These are some pictures I have taken last month - not the best pictures - but they document some interesting ant behavior - see my comment to 'Insect Galore!'.
These are some pictures I have taken last month - not the best pictures - but they document some interesting ant behavior - see my comment to 'Insect Galore!'.
meh, should have cropped them. The behavior is best observed when enlarging the images.
Pretty decent. However, your focus was more on the stalk they were on rather than what you were trying to show. Still good. DOF can be a pain with macro at times. Kinda interesting how you managed to get the "bubble" but not a clear image of the ants face.
Edit: Are you using extension tubes for this?
Focus was off indeed, and I was not aware of what I photographed until later on the computer.
This was handheld with my 35mm macro with a full set of extension tubes if I recall correctly. I got 26 exposures, none of which I really liked, but these three were special ;-) .
Edit: I think the ants face is not sharp because I used a shutter-speed that was too slow to freeze the ant's movement.
You should experiment with taking one of the tubes off. It seemed to work wonders for me. Not the whole set, just one attachment. I ended up removing a 14mm, but I just put it back on and am about to post a picture in another group. I may put it in the macro group as well.
Its an extreme close-up of a flies eye.
Good advise ! I have this tendency to always go for maximum magnification ...
Imagine a 2.0x teleconverter with a full set of extension tubes and a 100mm macro, followed by a reverse ring and a reverse mounted 50mm. This contraption is not really handy in the field ;-)
I understand. I was doing the same thing when I got my macro lens and tubes. My lens is 1.5:1 and the extension tubes make it 2:1. If you are going to get that close, you're going to need extra lighting.(speedlight) One, it will allow you to raise your shutter speed, and two, it brings out more detail.
You already seem to know about the small aperture, but I found that about f16 is perfect for most shots of lighting will allow it.
If I can help it, I try not to go below 1/200 on shutter speed.
They are very hard to capture. I love how they farm and protect the aphids. My suggestion, still use both tubes, but don't go for closest focus. You will have a better dof. You can always crop. There are three things affecting the dof: Focal lenght, aperture and distance to subject.
And here you got me, always trying to go in as close as possible. Good tip !
Oh I'm doing that too. I always have to remind myself to the basics... ;) I think it needs practice and for the beginning 1-2 inches further away is not a big deal, but gives you a little more dof.
Interesting pics, thanks for posting. I agree a little more depth of field would be nice. Also it helps to take way more shots than you think you need. the more you take the better chance you have of hitting focus just where you want it. It's not spray and pray photography it's just the way macro works. You will throw away the vast majority of your shots, to get a few good ones.
I can agree to that. 99.5% of my pictures are trash. It's nice that we have the technology today for that. I mean, when I'm thinking back to the film days... I don't know if I would ever had tried macro...