Me too!

Dan

There's a clue in the photos above...

Dan

Hello Dan Bridges!

Dan Bridge

A sucker, I reckon. Bit like the shield bugs we get here, this fellow looks as though he's about to pierce the stem of the plant with his mouth-parts, and suck out the sap.

Love the composition of this one, exposure's good, but focusing is slightly behind where I think it should be - on the eye. His legs and antenna on the far side are sharp. I do this all the time.

A tricky one to compose I reckon - quite busy, but you've done a nice job. Really like the left-most leg on the web.

Looks a little bit overexposed on the body, and definitely missed focus (don't think it's over compression for the 'web').

...and Mum and Dad too I reckon. But again, this doesn't look sharp. Would have been great to have got right in for a frame filling mass of bugs too.

Come on Clarky, be hyper-critical with your focusing and these would be crackers!

Dan

Have to agree with Tyr, the image quality from the Tamron is way ahead of the Bower. The Bower gives a smeared effect, looks more like a lensbaby.

Dan

That's true, I've got some nice shots where I've had the flash about 4 or 5 feet away, above and to one side. Does a fair imitation of sunlight then. But with my Centon I have to use a lead to connect it to the camera (via a hotshoe adaptor with the K10D).

Dan

Yes, this one needs velcro stuck on to the flash too. In this case it means I can no longer 'zoom' the flash head in and out, but I never used that anyway - it's always either got the diffuser on it or is being bounced off something.

I don't like direct flash.

Dan

...and here was my first diffuser:

https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2531&postdays=0&postord...


The Lumiquest one I use now is this one: http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_1&products_id=100...

Dan

Of course!

Here it is on my K10D, Sigma 105mm f/2.8, and Centon flash. I like the Centon because it has a 2 second recycle time, so there's no too much time hanging around between exposures. Also got a tilt and swivel head.







And a couple showing the results. The Shield Bug is cropped very slightly, the Hoverfly was down to about 1/3 of the frame. Note the shadows, nice and soft, but giving a better 3D appearance than a ringflash in my opinion (each to their own of course ).



K10D, 105mm, ISO200, f/9.5, 1/30s.



K10D, 105mm, ISO200, f/9.5, 1/30s.

Dan

I swear by this combination - gives nice, soft, but slightly directional light. I think a ringflash's lack of shadowsmakes the subject look too flat.

I use a manual flash, f/11 @ISO200 gives a correct exposure at 1:1 reproduction with my 105mm lens.

Dan