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f13, ISO 200, 1/200sec
Reading can be a challenge when the words are so big!
Setup:
Taken with Canon 400D, Sigma 70mm macro and sigma 1.4 teleconverter. Camera and lens arranged on a single focusing rail (cheap ebay rail) which was attached to a Manfrotto Junior Geared Head and then onto a set of tripod legs.
Lighting was a 580 EX2 with lumiquest softbox mounted on an offcamera flash cord and held from an above position with the flash head directed slightly toward the front of the insect.
The insect itself was slightly cool (naturally) and just happened to be in the room at the time. It was placed onto the book where it eventually settled somewhere (I honestly didn't pose it right over that word, I just let it move itself around till it came still - a thing which made focusing tricky when it would suddenly get up and go).
edit: any advice on dealing with the reflections of the flash and softbox on the insects back would be most welcome. I;ve tried making the softbox itself larger, but it still showing. Is the next stage to move it further away or do I have to go all the way toward lightboxes to get smooth flashbased lighting on such a subject? (I would prefer not to have to use a box as whilst in this shot it would not have been a problem it does pose more limitations outside - and further increases setup time).
| Camera: | Canon EOS 400D |
| Lens: | Sigma 70mm macro + 1.4 Teleconverter |
| Recording media: | RAW (digital) |
| Title: | Who? |
| Username: | 
Overread |
| Uploaded: | 17 Jan 2010 - 11:00 PM |
| Tags: | Close-up / macro, Wildlife / nature |
| VS Mode Rating |
100 (0% won) These stats show the percentage of wins and the rating score that your photo has achieved. You can go to the VS Mode by clicking on this icon. Signup to e2Signup to e2 to see which photo this has won or lost against in the vs mode |
| Votes: | Voting Disabled |
 | Critique Wanted |
| Modifications Welcome (Upload a Modification) |
Comments
Wonderful macro shot! Focusing is spot on!
Vinai
Just a thought, but maybe a thin grey cloth over the soft box would lessen the reflection.
Also try to fit a deflector inside the softbox to deflect the main beam of light out and onto the reflected surface of the softbox, instead of straight through the front fabric (I dont know if this is fitted already, as part of the softbox - I would like to know either way, as I'm thinking of getting one for my flashgun).
Thanks Arhb and Staw.
The idea of using a deflector is something that I have seen in some of the larger softboxes (studio sized ones) but only ever seen it being used in one custom smaller softbox. The Lumiquest sofboxes don't have any deflector fitting, though they do have a thicker fabric section to the middle of the front of the flash - so as to lessen the light from the very middle.
I'll give some thought to making and fitting some form of custom deflector into the softbox though - it could prove very interesting to see the results of such!
Straw - just to comfirm but when you say break the light up even more do you mean shoot with the sofbox at the reflective paper or to use the flashhead bare onto the paper? The idea of bounclight is something I should be looking more into (esp now I have a 30cm reflector to actually use)
Personally, I think there is a little too much foreground. I think a crop to just below the main 'word' would be better.. might upload a mod just to see if that IS the case.
Other than that, very nice (where did you get a ladybird that was that big and could read 
):
Nice photo Alex and welcome to EPZ. Bumped into you on flickr btw
It's a great shot, wonderfully focussed but I think I agree with Barrie about the crop.
As a demonstration of limited depth of field - it's ideal, but artistically, I think the FG is a little distracting.
As for the softbox reflections, I think it's already been said, bounce the light around more.
Great shot though.
Dom
I felt a crop would distill the message and focus more on the word and the bug. I straightened the image then increased the contrast selectively. I also selectively sharpened and blurred the image.
Your camera's sensor is due for a clean. It looks like my hoover's dust bag
Alan.
Meggsy - yep there is a small army of them hiding out behind the computer at home- sadly I got told this fact after I got back to uni so no chance to get pics of the army.
Thanks for the mod Paintman and for the cropping suggestions Dlegros - I have to say whilst I was thinking of cropping the shot to move the insect more into the upper right corner a bit more the foreground areas were something that I didn't consider adjusting at all.
The contrast enhancement is also telling me that this monitor is really not that good at all - I've had some say that the shot looked a little underexposed and your boost to contrast is really much stronger than I thought the shot needed based on the image I get through this screen. I'll have to play around with getting used to this cheap LCD some more it seems.
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