Author Topic: Macro experiments  (Read 14020 times)

  • Offline zpyder

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Macro experiments
on: April 22, 2013, 23:13:29 PM
So, as is often the case, I got a little bored with my macro lens on its own, and wanted to get closer.

After weighing up the pros and cons, I opted for the Canon 250D filter. On a 100mm macro lens it lets you focus a bit closer to the subject, increasing the magnification a moderate amount, decreasing the DOF a bit too though. It also makes the image as it appears on the viewfinder or LCD screen in live view quite soft, though the actual still image seems ok.

I'm spending the next week "assisting" in fieldwork so I've got a lot of time to experiment :D

It was a bit tricky today as the sunlight was quite sporadic. Most of the time when I found something to shoot the sun was behind clouds = high iso


Spider by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


Mozzie by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


Moth by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

Tried to get a bit artsy.

IVY by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

The wood ants were out. Was tricky trying to find one that would stay still long enough, in a place where you weren't getting eaten by the nest. When they did stay still they were almost always looking at me with mandibles open ready to bite


Ant 1 by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


Ant 4 by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

I think I'll spend more time at the nest tomorrow to try and get a really good shot of them. Hopefully the sun will be out a bit more. The cold helped keep things stationary today, but the wind didn't help with things blowing about.

Re: Macro experiments
Reply #1 on: April 23, 2013, 08:43:54 AM
that close up of the ants head is pretty awesome mate.

Re: Macro experiments
Reply #2 on: April 23, 2013, 13:28:56 PM
They're all really good, especially the spider and ants, dunno if the first 2 would look better flipped 180 around though.  My parents regularly have ants in their front garden, and I'd often thought that they'd be cool to try and get some shots of but always thought they'd be a tad difficult.  Might have to give it a go after seeing those, can't wait to have a go at some macro stuff this year, didn't seem to do much macro last year.

  • Offline zpyder

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #3 on: April 23, 2013, 14:59:28 PM
Thanks. I'm not too keen on the composition of any of the ants, but I've still got a few days down there to try a few things.

I tried flipping the Mozzie, though I didn't consider flipping the spider.

The mozzie didn't look quite right flipped, but maybe it was a case of the photo being fresh in my head. I'll give it a few days and then see how I feel about it at different angles.

Today I experimented with my ND Grad that I've never used, polarising filter, and I played with the ants again, this time trying to stage the shot a bit more with some jelly babies and a twig. I had hoped to try and get a shot of a jelly baby being dragged into a nest but the ants preferred to just surround them and munch away.

The photos from today and the next few days will be a bit delayed as I've had an email about finishing a report by the end of this week, it's going to be close!
Last Edit: April 23, 2013, 15:01:14 PM by zpyder #187;

  • Offline zpyder

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #4 on: April 24, 2013, 08:28:29 AM
Round 2:

Not really macro, but I like the flow of this one:

Ants 3 by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

I had this grand idea of trying to get a photo of a jelly baby getting dragged into a nest by a swarm of ants. Sadly the ants just wanted to eat the jelly baby where it was. Thought it was quite cool how they lined up side by side:

Ant queue by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

I also tried to stage the shots a bit by using twigs in the nests, figuring the ants would walk along, giving me time to set up. It kind of worked, but the ants tended to only explore a few inches up the twigs unless I tapped the end, which then meant it was out of focus etc. With a bit of experimenting though I found if I tapped the end till and ant was there, and then poked the ant, it would release pheromones which would get more ants up the twigs.

This ones interesting as I think I have a worker and soldier ant in the shot:

Ant big and small by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

But this is my favourite of the attempts yesterday:

Ants 2 by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

Still, there's something not quite right about the focus, or motion blur or something.

