I was bored and looking to do something different so I enticed this honeybee to feed from my finger. Check out the video for a brief description :)
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Post Moderation
Sorry about the post moderation folks -I am getting too many spam messages in the comments. I will post (and have posted) every comment, good or bad, as long as it doesn't contain an advertisement.
Someone took a cheap shot at me recently, suggesting that I wouldn't post their comment because it was negative. You have every right to disagree with me, and I'll post your comments even though you're wrong... ;)
Someone took a cheap shot at me recently, suggesting that I wouldn't post their comment because it was negative. You have every right to disagree with me, and I'll post your comments even though you're wrong... ;)
Solitary Bee on Mint Series Studio Setup
I'll apologize now for the quality of the video -it was early in the morning and I was still nursing my first cup of coffee :)
This shot of the same bee really shows what that floral pattern on the table cloth looks like when blurred out in the background.
This shot of the same bee really shows what that floral pattern on the table cloth looks like when blurred out in the background.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Want to Get Published and Paid?
Tom Stack, of Tom Stack and Ass. (the agency that manages my portfolio) has been given a large list of images that are needed for an upcoming book. Tom is the reason that I've been getting paid for images by McGraw Hill for the past two years, so this is a really good opportunity! Tom's email address is tomstack(at)earthlink.net (replace the (at) with the @ symbol of course -I wrote it that way to keep his email addy from getting picked up by spam bots).
Here's is the list of photos that Tom is looking for. The customer wants North American species, but it doesn't matter what side of the pond you took the photo on (some exist everywhere):
Title: Dragonflies Deadline May 3rd
Cover (vert) & Title Page (horiz): striking closeup of a dragonfly (US only)
Chapter 1: Flying Jewels
P5 Kid looking at dragonfly
P5a Dragonfly wingspan
P5b Dragonfly life cycle- egg, larva, adult
P5c Dragonfly dipping tip of abdomen in water
P6 Closeup of needle like body
P6a Dragonfly larva or nymph & its metamorphosis
P7 Closeup of its mandibles/jaws or carrying prey
P7a Mocha Emerald or Prince Baskettail- especially show green eyes
P7b Adult dragonfly for labeling of body parts
P8 Dragon fly hovering
P8a Dragon flies migrating or in Mexico or Caribbean
Chapter 2: You are the Explorer
P9 Kids exploring in pond area or looking through binoculars
P10 Damselflies- show them holding wings up
P11 Dragonfly perched in garden or near water
P11 Elfin Skimmer
P11a Giant Darner- showing its bright color- perched on grasses or near water
P13, 15 Common Whitetail (male) (on a rock near flowers if poss)
Chapter 3: A Guide to Dragonflies
P14 Kid looking at dragonfly
P15a Skimmers: Common Whitetail, Blue Dasher, Widow Skimmer, Four-spotted Skimmer, Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Flame Skimmer, Halloween Pennant, Calico Pennant, Black Saddlebags, Yellow-legged Meadowhawk, Wandering Glider, Spot-Winged Glider
P15b Darners: Common Green Darner, Shadow Darner, Blue-eyed Darner, Variable Darner
P15c Emeralds: Mocha Emerald, Prince Baskettail, American Emerald, Common Baskettail
P15d Clubtails: Cobra Clubtail, Common Sanddragon, Russet-tipped Clubtail, Eastern Ringtail
Chapter 4: Try This! Projects You Can Do
P17 Dragonfly with mosquito prey
P17a Hine’s Emerald dragonfly
P18 Kids/person making a dragonfly pond or flower garden
P19 Dragonflies on flowers or these flowers: aster, black-eyed Susan, coneflower, daisy, lavender, fountain grass
P19a Male Calico Pennant- showing red heart-shaped marks on abdomen
P19b Dragonflies perched on tops of tall grasses or stems- or child placing sticks in garden for perches
Upcoming book titles: Beetles, Grasshoppers, Ants, Snails/Slugs & Worms
Good luck folks!!
