# More than just eyes



## NateS (May 19, 2010)

Working on getting detail in the body with these.


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## ShutterBird (May 21, 2010)

I really love all of your insect photography! It's amazing how detailed bugs are. They are so small you never pay attention! Thanks for posting! Very cool.


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## Aye-non Oh-non Imus (May 21, 2010)

You seem to have worked out your lighting issues from the other forum.  :thumbsup:

Or is it entirely because of the subject?

Regardless, nice work.


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## AnneRiceBowl (May 21, 2010)

ShutterBird said:


> I really love all of your insect photography! It's amazing how detailed bugs are. They are so small you never pay attention! Thanks for posting! Very cool.



Ditto! Additionally, I am increasingly creeped out by your subjects, but that's just me. 

1 and 2 are standout the most to me. 1 because of color and contrast, 2 because of sharpness.


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## Amocholes (May 22, 2010)

My only question is, how do you get them to stay in one place long enough for the pictures?


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## NateS (May 22, 2010)

ShutterBird said:


> I really love all of your insect photography! It's amazing how detailed bugs are. They are so small you never pay attention! Thanks for posting! Very cool.






AnneRiceBowl said:


> ShutterBird said:
> 
> 
> > I really love all of your insect photography! It's amazing how detailed bugs are. They are so small you never pay attention! Thanks for posting! Very cool.
> ...



Thank you both.  I really appreciate the kind words.



Aye-non Oh-non Imus said:


> You seem to have worked out your  lighting issues from the other forum.  :thumbsup:
> 
> Or is it entirely because of the subject?
> 
> Regardless, nice work.



Definitely got my lighting issues worked out.  Certain subjects are harder than others such as refelctive ones, but every time I go out and shoot, I get better at handling those situations too.  Seems like about 0 to -.7 FEC for normal bugs and all the up to -2 FEC for the reflective/hard shelled bugs does the trick at minimizing hotspots.  



Amocholes said:


> My only question is, how do you get them to stay in one place long enough for the pictures?



I don't do anything really.  Pretty much all insects take a break at some point.  I just get close to where the fly is or whatever bug is and just slowly follow him in my viewfinder.  Once he takes a break, I'm ready and start firing away.  If they move slowly, I will also shoot while they move.  Get my focus in front of them, hold steady, and wait for them to walk through where I'm focused and fire away.  Practice makes perfect is no different on this and it gets easier the more I do it.


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## fiirmoth (May 31, 2010)

Great shots!!! Are these touched up at all? Almost look like HDR. I dont see a ring flash in its eyes, what did you use for lighting?


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## NateS (Jun 1, 2010)

fiirmoth said:


> Great shots!!! Are these touched up at all? Almost look like HDR. I dont see a ring flash in its eyes, what did you use for lighting?



Touched up...not really.  The only post I ever do is adding a little bit of contrast to the subject.  With the Tamron 180 I rarely even do any PP sharpening...though adding a bit of contrast naturally sharpens a bit...but yeah, I don't do hardly any post work on most of mine as I usually don't find it necessary.  

I definitely don't use a ring light...never been a fan of the lighting I've seen from them.  I use a single SB-600 mounted on the camera left fired through a mini-softbox.

Thanks for your comments/questions and feel free to ask anymore if you have them.


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## pbelarge (Jun 1, 2010)

These 3 images are incredible.
The color, contrast and detail are striking. Who ever knew a fly could be so....


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