This was taken in my backyard just after this ladybird had mated with another one. I'll post the mating photos a bit later :)
This was taken just as the ladybird was about to take off.
Canon 40D at 100mm (EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM)
1/125 sec at f/11, Iso 640
Canon 580EX II Flash with a home made light diffuser trying to soften the light.
Hand held.
How could I have avoided hot spots on the wing coverings from the flash? What type of flash diffuser would prevent this for macro shooting?
Craig,
ReplyDeleteI like the green orange colour pair here but that's about all.
Framing needs work. There's too much negative space behind the subject. The beetle is about to walk out of the frame taking my interest with it. Try to leave moving subjects some space to move into.
The edge of the leaf makes a nice strong leading line to the subject. When cropping try to have that line originate from opposite corners. A square crop may suit this image.
Focus looks overall soft. For hand-held photography try for 1/EFL shutter speed, thus you should aim for 1/160 and if you're zooming in 100%, double that. In this case shooting at 1/250s at f/8 would have been better. However since you're also using flash. You could drop the ISO down to 100 and let the flash expose the image. Set the shutter speed to the maximum flash sync speed. For you 40D that should be 1/250s and then set whatever aperture you like.
Another tip for wildlife shots like this is to blast away with as many frames as you camera (and flash) can crank out. That way you're more likely to catch the magical moment. Extreme photos capture our attention for longer. I'd like to see this beetle with it's wings more open and ready to launch.
There are a few specular highlights on the black parts of the beetle. I'd go ahead and clone those out. It's not exactly a National Geographic approved practice but they are distracting and make the beetle look dirty.
Not sure what to do to make those flash diffuser reflections disappear. Perhaps use a much larger and softer diffuser or change the location of the flash. However since the beetle is more or less round, at some point on the shell the angle will be perfect to bounce the light source straight into the camera. This is something I need to work on too.
Brutal Enough?
steve
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteYour comments were very helpful.
I tried some of your suggested techniques on the weekend and had improved results.
My biggest downfall was that my flash batters were not fully charged and were taking a long time between shots to cycle, but if I had fresh batteries I'm sure it would have produced better results.
After I came inside, I put the batteries on charge for next time.
It's hard to focus and recompose your shot when the beatle is running around, as ladybirds rarely sit still, but I'll keep trying for that.
Cheers!
Craig.