Regards,
John
Here's is the list of photos that Tom is looking for. The customer wants North American species, but it doesn't matter what side of the pond you took the photo on (some exist everywhere):
Title: Dragonflies Deadline May 3rd
Cover (vert) & Title Page (horiz): striking closeup of a dragonfly (US only)
Chapter 1: Flying Jewels
P5 Kid looking at dragonfly
P5a Dragonfly wingspan
P5b Dragonfly life cycle- egg, larva, adult
P5c Dragonfly dipping tip of abdomen in water
P6 Closeup of needle like body
P6a Dragonfly larva or nymph & its metamorphosis
P7 Closeup of its mandibles/jaws or carrying prey
P7a Mocha Emerald or Prince Baskettail- especially show green eyes
P7b Adult dragonfly for labeling of body parts
P8 Dragon fly hovering
P8a Dragon flies migrating or in Mexico or Caribbean
Chapter 2: You are the Explorer
P9 Kids exploring in pond area or looking through binoculars
P10 Damselflies- show them holding wings up
P11 Dragonfly perched in garden or near water
P11 Elfin Skimmer
P11a Giant Darner- showing its bright color- perched on grasses or near water
P13, 15 Common Whitetail (male) (on a rock near flowers if poss)
Chapter 3: A Guide to Dragonflies
P14 Kid looking at dragonfly
P15a Skimmers: Common Whitetail, Blue Dasher, Widow Skimmer, Four-spotted Skimmer, Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Flame Skimmer, Halloween Pennant, Calico Pennant, Black Saddlebags, Yellow-legged Meadowhawk, Wandering Glider, Spot-Winged Glider
P15b Darners: Common Green Darner, Shadow Darner, Blue-eyed Darner, Variable Darner
P15c Emeralds: Mocha Emerald, Prince Baskettail, American Emerald, Common Baskettail
P15d Clubtails: Cobra Clubtail, Common Sanddragon, Russet-tipped Clubtail, Eastern Ringtail
Chapter 4: Try This! Projects You Can Do
P17 Dragonfly with mosquito prey
P17a Hine’s Emerald dragonfly
P18 Kids/person making a dragonfly pond or flower garden
P19 Dragonflies on flowers or these flowers: aster, black-eyed Susan, coneflower, daisy, lavender, fountain grass
P19a Male Calico Pennant- showing red heart-shaped marks on abdomen
P19b Dragonflies perched on tops of tall grasses or stems- or child placing sticks in garden for perches
Upcoming book titles: Beetles, Grasshoppers, Ants, Snails/Slugs & Worms
Good luck folks!!
Regards,
John
Monday, April 25, 2011
Working in a Wallflower Deconstruction
If you're familiar with my other deconstructions then there isn't too much to add here: I baited this honeybee by injecting honey into some Wallflowers and waited for them to start feeding so I could get close. Then it's just a matter of holding onto the flower she's on with my left hand, brace the camera on that same hand, and take the shot. But for this image I took a short video of the "field studio" that I used -just a cheap trick to keep the background from being black.
There's no natural light in that image -it's all flash.
Update 27 Apr 2011:
I didn't go into a lot of detail on this image deconstruction since for me the way I focus the scene is routine. But I was asked about the depth in the shot and this is how I did it: Looking at that frame the curve from the proboscis all the way to the back of the eye has to be in focus, as well as that leading antenna. If any of those elements are noticeably out of focus then the shot won't work. To add insult to injury even if I did focus stack (I never stack) the honeybee is in constant motion so I have to get all of those elements in focus in a single frame. To pull it off I focused on the end of the proboscis and then locked that lower right hand corner in place. I can spin that corner on its axis, but I can't allow any vertical or horizontal movement and still keep that part of the frame in focus, or the framing where I need it to be.
With the lower right corner locked I twisted the camera so that the upper left and right corners went a little deeper into the frame. The end effect is the area of acceptable focus is over the curve that runs from the proboscis to the eye, but it's also intersecting the antenna getting everything in focus that needs to be. But because I've locked that lower right corner and twisted the camera it looks like I'm shooting parallel to the honeybee, creating the illusion that there is a lot of depth in the image when there actually isn't.
There's no natural light in that image -it's all flash.
Update 27 Apr 2011:
I didn't go into a lot of detail on this image deconstruction since for me the way I focus the scene is routine. But I was asked about the depth in the shot and this is how I did it: Looking at that frame the curve from the proboscis all the way to the back of the eye has to be in focus, as well as that leading antenna. If any of those elements are noticeably out of focus then the shot won't work. To add insult to injury even if I did focus stack (I never stack) the honeybee is in constant motion so I have to get all of those elements in focus in a single frame. To pull it off I focused on the end of the proboscis and then locked that lower right hand corner in place. I can spin that corner on its axis, but I can't allow any vertical or horizontal movement and still keep that part of the frame in focus, or the framing where I need it to be.
With the lower right corner locked I twisted the camera so that the upper left and right corners went a little deeper into the frame. The end effect is the area of acceptable focus is over the curve that runs from the proboscis to the eye, but it's also intersecting the antenna getting everything in focus that needs to be. But because I've locked that lower right corner and twisted the camera it looks like I'm shooting parallel to the honeybee, creating the illusion that there is a lot of depth in the image when there actually isn't.
Monday, April 18, 2011
MT-24EX Diffuser Redesign
A short and sweet video on my new diffuser design. You can see a sample of the light quality I'm getting with in the specular highlights and the texture detail in this Ladybug's shell.
Note: I originally cut the front of the Sto-Fen out because I was concerned about light loss. Since I'm relying on the flash duration to freeze as much motion as possible (to get sharp images at high Fstops) I didn't want to lose two full stops to the diffuser. But after a lot of experimentation with different diffuser plastics I am now using the whole Sto-Fen.
