Great idea and very effective, especially the gold one.

I use collapsible reflectors, they are quite a bit bigger than yours and more tricky to handle! They can be invaluable in certain circumstances, they really do bring an image to life.

Regards
David

Question for Nigel:

Have you not tried using a collapsible softbox that attaches to your flashgun? These are cheap and very effective.

BTW, this is a response to a comment posted early in the thread when you were being asked whether the shots were with a flashgun pointed directly at the subjects.

Regards
David

Fabulous images, these are some of the best I've seen where flash has been used to great effect. Very natural and balanced looking.

Regards
David

Hi Derek

Great to see you making use of the tubes! I really must make the time to do more macro this year, it's one of my photography passions and we have a back garden that's ideal for it (lots of semi wild areas).

The lighting looks to be quite even, if a little subdued? Off camera flash is a great idea for macro, it's easy to do with some triggers such as the Apeture ones. I use a softbox in preference to ringflash because it avoids odd reflections, for example in the eyes of an insect.

I like the third image best, the water droplet adds interest to it. I'm no expert, but FWIW I always try to add a compositional element to my macro shots, i.e. to give depth and to lead the eye in. I think a lead-in is something that's not quite there in these shots, a slightly different angle can make all the difference.

Best regards
David

Nice shots, well done! I have made all manner of flash contraptions over the years, including some double-headed ones to fire light from two directions at once and a variety of soft boxes. I've settled now on a commercially made soft box which attaches to my powerful manual flashgun, this is easier to handle and lighter than my home-made ones.

Keep it up, macro is a fascinating area of photography which is quite difficult to master.

Regards
David

Brilliantly done Gareth, these are fine shots, well worth getting up early for!

Regards
David

Excellent Chris, I've never seen one in the wild, but we do have lots of Grass Snakes living around our house, although these too are extremely timid and not at all easy to photograph.

Regards
David

After some posts last year I'm now convinced the issue does not lie with the SDM Motor in these lenses. I strongly suspect it points to a capacitor (or capacitors) on the circuit board, which need to be charged in order for the motor to operate. If the lenses are left unused for periods of time, the caps lose charge and won't re-charge when fixed to the camera. We've seen loads of posts from people who use their SDM lenses regularly and don't have issues, whereas people who use them sparingly do.

I wish Pentax would come clean and tell us all what causes the problems and how to avoid them. My 50-135 will not work when first fixed to the camera, but after 30 seconds or so it does start working 100% normally, then I have no further issues. This lens has the latest motor.

Regards
David

When are you coming to Sheffield Bill? I's even better down 'ere.

Seems like you gave a great talk to the boys up North.

Cheers
David

NIKON NIKON NIKON NIKON NIKON

CANON CANON CANON CANON CANON

OLYMPUS OLYMPUS OLYMPUS OLYMPUS OLYMPUS

Pentax.

Do you think I will be in trouble?

Cheers
David