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07-20-2013, 02:32 PM - 1 Like   #1
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Macro-Moth-Mosquito-DragonFly
Lens: Tamron 90mm 2.8 Camera: K30 Photo Location: Montana 

I recently started to enjoy Macro photography. Here are some shots I think are OK. Cropped and ran through DXO 8 on the default settings.

Really looking for feedback on composition and post processing. I'm new to raw, but I see the advantage already while shooting raw+jpeg.

1). Moth Butterfly in my back yard. I would have like some sort of background.
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2). Mosquito on my finger. Again night shot with flash no background.
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3). Dragonfly with eggsMites. I messed with the crop for awhile, I wanted to keep the shadow of the wings on the grass.
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4). Romantic DragonflyStyle. F20 Stopped down maybe to far colors are really muted and background is busy.
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Last edited by ToyTank; 07-21-2013 at 09:07 AM.
07-20-2013, 02:55 PM   #2
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Wow awesome shots - especially that dragonfly was a rare opportunity ! Lucky you
07-20-2013, 02:59 PM   #3
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Thanks Manntax! I find my hunting style serves me well shooting insects If I move slow and low and don't make eye contact they don't spook.

You can see a embryo in one of the backlit eggs on that dragonfly.
07-20-2013, 03:11 PM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by ToyTank Quote
Thanks Manntax! I find my hunting style serves me well shooting insects If I move slow and low and don't make eye contact they don't spook.

You can see a embryo in one of the backlit eggs on that dragonfly.
Yeah, the details are amazing - this tamron of yours does really nicely! I also started recently using off camera flash to brighten up the background - an entirely different experience I must say

07-20-2013, 04:47 PM   #5
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I like the composition on the moth. The background is nicely subdued IMO, and I wouldn't want it much brighter. It still has some shapes in it to keep from being a void and the moth stands out nicely. Except for the moths left eye, which ends up black on black and the edge gets a little lost. A small price for the hairs standing out so well though.

Those are mites on the dragonfly in pic 3. They lay their eggs in the water or attached to plants in the water. Check out Northwest Dragonflier: Mite-y Dragons: Odonata and Water Mites. I always find it uncomfortable when a body part is just nicked off, and I would probably have liked to include the entire tail on this one since you had to go down that far to keep the excellent shadow anyway (I love the yellow part of the shadow!).

Ditto with the wings on the bottom damselfly in pic 4, they could use some breathing room. I'd agree this is stopped down to far. Mating damselfies are in a pretty flat plane and if your viewpoint was a little lower you could keep them mostly in focus with a lower f-stop. Great job at getting so very close though
07-20-2013, 05:29 PM   #6
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Hi Brian thanks for the advice. I agree I should leave the tail on it is just a bit more. The more I look at it the more I think #4 would have been better f8-11 and a bit lower.

Great info on the mites, always good to know what I'm looking at. That large cluster I figured eggs but I've learned something!

I can tell you one thing next time I eat a pomegranate I'm going to be thinking dragonfly mites.
07-20-2013, 11:17 PM   #7
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The moth is actually a butterfly, specifically a skipper, most probably a European Skipper which is found over most of N. America now. Moths have fuzzy antennae. Nice photo!

Jack

07-21-2013, 09:09 AM   #8
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Thanks for the comments guys! Anyone else have criticism I'm all ears.

I've updated the OP to reflect they are mites not eggs, and butterfly not a moth. I am learning alot!
07-25-2013, 12:48 PM   #9
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Well done — especially 1 and 3 (although I could not have done as well as you did had I attempted 2 and 4)!
I hope to see more of your work.
Also, as you are a relatively new member, a belated welcome top Pentaxforums.com!

Last edited by smf; 07-25-2013 at 12:49 PM. Reason: add sentence
07-25-2013, 05:06 PM   #10
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Thanks smf! My first DSLR is a K30 I bought back when I joined in march. I've been reading photography books(Bryan Peterson, Tom Ang, others available at my library) but I don't really know anyone locally to criticize my photos. This forum seems great for that.

I've used PnS cameras forever so I had some idea of exposure and composition but been having hard time learning PP I've always shot in JPEG. Using free LR and DXO trials for now while I figure out what I like. Thanks for the warm welcome.

Changes I'm going to make based on the feedback(thanks everyone)

1) I am going to see if I can either recover the left eye from RAW, or maybe I can stack from another shot in the series. Other than that it seems pretty well liked.

3) ReCrop original to include tail(I think it is in the original)

4)Crop original to leave a bit more room on the bottom right

I'll re-post them sometime this weekend
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