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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-26-2020, 08:46 AM
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Thank you!
Hehe, well, I did observe that wasp for probably well over half an hour. :) I'm actually pretty impressed with the lens too. It's incredibly sharp at open and mid apertures (down to about F/10 at 1:1). It's about even with the D-FA 100mm WR more closed down (F/11-F/13) but the D-FA is a bit more resistant to diffraction at "criminally high" apertures (though the shots are still totally usable with some sharpening in post).
The Wasp and the Grapes (#4) by Pascal Gaudette, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
08-31-2020, 09:34 AM
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Well, a combination of factors has meant that I've pretty much not gone out to shoot for the whole summer...! But last week I had a few moments and managed to find this ladybug who was (I believe) feeding on aphids. It even has wax-like "goo" on its face which is probably the aphid's defensive fluid! Didn't seem too effective against the ladybug... (D-FA 100mm WR, Raynox DCR-250, Godox AD-180, two-shot focus stack.)
Ladybug and Aphids by Pascal Gaudette, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-09-2019, 03:10 PM
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Thank you! :o
Thanks! I do apply a touch of sharpening in post, which accentuates the textures, but I try to keep a light hand with that, as I often see macro shots that I feel are over-sharpened. Of course, it's a matter of taste to some extent...
Speaking generally here, if someone takes the time to post a question about one of my photos on PF, I will answer even if the information is available over at Flickr. I have many times posted on PF details of my technique & photos of my rigs, including much info that one simply can't get from the EXIF.
That being said, I find it a little disconcerting that someone might like my shots enough to want to learn from them, but somehow can't be bothered to make the single click that is required to go look at the info on the shot. Flickr is my photo hosting platform. I put as much info about my shots as I can there. I even make the images themselves available for non commercial use under a Creative Commons license. Again, if someone takes the time to actually ask a question here, I will be as helpful as possible. But I won't start copy/pasting all the info from Flickr every time I post here just for the people interested enough about the photo to be curious, but somehow unwilling to make a single click to obtain more info.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
07-17-2019, 12:06 PM
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Got myself into a bit of a post-processing backlog situation, as I've barely had time to shoot and no time to process in the last couple of weeks. Some really nice shots posted upthread while I was away!
Just managed to start processing again yesterday, so here are my two latest posted shots:
Robber Fly on an Old Bench by Pascal Gaudette, on Flickr
Fly on a Rhubarb Leaf by Pascal Gaudette, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
06-27-2019, 07:16 AM
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BTW, this timelapse of the ladybug's life cycle is pretty good, IMHO:
You Tube
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src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wqddneGYkc4?controls=1" allowfullscreen>
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
06-26-2019, 03:42 PM
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Haha! Sometimes the reverse is true - many people are afraid of spiders, but once they see a good macro of a jumping spider, you'll hear "well, I'm generally not fond of spiders, but this one is really cute!".
And this one looks a bit awkward in flight, IMHO - and the larvas are somewhat freaky (see above) - but very cute adults when resting. Beneficial too! (Though Asian varieties are invasive...)
Coccinelle à sept points by Pascal Gaudette, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
06-25-2019, 05:26 AM
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Someone on Flickr identified this as a Stonefly (order Plecoptera), which apparently isn't even a type of fly (order Diptera)...! Not super photogenic, IMHO, but I did what I could. :o
Stonefly Stack by Pascal Gaudette, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
06-13-2019, 05:46 AM
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Yes, the science of global insect populations is dire. My father also used to talk - decades ago! - about what is now described as the "windshield phenomenom", about how when he had been a young adult driving his VW Beetle during mayfly season, he actually had to stop to physically clean the windshield because he couldn't see a thing anymore. But that was no longer necessary in the nineties (though the windshield still got dirty). Now the windshields barely even register any hits at all...
But I was just expressing a personal observation about what I hope is a seasonal variance. Although I can't imagine what it may have been like 40 years ago, even last year I saw (relatively) many Odonata at the Botanical Garden in late May and early June, but this year very few. Scarily few. I can't imagine being a predator who depends partially or largely on eating Odonata at this time of the year... I really hope I'll see more dragonflies/damselflies when I next go out shooting. They are my favorite subjects.
Glad to hear that!
