Brandon has inspired me to think about spiders! This green lynx lived in a shrub behind my house for a while. One day I came out to find her guarding an egg case. Whenever I got close for a photo she would protectively wrap her legs around it. I really enjoyed watching her!
Feedback welcome!
Cool spider. Great colors!
Nice shot Ruth try using a polarizer to see if that reduces the flash glare might also help with color saturation
I think a polarizer is overkill. It seems to me, that the flash is not diffused or a little too much power.
i thought at that close of range a diffused light would still be bright
Yes that's the case. You should compensate for that. You also need a diffuser, that makes the flash light bigger, so you can reduce the highlights. It's sometimes not that easy... ;)
Learning every day I’ll have to experiment with that
I'm a beginner with flash as well. It's not that easy. I saw macro photographers using only a sheet of paper as diffuser. The result is great...
I can recommend videos of Thomas Shahan (https://www.youtube.com/user/terser/videos).
Using a polarizer......correctly, certainly can reduce reflections and enhance saturation, depending on the angle of the light hitting the specimen, but you do lose a couple of stops along the way.
Glad to have inspired you for these pictures. Well done. It looks like I'm not the only one who goes a little overboard on trying to make the photo more sharp. Nothing wrong with it, I just notice it because I do it all the time.
What sort of setup did you use for these pictures, lens wise?
I broke down and ordered a speedlight. After missing some great pictures today of a jumping spider due to my flash recharging I knew it was time. The photo I recently posted was without a flash I believe, but it kept hiding and so I kept trying to adjust my settings to compensate for lack of light, DOF and shutter speed. I never realized how much shutter speed played a role in available light.
Shutter speed is very important in available light. It's the only thing that can freez the subject. Usually it says focal lenght = shutter speed. For example 50mm = 1/50s. But this is not enough for insects. You should start at 1/250s maybe a little higher. To compensate for the light you have to push the ISO or using an open aperture. You can also use a reflector. That does not have to be something fancy. This can be some white cardboard or plastic for example.
Both are great Ruth! The first has a little to high flash power in my opinion, but the details are amazing!
Thanks to all for the feedback!