Well I think I got lucky today and found myself a freshly emerged dragonfly just itching to be photographed so I attached my Sigma 105mm 2.8 macro and my AF360 flash and nailed a few shots at f8, some at f12, some at f22 and f29, but then I got a few maxed out at f32! The camera was maxed out trying to get a decent exposure at f32 let me tell you and here are the results everyone so please leave your C&C if you'd like and as always enjoy!

f8


f22


f22


f22


f29


f32!


f32!


f32! his leftover casing is also in the shot


f20


To achieve f32 I had to 1 max out the flash and set to +1, then max out the camera flash output to +1, and set EV to +1 or higher and ISO 200-400. I think it was worth it in the end and I feel real happy with the results.

[barendvl]

Very nice results indeed

However with lots of sharpness you get a bit of a crowded image tho :-)

[and]

Very nice results indeed

However with lots of sharpness you get a bit of a crowded image tho :-)

I agree, the first shot is the best one imo, because of the clutter in the other ones. love the wings tough. seems its worth trying this again when u find a dragon fly that is sitting on in a more elevated, open spot so u wont get a lot of straws in the way.

The sharpness is impressive tough, i was expecting diffraction to cause a softer image, then again the posted images are small so i guess its hard to judge that. sure looks sharp though.

[nycxaro]

Chris, you caught some really amazing detail in the wings. What kind of working distance do you have from the front of the lens to the subject with your sigma 105mm?

[Vertex Ninja]

Chris, you caught some really amazing detail in the wings. What kind of working distance do you have from the front of the lens to the subject with your sigma 105mm?

Ditto. Are any of these cropped or are you just super "one with nature" that they completely ignore you.

[codiac2600]

Very nice results indeed

However with lots of sharpness you get a bit of a crowded image tho :-)

Thank you and yes it is very very crowded but I've never tried to shoot at anythign above f22 so it was fun and actually from a scientific perspective very cool.

[QUOTE=and;71218]I agree, the first shot is the best one imo, because of the clutter in the other ones. love the wings tough. seems its worth trying this again when u find a dragon fly that is sitting on in a more elevated, open spot so u wont get a lot of straws in the way.

The sharpness is impressive tough, i was expecting diffraction to cause a softer image, then again the posted images are small so i guess its hard to judge that. sure looks sharp though.[/QUOTE

Thank you and the images at 100% show some softness compared to in focus areas at f5-8 but actually well enough to print so I'm very happy with how well this lens handles the abuse I give it.

Chris, you caught some really amazing detail in the wings. What kind of working distance do you have from the front of the lens to the subject with your sigma 105mm?

My working distance for that specific lens is less than a foot for 1:1 but most of the shots you see here are at 1:2 plus or minus.

Ditto. Are any of these cropped or are you just super "one with nature" that they completely ignore you.

I'm gifted I guess in that area as I can always find one dragonfly who will sit down long enough for me to go 1:1 or close to it before it decides to leave. I tend to never crop and if I do it's less than 10-20% of the image, but most of the time I can frame it in the shot and what you see here is what I truly capture.

[Marc Langille]

Great captures, excellent detail! There's no real dragonfly activity in my neck of the woods. I wish I could have that sort of opportunity... I'll have to venture out and hope for the best. Hmmm...

This is just an observation: I personally stay at F/22 and lower because of possible light diffraction with too smalll an aperture. I don't want to risk losing a great shot because of that. Most of the time it's between F/13 and F/19 with my flash. I don't know if I could abuse my lens like that...

I am impressed that you pulled it off so nicely! It's just my thoughts... Again, great images!

Cheers,
Marc

[codiac2600]

Great captures, excellent detail! There's no real dragonfly activity in my neck of the woods. I wish I could have that sort of opportunity... I'll have to venture out and hope for the best. Hmmm...

This is just an observation: I personally stay at F/22 and lower because of possible light diffraction with too smalll an aperture. I don't want to risk losing a great shot because of that. Most of the time it's between F/13 and F/19 with my flash. I don't know if I could abuse my lens like that...

I am impressed that you pulled it off so nicely! It's just my thoughts... Again, great images!

Cheers,
Marc

If you feel like venturing out take a vacation to chicago and stop by my little town of Rockford and I'll bring you to a place with plenty of dragonfly activity.

Thank you Marc and this attempt was just for fun as I too end up mostly between f9 and f22 when shooting macros because of just wanting to get one perfect shot but today I got lucky with an immobile fresh spawn so he was quite helpful in my experiment.

Thank you for the tips and any good word coming from you is so awesome because your macro work is just breath taking so thank you for even looking at these.

[Marc Langille]

If you feel like venturing out take a vacation to chicago and stop by my little town of Rockford and I'll bring you to a place with plenty of dragonfly activity.

Sure - I occasionally hit the Chicago area on trips, etc. Of course, I never know until 2-3 weeks out...

Thank you Marc and this attempt was just for fun as I too end up mostly between f9 and f22 when shooting macros because of just wanting to get one perfect shot but today I got lucky with an immobile fresh spawn so he was quite helpful in my experiment.

FWIW, it took me about 4-5K of shots to get where I am today - praise be digital! Gawd my first shots were OOF, just baaaad.... Having an immobile subject certainly helps though...

Thank you for the tips and any good word coming from you is so awesome because your macro work is just breath taking so thank you for even looking at these.

No worries and you humble me with those comments. I just want to improve - I do believe my work has hit a new level in late May/early June.

I am off to the Botanical Gardens and the local lake this afternoon, so perhaps some new images with my recently returned K10D and 540 flash, plus the possibility of a Great Blue Heron shot are in order.

Cheers,
Marc

[codiac2600]

You just let me know Marc and we'll arrange something out here since I'm usually quite available during the summer months.

Yeah I'm almost at 30000 clicks on the K10D and I would be bancrupt like no ones business if that was film plus I'd learn a little less from film IMO because I wouldn't experiment as much knowing the fact that you can't get people at the film store to make perfect retouches on the prints.

Have a fun trip at the gardens and I too will make a visit to one or both of our botanical gardens next week so hopefully we can share some insight from our trips.

Thank you again Marc and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

[rhermans]

Chris, great detail in those shots. This is way closer than I ever got to a dragonfly.