More macros.
I know, I know...someday soon, I promise...I'll post something else. ;)
Adjusting the color on these two shots was significantly more difficult than usual, and since I decided to post them on the same page, the also needed to match (or at least be pretty close). Aligning the colors while keeping all the secondary colors true was quite a challenge. I don't think I did that well, but it works. Thank goodness photoshop has more than one way to adjust color. First I ran them through raw processing, then the second one through color matching (new in CS1), and finally applied color balance on both.
Anywas, I apologize for the small depth of field. This little fella was moving pretty fast up the cactus too, so out of 15 or 20 shots, only 3 or 4 even came out at all. The lighting situation, though not very bright, was favorable. The sun was on it's way down, so the usual even, slightly dimmed, vivid evening light came from the west. I placed my reflector against one of the other cacti to provide lighting on the other side, which left my hands free to try to manage a shot of the little creature. It worked quite well, except that he was so small (focusing and DOF control become significantly harder at closer distances), and because he moved so fast up, up, up...!
categories: desert insects macro nature
April 19th, 2005 at 3:49 AM
the first one is absalotly incredible. its the way the spikes draw you into the picture, and then down the dof on the stalk, until you see the bug...
lovely colours.
i think it doesnt matter to much about the tiny dof, although if it did, iso 400 is perfectly good ;)
April 19th, 2005 at 3:56 AM
Thanks for the comment, Philip. I'm not sure why I didn't increase the dof a little bit. The first shot is at 1/640 and the second at 1/400. Perhaps I thought they would be slower...
April 19th, 2005 at 2:55 PM
Good bug... I really like the detail!
April 19th, 2005 at 8:02 PM
that top one nearly poked me the eye ;) cool shots, you did well to get the bug in focus with that DOF. I like em!
April 19th, 2005 at 11:39 PM
Here's a tip... I'm not going to get bored of seeing your macros for a long time! They are so rich, deep and wonderfully composed.
But yes, I would have (with the benefit of hindsight) gone for about 1/250 sec and F5.6 or so. Of course a lot of folks crave the ultra short DOF, so no doubt many would disagree with my suggestion. :)
Viva la difference!
April 20th, 2005 at 1:03 AM
I love the spikes in the first shot, really cool...and I definetly understand the difficulties in using a macro lens and working with such a short depth of field. A greater depth of field would be desireable, at least in the second shot, but I still find both shots pleasing and Im definetly glad that you decided to post them.
April 21st, 2005 at 5:40 PM
wow! nice! i'm enjoying what you're doing with macro.
April 27th, 2005 at 9:31 PM
Nice shots, great colours.
May 3rd, 2005 at 9:11 PM
Nice! I hope it doesn't bite!