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
06-11-2019, 11:14 AM
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I don't know about you folks, but I've so far been seeing incredibly few dragonflies & damselflies in my outings compared to previous years. I'm hoping it's just because of the very cold spring we've had, and they're just late to the party, so to speak... This is my first Odonata shot of this season.
First Odonata of the Season by Pascal Gaudette, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
06-04-2019, 08:26 AM
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I must have spent about 45 minutes shooting this very cooperative couple. The problem was the gusting wind! The leaf they were on practically never stopped moving. But whenever I find a cooperative subject, I always try to shoot as much as possible - lower magnification, higher magnification, different angles, stacks, etc. And after a little over 20 minutes, they moved slightly and gave me a point of view where I could have the leaf they were on as background... Bonus! I don't think I could do much better than this (a two-frame focus stack), except by finding an equally cooperative couple on a much less windy day...
Mating Hoverflies by Pascal Gaudette, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-25-2019, 05:51 AM
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Thank you!
Good eye! Yes, I use a single li-ion flash (a Godox V850ii). In the shot above, the flash is on an L-Bracket, along with a thingamajig that allows me to get the flash horizontal. The idea is to get the diffusion surface as close to the subject as possible, both for softness and to minimize power use. (Lower power means the flash can keep up with a K-3 firing at 8.3fps.) I also now try to slide the L-Bracket as close to the body as possible, so that the flash is camera-left, but just a bit. I like some light directionality, but I found that when using the L-bracket "normally", the light was coming from too far left. You can see an old picture of the L-bracket with horizontal flash right here, but remember that now I keep the flash closer to the camera body, so there's actually a piece of the bottom of the bracket that is sticking out at the bottom of the camera (which is now a K-3, as opposed to the K-01 in the photo). I'm also shooting with the flash wired now, as I've found wireless unreliable with the Godox when the flash is so close to the transmitter. Maybe I should just post a pic of my latest setup...! Triggering the flash has been a bit of a nuisance, BTW. The wired PC-sync connection on the K-3 body isn't threaded - or rather I should say the threads in it are not the same size as the threads on my (I assume, standard) cable - so I can't screw the cable in to the connection. As a result, the cable tends to wiggle loose over a session and that can cause misfires at the most inopportune moments.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-23-2019, 01:18 PM
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Thank you!
Three frames, but really about 2.5, as one contributed almost nothing. Moderately active subject, so add maybe 50 other frames of out-of-focus, butt-in-focus, eye-hidden-by-petal & just-not-right stuff... :D BTW, I really love the sharpness of the M 135mm F/3.5 plus Raynox MSN-202 combo, but DoF is unbelievably thin... The combo gives a bit over 3:1 magnification - uncropped frames (as this one) are about 7.2mm wide - ie a bit more than 7 but clearly less than 7.5, which I'm calling 7.2mm. :o
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-14-2019, 04:55 PM
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Indeed! And a bombyle in French. :)
Thanks! And when paired with a macro lens that costs ten times as much, they also do really well! :p:p
Because the duration of a flash burst is incredibly short, especially at low power. If ambient light doesn't contribute much to the total exposure, your effective "shutter speed" when shooting flash is unaffected by the actual length of time that the shutter is actually open (say, 1/160), but is rather determined by how long the burst of light provided by the flash is. Below 1/8th, which is the kind of power I'm typically using, a single flash pop typically lasts less than 1/5000th of a second (see here for numbers for specific flash models). So, for that incredibly short exposure time, SR is quite unnecessary.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-14-2019, 10:59 AM
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For me, if you're shooting flash (as I am), just turn off SR and then the focal length value becomes just a number in the EXIF for information purposes. :p The flash duration is much shorter than the shutter time and ambient contributes very little to the shot, so SR really isn't needed. Saves juice on the camera battery too... But if you're shooting ambient or combining ambient and flash, then nevermind. :o
Personally, I favor closing the reversed lens rather than the primary (as does Nass). I agree it's less convenient, but closing down the primary seems to do very little for me in terms of DoF... But yeah, don't take my word for it and generally in macro there's more than one way to do it. I totally agree about experimenting on your own if/when possible.
My latest published shot (D-FA 100mm WR plus Raynox DCR-250):
Bee-Flies Have Long Legs... by Pascal Gaudette, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-26-2019, 05:34 AM
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Thank you! And also for confirming the Andrena ID, which I wasn't sure about. :cool:
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