A walkabout from Embankment in the heart of London, late afternoon last month. I had the same lens as used for the Tulips in the nearby gardens, the M75-150 F4.0 .... just trying to see things and catch what can be found.

The Mono ones with the reflected figures were photographed off an overhead glass canopy, so looking upwards. The people didn't even know I was photographing them, it would have looked like I was shooting the clouds! The images were flipped 180deg to bring the people upright. Nelson on his Column was shot stright into a glaring bright sky, so I tried to hold the highlights mostly and let the rest crash into darkness.

Thanks for looking and for any responses, all critique welcomed

Sounds like I should have bought one of those P-TTL cables that was up for sale here recently! You guys are determined to get me out flashing with flies I do admire the effort in getting the great insect macro work we see here, in particular the care and delicacy it must take to get close enough without them just buzzing off ..... I have to be honest and say that often I simply don't find the bugs and spiders to be pleasant to look at (fascinating sometimes of course), but I think that stops me having the interest myself.

Joe, my photography is sometimes barely tolerated in my house (you know, since I have so much time to "waste" on photography I could really be doing so many much more "useful" things :evil that I would be tempting my fate too far if any bugs and insects got into the fridge!

Thanks Philip, Roy, Stuart, Karlo, Andy, David & Maria also .... I appreciate your encouraging words

Philip (MrB), I know the sort of effect you're referring to with the background totally black, and its difficult to avoid indoors, unless specific background lights are set up as well. Outside here the spill from my softbox was wide so I got a good amount of the surrounds lit also .... I did reduce the brightness a little on the backgrounds in post.

Thanks for the tip of background clutter Gareth, a good point ..... David and Gareth .... Bugs and gardening !?! Unlikely, very unlikely I'm afraid The bugs will run (fly?) a mile when they see me crashing around with my softbox and flashes !

Regarding the use of flash, or not .... the rule goes something like this : use flash if you know how to do it, don't use it if you don't !!

The problem of course that we all face is how to get to the point of knowing how to use it .... and its not just about using it generally, its about applying techniques and gaining control over the lighting in a particular kind of setting and situation. Obviously with all the dealing with people going on, the interactions etc,, the last thing you want is to have your eyes buried in the LCD and struggling with loads of settings on the flash and camera.

It really is about getting practice in similar types of environments .... I feel comfortable handling flash in close situations (like the macro and flowers stuff), and in domestic rooms, where I know my equipment is powerful enough and I am familiar with the various surfaces to bounce off. But I wouldn't attempt an event with flash in a very big room where I'm not experienced or not familiar, plus I'd need to be using higher ISOs than my camera is really good enough for. So before I became an event photographer some upgrades of both equipment and experience would be needed!

However there are things to practice at home, and then you can apply the same principles but on a 'larger scale' .... The best flash lighting with on-camera work comes from sideways bounce, reflected off a bright coloured wall (white or cream ideally), giving a directional look to the light, with a bright and shadow side to the faces. This effect is enhanced by using a 'flag' type modifier to prevent any light direct front light hitting the faces. This technique is a power hog though, so in larger rooms and where the people are more than a few feet away from the walls you'll be looking at working at ISO 800 or 1600. This is good because it will allow ambient light in as well to mix with the flash on the subjects.

So you can practice this at home with a dolls head or teddy bear, and then if you get a chance go to the venue or somewhere similar and try it out on a 'larger scale' at higher ISOs to make sure your settings are good and the flash power is adequate. But you have to be responsive and adapt to each particular location for each shot .... the angles and walls will be different every time you move around the room. Here's a couple of links to threads on PU where I have used this technique of flagged flash and mixing ambient with flash light indoors .... one in a close domestic situation, the other in a Pub .....

link

link

Whatever you do, enjoy it and get into the thick of it! If its not the time to try out flash use, then practice a bit and be ready for the next event.

Thank you Andy, and also to the others who have posted here, much appreciated. There's been some really interesting points and I'd like to respond to them later with more time, but for now I've got some quick shots showing the set-up and layout of the gear. I've put the camera in approximately the right position in relation to the softbox and one of the tiny flowers....(I was lying on the ground myself looking through the viewfinder).

Thanks Derek and Peter.

Derek, it's the camera custom setting for EV steps ..... This needs to be set to 1/2 ev steps I believe, then you can get 1/180th.

The lighting is going to be quite different to a ringflash and diffuser around the lens..... With a softbox of 60x60 cm this light source is about 300 times bigger than my subjects here, so softness is guaranteed!

The box is placed at 90deg off from the shooting angle, so it's an all enveloping light, but strongly directional, giving the shape and 'modelling' effect going from right to left across the subject.

I very much doubt I would be able to get the closeness and steadiness with bugs that you can Derek! Even a bit of a wind gust sends me into a panic and the softbox flying !

If I could get my little models at home to co-operate as well as you get yours here to, I'd be very happy! Your dog clearly has the modelling spirit, and the shots look great .... the coat is really brought out beautifully by the light.

The snooted rim light may have needed to be more behind the subject to have the sort of backlit effect you may have wanted.

You were right to go for the close-ins .... the trouble with so many car shots at shows is all the distracting clutter in behind, which is very hard to deal with, not the least because wide angles are the order of the day, so its impossible to get the backgrounds OOF! Nos 2 & 5 are my favourites.

Yes, and he can often come across as quite wooden

A good strong portrait, you've got the owl staring you down!

I've been looking with interest lately here at all the macro and close-up work being posted, and whilst bugs and similar things are not for me, I enjoy flowers and have been seeking out hidden miniature examples. These few were right outside my front door buried within thick grass. The little flowers are about 2-3cm in diameter, and the lens front element was about 1.5ft from them.

On the K7 I attached 2 basic extension tubes (no contacts), 13 + 23mm, and then the Tamron Adaptall 135mm F2.8. This old lens from the 1970s has a Manual aperture switch to allow manual stop down, and I set apertures around F11 - F16. This was all handheld working, so there was no way that I was going to get enough steadiness with natural light at those sorts of apertures, so I used a Cactus RF60 flash in a softbox on the ground just to the right of the frame, triggered by the V6 radio trigger. I used ISO 200 and 1/180th sec .....





























Thanks for looking.... the biggest challenge with this sort of approach is focussing, as its very dark in the viewfinder and you don't want to move from the moment when focussing is achieved and the capture.