Ahhh.... what a great thing to see the hummingbirds, butterflies, etc. flying about the garden. That hard freeze that hit the US several weeks ago killed over 80% of the buds and leaves on our trees - it's strange with green grass and warmer weather, but no leaves...

How is everybody? I've been away traveling a lot (I do a lot of bicycle race stuff), so I've been out of touch, and hadn't taken any photos for almost a month. BTW, you may see my ugly mug on Versus (formerly the Outdoor Life Network) tonight... I'm doing time board duties on the motorcycle for the Tour de Georgia.

Regardless, here's one of my first butterfly images for the year - he was most accommodating...

Taken at F/11, 1/180 sec., 200mm, ISO 100. This image is about 25% of actual size, cropped some for better composition. Shot hand held, in that horribly soft JPEG:


This is a REALLY nice flashgun, no question. Perhaps I need to read the other 90 pages of the manual...

I taught a macro class last Thursday, and it was an excellent time. I am leading a field trip on May 19th, and teaching another macro class at the Photographic Symposium next weekend.

Cheers,
Marc

[carpents]

Forget about the stupid flash - look at the beauty of the FA*200!!

Lovely shot, Marc.

(No, there is nothing wrong with the flash. I'm just lusting after the lens.)

[Marc Langille]

Forget about the stupid flash - look at the beauty of the FA*200!!

Lovely shot, Marc.

(No, there is nothing wrong with the flash. I'm just lusting after the lens.)

LOL... thanks Sean (sp?)! I keep coming back to look at this one a lot - my subject's wing position really made this an interesting image.

You are right about the FA* 200/4 - it is a true gem. The nice thing is that it's given my lens much more flexibility on my K10D, since I had no flash that will work well on it's hot shoe.

Cheers,
Marc

[Marc Langille]

Forget about the stupid flash - look at the beauty of the FA*200!!

Lovely shot, Marc.

(No, there is nothing wrong with the flash. I'm just lusting after the lens.)

I don't see any lens in this picture...

Cheers,
Marc

[NaClH2O]

Thanks Marc and welcome back. Beautiful shot. And it's too bad it's so...er...fuzzy! (well the swallowtail's back is a bit fuzzy don't you think?) Those pesky sharp JPEGS still keep showing up! Doesn't everybody know by now that the ONLY way you can get any kind of decent image out of a K10D is in RAW?

NaCl(you should be ashamed of yourself! showing up all those "experts" this way!)H2O

[Ole]

Fantastic shot!

[Eaglerapids]

Great pic!

[tranq78]

Marc,

Can you enlighten me on how you used the flash? Was it mounted on the hotshoe (I think so)? Flash head aimed straight at subject or head tilted? or did you use a diffuser with the flash tilted? Focal length setting of the flash? Any +/- flash compensation?

Thanks. Sorry for so many questions, but I've got the 540 recently myself but haven't got a d-SLR to experiment with.

Very nice image, too.

-George

[Heinrich Lohmann]

Ahhh.... what a great thing to see the hummingbirds, butterflies, etc. flying about the garden. That hard freeze that hit the US several weeks ago killed over 80% of the buds and leaves on our trees - it's strange with green grass and warmer weather, but no leaves...

How is everybody? I've been away traveling a lot (I do a lot of bicycle race stuff), so I've been out of touch, and hadn't taken any photos for almost a month. BTW, you may see my ugly mug on Versus (formerly the Outdoor Life Network) tonight... I'm doing time board duties on the motorcycle for the Tour de Georgia.

Regardless, here's one of my first butterfly images for the year - he was most accommodating...

Taken at F/11, 1/180 sec., 200mm, ISO 100. This image is about 25% of actual size, cropped some for better composition. Shot hand held, in that horribly soft JPEG:


This is a REALLY nice flashgun, no question. Perhaps I need to read the other 90 pages of the manual...

I taught a macro class last Thursday, and it was an excellent time. I am leading a field trip on May 19th, and teaching another macro class at the Photographic Symposium next weekend.

Cheers,
Marc

Mark, that is a beautiful image but I don't know how you do put up with those .jpg images :-) One question: How did you diffuse the flash?

Heinrich

[roentarre]

Marc, very beautiful image. The illumination of the insect is superb, even and revealing all the details.

It seems that it is definitely worthwhile to get this flash for sure

[little laker]

Beautiful pic like always Marc.
I noticed that you haven't been around for a while, I'm glad that you had a little fun.

I wish that I could take one of your macro lessons, or even just get a decent macro lens.