And these are where I'm at this week (first proper experiments with an ND grad):


Trigon by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


ND 2 by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


ND 1 by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

Re: Macro experiments
Reply #5 on: April 24, 2013, 20:44:43 PM
That must be one heck of a size nest of ants you've got there really shows it off in the first two photos, good idea with the jelly bean shame it didn't come off but guess they're eating it and breaking it down to get back to the nest to store.  The focus looks good on Ants 2, dof is fine so could be motion blur, might also be that the noise from being at iso 800 is maybe reducing the contrast/sharpness a bit but not much you can do with that with being at f16.  What could be cool is have you shot running down the twig rather than across it, so you could show the ant walking up the twig towards the lens, if you can persuade them to co-operate!

Now that looks like a rather nice office for the week, could get used to that!

The ND shots are good, could possibly do with having the horizon somewhere else than the middle of the shot, especially to try and get more of that river in, those crystal clear rivers are great especially for looking for things like fish in, could watch them for ages.

  • Offline zpyder

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #6 on: April 24, 2013, 23:28:44 PM
These are quite small wood ant nests believe it or not. Some of the ones I've see have been mounds about 2m wide and 1m tall, covered in ants. If you want to get the thick mats of ants, you need to be at a nest on a chilly clear morning just when the sun is about to hit the nest. This swarming behaviour is a way for them to regulate the nest temperature, when it's cold they sit on the nest, warming up, and then they go back inside to release the heat in the nest :D Gotta Love ants.

Ant walking up to lens should be easier in a way, as they'll no doubt want to eat the lens. Will be tricky getting the DOF right, but I guess if I prefocus at the very tip of the twig the ants are likely to stop there, would need a really small aperture though, and a bright day...so need a ring-flash :D

The ND shots were pretty much the first photos I've taken with an ND filter. I bought it last year and never used it really. I am impressed with the results and it certainly has made me want to experiment more. Will try more watery shots tomorrow if the conditions improve, I think it's going to be pretty overcast most of the day :( At least I should be able to slow the shutter speed down a bit more I guess...hmmm

Re: Macro experiments
Reply #7 on: April 25, 2013, 13:57:16 PM
These are quite small wood ant nests believe it or not. Some of the ones I've see have been mounds about 2m wide and 1m tall, covered in ants. If you want to get the thick mats of ants, you need to be at a nest on a chilly clear morning just when the sun is about to hit the nest. This swarming behaviour is a way for them to regulate the nest temperature, when it's cold they sit on the nest, warming up, and then they go back inside to release the heat in the nest :D Gotta Love ants.

Ant walking up to lens should be easier in a way, as they'll no doubt want to eat the lens. Will be tricky getting the DOF right, but I guess if I prefocus at the very tip of the twig the ants are likely to stop there, would need a really small aperture though, and a bright day...so need a ring-flash :D

The ND shots were pretty much the first photos I've taken with an ND filter. I bought it last year and never used it really. I am impressed with the results and it certainly has made me want to experiment more. Will try more watery shots tomorrow if the conditions improve, I think it's going to be pretty overcast most of the day :( At least I should be able to slow the shutter speed down a bit more I guess...hmmm

Handy tip for getting lots of ants out and about, there's no sign of the ones at my parents yet (technically their old house as they moved back end of last year but they still own the other one as no one will buy it at the mo), but I'm keeping an eye out for them so I can get some macros.  Do think ants are cool after seeing this:


And there's been a few documentaries recently on ants which have been great, if I had the space I'd think about getting an ant farm type thingy going but I don't where I'm living at the mo.

I've been thinking of a ring flash, well an LED version anyway after seeing them in a magazine round up, £30 ish on ebay so might get one soon.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aputure-Macro-LED-Ring-Flash-HL-48-for-Canon-Nikon-Sony-5d-d800-DSLR-Camera-F910-/290781801144?pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraFlashUnits_JN&hash=item43b3f22ab8

Ha good old British weather, sunny one day rubbish the next.  ND filters are great, really noticed my landscape stuff improving whilst using the Lee ones I got last year, not cheap but a good investment.  Which versions have you got?

  • Offline zpyder

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #8 on: April 25, 2013, 15:35:42 PM
I have a Cokin P 121 which I think is an ND8 filter.