Note: I originally cut the front of the Sto-Fen out because I was concerned about light loss. Since I'm relying on the flash duration to freeze as much motion as possible (to get sharp images at high Fstops) I didn't want to lose two full stops to the diffuser. But after a lot of experimentation with different diffuser plastics I am now using the whole Sto-Fen.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
The Whole Picture
A little over a year ago I was trying to push the limits of what I could do in a single frame when I took the shot included with this post. It’s a Mason Bee portrait taken hand held at five times life size with a 40D, an MPE-65mm macro lens, and an MT-24EX macro twin flash. At the time I had three years of experience shooting macro images so I knew where the depth of field was, how thick (or thin) it was, and how to place it against the subject to make the most of it. The important bits are in focus, the out of focus bits aren’t in an area that would make them distracting, and I chose to shoot it with a black background to bring out the yellow hair. It took me a few frames to get the image I wanted, but I got it.
But after posting the shot on the Fred Miranda Macro Forum one of the other macro shooters who posts there, Phil (aka Goldenorfe -a shooter I respect for his mad skills), asked a very simple but extremely relevant question: “Why didn’t you shoot it with something in the background?”. Granted I wanted the background to be black –it’s a good contrast choice against all that yellow. But then again so is green and that’s what bothered me about Phil’s question: I could have taken that shot with just about any color in the background other than black since it was early in the morning and the critter was sleeping. From a macro shooter’s perspective I had all the time in the world to make that image and had pushed myself on all the other aspects of getting the shot except the background. I simply let the flash fall off into the abyss so the area behind the critter would be dark, in effect taking the easy way out in an area of the frame that’s just as important as any other. Not good…
One of the reasons why I shoot macro is because it is hard, and by pushing myself I end up with images that are uniquely mine. So since that late March day a year ago I’ve been working on my backgrounds and looking for ways to make them other than black. All I’m doing here is holding the twig the bee is on in front of a grape leaf -there’s no natural light in this one folks, it’s all flash:
Recently while out shooting in a vineyard (testing changes to my lighting -the subject of a future post) I stumbled upon a lethargic honeybee. I really don’t know why, but for some odd reason bees will just slow down. Low temperatures will sometimes drag solitary bees to a crawl, but it was in the upper teens C (high 60s F) so that shouldn’t have made any difference for this honeybee since they normally function well in cool weather. But for whatever reason she just sat there on a flower looking “confused” (either you understand that or you think I’m nuts). Seeing an opportunity I put some honey on the flower to keep her busy and then I picked the flower she was on because it was just too low to the ground. It was only then that I realized that I needed something to use as a backdrop. The poles that were being used to hold up the grapes looked like a decent choice, and they’d allow me to steady my left hand as well.
Important bits in focus? Check. Decent framing? Check. A pleasing background? Well, it’s not black, but it’s not that great either and that’s pretty much the feedback I got from Mark Plonsky (my mentor and the reason I shoot at the level I do today). Hindsight being what it is I should have taken the time to setup something to use as a backdrop, just in case I found a critter to shoot.
*sigh*
Still learning, still pushing myself, and I just don’t see any of that ending any time soon…
But after posting the shot on the Fred Miranda Macro Forum one of the other macro shooters who posts there, Phil (aka Goldenorfe -a shooter I respect for his mad skills), asked a very simple but extremely relevant question: “Why didn’t you shoot it with something in the background?”. Granted I wanted the background to be black –it’s a good contrast choice against all that yellow. But then again so is green and that’s what bothered me about Phil’s question: I could have taken that shot with just about any color in the background other than black since it was early in the morning and the critter was sleeping. From a macro shooter’s perspective I had all the time in the world to make that image and had pushed myself on all the other aspects of getting the shot except the background. I simply let the flash fall off into the abyss so the area behind the critter would be dark, in effect taking the easy way out in an area of the frame that’s just as important as any other. Not good…
One of the reasons why I shoot macro is because it is hard, and by pushing myself I end up with images that are uniquely mine. So since that late March day a year ago I’ve been working on my backgrounds and looking for ways to make them other than black. All I’m doing here is holding the twig the bee is on in front of a grape leaf -there’s no natural light in this one folks, it’s all flash:
Recently while out shooting in a vineyard (testing changes to my lighting -the subject of a future post) I stumbled upon a lethargic honeybee. I really don’t know why, but for some odd reason bees will just slow down. Low temperatures will sometimes drag solitary bees to a crawl, but it was in the upper teens C (high 60s F) so that shouldn’t have made any difference for this honeybee since they normally function well in cool weather. But for whatever reason she just sat there on a flower looking “confused” (either you understand that or you think I’m nuts). Seeing an opportunity I put some honey on the flower to keep her busy and then I picked the flower she was on because it was just too low to the ground. It was only then that I realized that I needed something to use as a backdrop. The poles that were being used to hold up the grapes looked like a decent choice, and they’d allow me to steady my left hand as well.
Important bits in focus? Check. Decent framing? Check. A pleasing background? Well, it’s not black, but it’s not that great either and that’s pretty much the feedback I got from Mark Plonsky (my mentor and the reason I shoot at the level I do today). Hindsight being what it is I should have taken the time to setup something to use as a backdrop, just in case I found a critter to shoot.
*sigh*
Still learning, still pushing myself, and I just don’t see any of that ending any time soon…
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