[Marc Langille]

Fantastic shot!

Thank you Ole... much appreciated.

Thanks Marc and welcome back. Beautiful shot. And it's too bad it's so...er...fuzzy! (well the swallowtail's back is a bit fuzzy don't you think?) Those pesky sharp JPEGS still keep showing up! Doesn't everybody know by now that the ONLY way you can get any kind of decent image out of a K10D is in RAW?

NaCl(you should be ashamed of yourself! showing up all those "experts" this way!)H2O

Dang it! Back to the drawing board, er, I mean the camera... damn fuzzy shots again...

I hope I can continue to be ashamed...

Thank you Salty for the kind words - yes, I've been gone a while! I'll be very busy until mid-month. Then at month's end I plan to do a cabin retreat/getaway in the Ozark National forest near the Buffalo National River. Yes, you guessed it, more photo ops... For now, I am hoping my FA* 300/2.8 and the newly acquired 2X-L converter will be a winning combination. Assuming the Elk co-operate???

Cheers,
Marc

[Marc Langille]

Mark, that is a beautiful image but I don't know how you do put up with those .jpg images :-) One question: How did you diffuse the flash?

Heinrich

Marc,

Can you enlighten me on how you used the flash? Was it mounted on the hotshoe (I think so)? Flash head aimed straight at subject or head tilted? or did you use a diffuser with the flash tilted? Focal length setting of the flash? Any +/- flash compensation?

Thanks. Sorry for so many questions, but I've got the 540 recently myself but haven't got a d-SLR to experiment with.

Very nice image, too.

-George

Thanks guys for the comments...

Regarding the flash: the diffuser was distance and sunlight. This was a bright sunny day, and the F/11 kept the light much more even. I plan to get a diffuser for it though...

With a 200mm lens, you don't have to be very close with larger insects: about 2 feet from the subject. I had to step back when the butterfly opened it's wings completely in order to get the entire subject in the frame.

I did all focusing manually. I had the flash hot shoe mounted, tilted downwards, so it hit the subject square on. Flash focal length setting was 58mm, but I didn't pay attention to it much other than that. I kept the compensation at 0.0 for the flash.

I put the flash on, powered it up, then powered on the camera and started having fun...

Hope that helps...?

Cheers,
Marc

[tranq78]

Thanks guys for the comments...

Regarding the flash: the diffuser was distance and sunlight. This was a bright sunny day, and the F/11 kept the light much more even. I plan to get a diffuser for it though...

With a 200mm lens, you don't have to be very close with larger insects: about 2 feet from the subject. I had to step back when the butterfly opened it's wings completely in order to get the entire subject in the frame.

I did all focusing manually. I had the flash hot shoe mounted, tilted downwards, so it hit the subject square on. Flash focal length setting was 58mm, but I didn't pay attention to it much other than that. I kept the compensation at 0.0 for the flash.

I put the flash on, powered it up, then powered on the camera and started having fun...

Hope that helps...?

Cheers,
Marc

Yes that is helpful, thanks. I've got a Manfrotto macro flash bracket, which lets you mount a flash to the left & right of the camera. It's quite handy with the wireless flashes, although you get some strange looks from people when walking around with it.

[Marc Langille]

Marc, very beautiful image. The illumination of the insect is superb, even and revealing all the details.

It seems that it is definitely worthwhile to get this flash for sure

Thanks James! I think it's a keeper too...

Beautiful pic like always Marc.
I noticed that you haven't been around for a while, I'm glad that you had a little fun.

I wish that I could take one of your macro lessons, or even just get a decent macro lens.

You are very kind and I appreciate those comments - thank you. I hope that my resuming taking photos is a good thing... Sometimes I feel like I am sort of jumping back into the swing of things when I am off doing non-photo stuff for extended periods...

I'd be more than happy to share what I know in a class if you were closer - for certain! Here's the next best thing to do - practice, practice, practice... think outside the box... visualize before taking the image... I've taken off two weeks last year just to spend time doing the learning curve. It's reaped rewards for me... Just remember I didn't even own a macro lens 10 months ago... then the LBA slippery slope hit... FA 100/2.8, FA* 200/4...

For new, I'd suggest any of the manufacturers in the 90-105mm range. They all seem to be quite good. Or a used Kiron or Tokina lens. The Sigma 180/3.5 is a really nice lens too if it fits your budget.

You are more than welcome to reply to this or PM me if you've got more questions - I'd be happy to answer them to the best of my ability.

Cheers,
Marc