Macro Moment #1

First off I need to apologize for the quality of this video! I'm not use to using a camera phone, but since the iPhone 3GS has a camera capable of video, and since I have it with me all the time, I thought I'd start documenting some of the techniques I use to photograph the critters. This morning at the lake seemed like a perfect opportunity -I just need to get better at using the video camera ;)

Here's the video of a sleeping solitary bee:



Here's one of the shots of that same bee:

Feeding Honeybee IV Deconstruction

Feeding Honeybee IV
Originally uploaded by Dalantech.

I don't always get a chance to shoot the critters when they are cold and sleeping, and during the heat of the day they won't let me get close unless I give them a reason to slow down. So I bought a hypodermic syringe at a pharmacy and used it to inject corn syrup deep inside a Lavender flower. The bee was so intent on eating that it let me grab onto the flower just below it so I could use the Left Hand Brace Technique to take the shot.

Canon's 270 EX

Wet Metal
Originally uploaded by Dalantech.

Back in the early summer of 07 I was out at Lago d'Averno (my favorite dragonfly hunting ground) shooting in +30C degree heat (high 80s to low 90s F for the metric impaired) with a Canon 20D, a 100mm macro lens + tubes, and an MT-24EX all supported on a BushHawk shoulder mount. A lot of weight to put on a camera strap, especially one that I wasn't checking on a regular basis to make sure it was still secure. I stopped to wipe the sweat from my face and let the rig dangle by the strap and as my luck would have it gravity got the best of my rig -it landed flat against the side of the BushHawk with an ugly thud...

When I first picked up my gear and brushed the dust off of it the MT-24EX didn't work. The force of the impact drove the batteries so hard against the internal contacts in the battery compartment they were flattened and no longer touching the batteries. The hot shoe on the 20D also took a lot of damage and eventually failed a few months later.

When I got home I bent the battery contacts out and managed to get the MT-24EX working again, but since that fall two years ago I knew that I was using that flash on borrowed time. About two weeks ago the "A" flash head started to intermittently fail, but because the light looked good when it did work I knew the controller was going bad. Weather due to the gravity test two years ago or shooting in wet early morning conditions this year I don't know, but the end result was the same -I couldn't rely on it anymore.

Since it failed I've been experimenting with mounting a Canon 270EX on the MT-24EX's flash mount, but with limited success. The image included with this post is a test shot, and it's pretty dark. Since I took that shot I've redesigned the flash mount so I could get a lower angle between the flash and the subject, but it's just not the same as having a dual light source. If I put the 270EX on a flash bracket, with a bigger diffuser, then the light would be a lot more even and the shadows less severe. But I don't think it's going to work mounted right at the end of my MPE-65mm -I can't make the diffuser larger without bumping the subject with it at high magnification.

So at this point my options are pretty limited: Either use the MR-14EX that's been collecting dust since I picked up the MT-24EX, use a 580EX II on a flash flash bracket (not practical for my style of shooting), or buy a new MT-24EX. That last option presents a problem: Canon has updated every flash in their lineup except the macro flashes. I've got no proof, but it just makes sense that they're going to come out with a new macro flash. I'd hate to shell out +600 USD just to see Canon announce a new unit sometime between now and next fall...

So I'm going to see what I can do with the MR-14EX, and as long as the natural light is good shoot more natural light closeups. Although I don't get as much feedback on my closeup photography as I do the high mag shots I like shooting closeups in natural light more than shooting macro.

Time to break out the gaffers tape, channel Martha Stewart, and see what I can do to reduce those half moon specular highlights that haunt the MR-14EX :)

For those of you wondering about the performance of the 270EX it's actually pretty good as far as the flash recycle time goes: Almost instantaneous all the way out to 5x and F10. The E-TTL metering with it is also a lot more accurate than the MT-24EX. So I can't discount it completely as a potential light source for macro -I just can't get it to work in the way that I want to use it...

Water Drop How To

Time Slices series 1-3
Originally uploaded by Dalantech.

Strobist has an excellent piece on How to Photograph Water Drops with One Speedlight and there is a tutorial video embedded in the article that's excellent for beginners wanting to get into water drop shooting. There's also another video that I'm including here, some high speed motion capture of water drops that's incredible!

Early Morning Macro

Sex in the Shower
Originally uploaded by Dalantech.

Although I'm not a fan of dew covered critter shots I seem to be taking more and more of them lately. It's easier to find willing subjects, like this pair of mating Soldier Beetles, early in the day when they are still a little lethargic and haven't had a chance to warm up and dry out. Later in the day that same pair wouldn't let me get anywhere near them.

When shooting mating pairs it's best to get both of their leading eyes in focus, so look for angles that will allow you to place the area of acceptable focus for maximum detail. In this shot I was holding onto the grass stalk just behind them with my left index finger and thumb so all I had to do was slowly rotate the stalk until I got an angle that worked. With the lens resting on my left hand it was easy to keep the scene steady and to get the sharpness I wanted even though I had the MPE-65mm stopped down to F13.

Sorry about the title of the shot -it was the first thing that popped into my head when I was looking at them through the view finder :)

Happy Accidents

Staring You Down III
Originally uploaded by Dalantech.

One of the things that I'm trying to do this year is shoot in different places, to not get in the habit of looking in the same spots all the time because it's a great way to shoot the same subjects... boring...

So I went to the opposite end of Lago d'Averno hoping to see something new but was walking back to my car empty handed when I spotted some mature dragonflies trying to warm up and dry off. I'm not sure where they were perching for the night, but they were definitely making their way back toward the water when I stopped to photograph the critter in this post. Concerned that it was too awake to let me cut the perch and move it, and the simple fact that I'd be cutting a flower that was part of a recent landscaping project, I decided to shoot the damselfly by holding onto the perch with my left hand and just rest the lens on that same hand to keep everything steady. But the critter was at the end of a flower stalk so I had to grab onto the stalk behind it.

Now I have a new technique to add to my bag of tricks :)

Since my fingers are behind the damselfly they acted as a reflector for the light from the flash -but because they are almost twice as far from the light as the critter they came out about a stop under exposed and the color saturated. Instead of a black background I got a nice bright one that really makes the critter stand out.

Field Studio In Action

Field Studio
Originally uploaded by Dalantech.

I found this immature dragonfly early in the morning when it was too cold and wet to move so it was pretty easy to cut the grass it was perched on, carry it to a nearby park bench, and put it in the wood clamp for some field studio work.

The first sample image from that shoot is at F13 and 2.5x and the second is at F10 and 5x.