I spy with my eyes...

Post your macro and close-up images in this gallery. You may post all subject types whether natural or unnatural, living or non-living.

Moderators: MacroMike, nzmacro, Ken Ramos, twebster, S. Alden

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twebster
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I spy with my eyes...

Post by twebster »

Hi y'all, :D

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. Life sometimes gets complicated. I did take a little time out today and visited our local butterfly house. Just for fun and practice I was playing around with a shallow depth of field...

Image

Not the greatest image in the world but I kinda like it for some reason. :-k :D

Canon D30 with 90mm Tamron macro lens. Natural light, handheld with monopod.

Best regards to all as always :!: :D
Tom Webster
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Phoenix "The Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA

Think about this...maybe Murphy is an optimist!!!

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Tom, it's great to see you back :!: :D I confess, I've been worried!

This picture has really nice colors -- and all that fuzzy background makes those perfect eyes just pop!

No trace of camera motion. What was the shutter speed? I gotta put me together one of those monopods!

--Rik

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nephiliim
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Post by nephiliim »

Wow man,

The selective focus in this shot's really makes the butterfly look very alien.

Nice job and good to see ya back online

All the best,

Tom B
Sometimes smaller is better!
*nodge nodge :D*

Comments and advice always welcome
My little website

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twebster
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Post by twebster »

Hi ya' gentlemen, :D

Thanks for the nice comments, my friends. :D

Rik...The shutter speed was about 1/160 sec. To get this shot I added a 2x teleconverter to my 90mm macro lens and cranked up the ISO setting to ISO 400. I set f. 4 on the lens which yielded an actual f. stop of f. 8. I have some neurological damage due to advanced diabetes which causes me to shake almost all of the time. I can't handhold exposures less than 1/500 sec any more and even 1/500 sec can be a challenge on bad days. For the most part, that is why most of my macro images are made with flash. The monopod has been a godsend for me.

If you are thinking of buying a monopod check out my article, A Simple Monopod Head. A monopod is, obviously, more unstable than a tripod yet manufacturers urge you to buy tripod heads for monopods. What's the sense of putting a stable head on an unstable monopod? The simple "V" head I made works wonderfully, costs considerably less than the heads suggested by the manufacturers, and adds a negligible amount of weight to the monopod. :D

Another thing to consider is how the leg extensions lock. For general use, twist lock collars work OK. For macro work, however, lever locks or snap locks are preferred. You have to be able to adjust the length of the monopod quickly and twist collars are just too slow. I bought my Slik monopod because it was the shortest, lightest monopod I could find that would easily support my camera and lens. The D30 and 90mm lens don't weigh much but, if your outfit is fairly heavy, you might consider one of the sturdier Bogen monopods with lever locks. :D

Tom...Thanks for the "welcome back". I will, hopefully, have some more time to post here in the near future. :D

Best regards as always, my friends. :D
Tom Webster
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Think about this...maybe Murphy is an optimist!!!

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Tom,

1/160 sec at that magnification with no visible camera motion is very impressive.

I had already read your article several times -- in fact I was thinking of exactly that "V" head when I wrote "gotta put me together one of those". I think I've got some old tripod legs that could be pressed into service until I find out what I don't like about them, but the Slik and Bogen solutions sound pretty cool for longterm use.

Thanks for the additional info!

--Rik

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Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

Hey great to see ya posting Tom! :D Nice shot of the BF, the composition makes for an aggressive looking subject and I do like the selective focous. Glad to see I am not the only one doing that. :lol:
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MikeBinOKlahoma
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Post by MikeBinOKlahoma »

Tom, good to see you here again, and even better to learn that you are at least occasionally getting out and shooting!
Mike Broderick
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MacroMike
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Post by MacroMike »

Hello Thomas.

I miss you buddy!

Selective focus is a challenge to me as I usually shoot at such high magnification that I strive for the most DOF.

Beautiful color and I love those eyes.
Michael Keniston
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"The possession of a camera can inspire something akin to lust and like all credible forms of lust, it can not be satisfied."

Susan Sontag, On Photography (1977)

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