Here are a couple examples of what I was up to this afternoon in my backyard. I saw a spider of some sort hiding beneath a small daisy. So I snuck up on her to see if I could capture a bit of her world...





Taken with my new Sigma 180mm.
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dbh - just havin' a bit o' fun that's all.

[NaClH2O]

Nice shots dbh. Looks like a great lens. Is it 1:1?

NaCl(always looking for another macro to lust after)H2O

[dbh]

Nice shots dbh. Looks like a great lens. Is it 1:1?

NaCl(always looking for another macro to lust after)H2O

Yes it is 1:1 and it doesn't change length when changing focus between 1:1 ( at 1.5' and infinity), but the angle of view is real narrow so you don't have to get even that close for great detail. So far I'm very impressed and delighted with the resolution, sharpness, ease of focus lack of CA. You'd like it.
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dbh - really.

[Jimbo]

The first one is awesome... JIMBO

[dbh]

The first one is awesome... JIMBO

Thank you for your kind words. Here's how I found this little spider. I'm looking around for something to practice on and spied this little volunteer daisy in the backyard. It was fairly windy and I was hand-holding the 180mm macro from a standing position looking straight down. I took 2 photos and came in to have a look on the computer. Only then did I notice a little spider on the first one - blurry due to movement either me, the flower or both.



The second showed the spider was retreating beneath the petals with its prey.



I kept wondering if it was still there, so later on went back with the tripod and a wireless AF360FGZ to get some more practice (the two initial pictures). The daisy is only a couple inches across - so you get a sense of the scale. That spider is pretty tiny.

One thing I love about photography and macro in particular is the surprises when going over the photos. Used to be when the box of slides came back, now it's when they show up on screen.
Thanks for sharing the enthusiasm.
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dbh

[scott-devon]

Love that second shot of the spider. Wow!

[ftpaddict]

A tripod would have helped immensely. The pictures also look underexposed by about 0.7 stops. (first batch)

The soft look is neat, but stopping down would have worked better in this particular case. just my 2 nickels worth.

Impressive attempt, though. And you caught the little spider!

[Peter Zack]

ftpaddict, I think you are right about the exposure but I like the DOF since the main subject is nice and clear.

Great lens and very nice shots. I have visions of you crawling around on your hands and knees for the next month!

[dbh]

ftpaddict, I think you are right about the exposure but I like the DOF since the main subject is nice and clear.

Great lens and very nice shots. I have visions of you crawling around on your hands and knees for the next month!

Ha! Exactly! In this case the flower was just a few inches tall and I was flat out prone to get that view from below. I'm thinking another piece of kit I should consider is a pad or at least a ground sheet.

As for the exposure, I'm beginning to think maybe it's psychological on my part. I keep thinking I like the dark, moody, shadowy world I find when I get close to foliage. Some I got yesterday that I liked were even darker, but with areas lit by the strobe. Perhaps what I need to pursue more is increased contrast so I can still get the feel but with better lit points of interest.

Thanks everyone for the comments!
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dbh - playing in the dirt