IMG]http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff444/Frogherder/IMGP7704.jpg[/IMG]

It appears my focusing problems may have been cured

What sayeth thou?

Bernard

I would say you can do better with that lens, 1st one comes close but you missed the focus on the eye, this macro stuff takes a lot of patience

Hi chap, the first is close, and I like the comp. in the second but focus is off. Are you using flash or extra lighting?
I had help and advice here re lighting and aperture, but it's still slow progress.
Nigel

Thanks guys, I thought I'd cracked it at last. These were the best of a few dozen I took around noon when the Michaelmas Daisies were positively buzzing.

Only light came from the sun, so bright that ISO400 gave 1/350 & 1/500s speeds.

I'll have another go today - it's not as draughty as yesterday (not yet anyway) and promises to be just as bright.

I'll try putting superglue down next

regards
Bernard

Had another go today, this time at f11. Slight draught and boy do these critters fidget.

[IMG]http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff444/Frogherder/IMGP7725a.jpg[/IMG]

Do bees have compound eyes? - I can't make out



regards
Bernard

Certainly looks sharper!

The pink petals are a bit dominating. You could 'darken them' a bit using a multiply layer in PS. Do you mind if I do a quick mod, Bernard?

Thanks Pentaxophile I was hoping someone else would comment on the sharpness - I'd got to the stage I was going goggle eyed, then they flew away.

Feel free to fiddle to your hearts content, I wanted to check that I'd adjusted the autofocus on my K10D, which was back focusing very badly


regards
Bernard

Yep that's much better. I'll have a play later as I've just realised the time and I'm supposed to mow the lawns before SWMBO gets home


regards
Bernard

To be honest, Bernard, I'd do away with using autofocus for macro shots and use manual focus. It does make you go goggle-eyed but you'll find, after a bit of practice, that it's the way to go.

If you use a tripod you can use a smaller aperture for greater dof. More chance of getting a decent focus. But not with fast moving insects like those feeding on michaelmas daisies. Find something that will keep still first of all.

Cheers,

ds

Much better image Frogherder, much sharper. I personally would have cropped some off the top and bottom to get more bee and less empty space.well done.

Thanks guys,

The shots were taken with manual focus but the camera had been back focusing which also causes problems with MF as well as AF.

Nigel - I have a soft box made from an icecream tub, lined with silverfoil, and uses the translucent lid (without the cardboard filler) as the diffuser. It uses a separate flash(AF260SA) fired by a wireless trigger.
As the noon day sun was so bright I didn't bother setting it up.

Pentaxophile - I've managed to reproduce your edit - no where near as quickly as you did (took me over an hour and a half). My biggest photoshop problem is realising that it is needed.

Don - I've since cropped the pic just below the yellow stamens and just above the wings and as a picture I agree its much better



As I type I'm looking out of the window and whilst it's a clear blue sky the Michaelmas Daisies heads are moving some 4-6 inches in the wind, so I guess a rematch is out of the question.

regards
Bernard

[IMG]http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff444/Frogherder/IMGP7725b.jpg[/IMG]

Forgot to add Pic.

Need to take a bit more care with the eraser tool (I didn't notice the errors until just now)


regards
Bernard

It does tend to look less obvious if you set your brush softness to maximum. I didn't attempt to erase perfectly to the outline of the bee - just a large soft eraser brush applied over the general area, fairly loosely, avoiding the petals which needed to remain dark.