The ring flashes certainly seem to have come down in price, last time I looked (a year or two ago) the cheapest were about £80-100. Mind you, I do wonder what output a cheap one would have in the scheme of things. Would it help in bright sunlight etc.

We're keen to do some research on the Wood ants here, it'd be awesome to do some kind of glass tank with a nest, so you can see the inside against the tank. The only problem is they're so aggressive and have nasty bites. It's an experience trying to get the tripod close enough to get a macro shot, stepping carefully, any proper movement will send them into attack mode and they swarm up your legs!

Re: Macro experiments
Reply #9 on: April 25, 2013, 23:20:14 PM
Should be a good one to get started with, get yourself to the coast early one morning and you should be able to get some decent sunrise/sunset stuff with it.

I didn't know much about the LED ring flashes till reading that magazine, just thought of them being £3-400 each so way out of my price range.  Had a better look on ebay and there's now a few 60 LED versions so might give higher or more even output.  I imagine even in bright sunlight they'd at least help, look at your photos at f16 to keep the shutter speed up you've had to put the iso up, with one of these you might be able to drop the iso down a stop or two, might not make much difference but it will help.

A big glass tank with some in would be amazing, would be really interesting to see what they did all day from inside the nest as well as on the surface.  Sounds like that could be a bit of a pain (pun intended!) I imagine there's not a lot you can do once you get attacked but to either put up with it or run away and come back later when they've calmed down a bit.

  • Offline zpyder

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #10 on: April 26, 2013, 08:47:59 AM
Yesterday wasn't too great, overcast and dreary all day till 20 mins before we packed up. Still got a few shots:


Caterpillar by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


Geese 2 by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


Goose by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


Gosling by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

Been trying to get a decent shot of these tiny micromoths. They have weird rounded wings:

Moth by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

The sun went in just as I spotted this guy walking up a tree = high iso :(

Woodlouse by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

The wolf spiders were fairly obliging and stationary though, so I think these came out fairly ok, though I couldn't get them to face the camera easily :(


Spider 1 by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


Spider 3 by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


Spider 2 by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

Regarding the ants, one thing I want to do, but is pretty "out there" is to fill a tank with grains of plastic with the same refractive properties as water ( basically they're invisible in water) and then put some burrowing organisms in it. Would be really cool to observe the behaviour of tube worms etc. Only problem is the expense of the set up, as the granules probably are expensive!

Re: Macro experiments
Reply #11 on: April 26, 2013, 13:59:36 PM
The goose/gosling ones are great and the macro ones are good too, some of the detail you've got on the backs of the spiders is great too.

That would be a cool idea really interesting to see what different beasties did day to day under ground, bit like the gel ant farm kits you get but clear instead of the bluey/opaque colout that you get in them, sure I heard that wasn't great stuff for the ants though.

  • Offline zpyder

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #12 on: April 28, 2013, 08:33:11 AM
And Fridays shots:


Different species of ant here, they were much less aggressive!

Ant by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

Tiny bug, shame the head is a bit overexposed:

Bug by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

Cladonia lichen on a tree

Lichen by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

Moth. It was early in the day and in the woods, so light was a real issue:

Moth by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

Crab spider

Spider 1 by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

Spider mite. These guys are small, and I wanted to see just how close I could get.

Spider mite by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

Lacewing larvae:

UCI by Chris_Moody, on Flickr
 

Re: Macro experiments
Reply #13 on: April 29, 2013, 20:20:38 PM
Very nice set, they're all nice and sharp, quite like the moth.

If the spider mite is what I think I've seen crawling around they really are small, you've done a good job getting in that close to it.

Hopefully the weather will sort itself out around here and I can get out and get some macro shots myself, too windy at the mo.

  • Offline zpyder

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #14 on: April 29, 2013, 21:46:56 PM
The moth is actually my least favourite as it has the least DoF. I feel it needs more depth and detail than is in the shot.

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