# Oooooooh... Purdy lighting!



## Natalie (Jan 6, 2012)

I ordered a Honl Traveller8 collapsible softbox for my MT-24EX macro flash last week, and I just opened it up tonight and couldn't wait to give it a spin. However, it's freezing outside, so I literally just ran out to my Venus Flytraps, took one shot, and then ran back in. Surprisingly, the settings I had set while I was inside happened to be perfect, so one shot was all that was needed. I know I'm not going to win any awards for composition with this shot, but look at the light! It's so smooth!





And it's not just that the lighting is smooth, it makes the photos sharper than before as well. Here's a 100% crop of the above picture - you can see the individual cells in the leaf! And this isn't even a true macro either.





I'm going to really give this softbox a try tomorrow, I can't wait.


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## EricD (Jan 6, 2012)

Nice indeed....nice macro!


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## Derrel (Jan 6, 2012)

Yeah, pretty soft,even light for close-ups!


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## Overread (Jan 6, 2012)

Nice lighting!
traveller8 Softbox you mean one of those right? It seems a little big for the twinflash - mind shooting a pick of the flash setup just so I can get an idea of scales and fitting?


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## Natalie (Jan 6, 2012)

Yep, that's the one. It actually fits on the MT-24EX perfectly right out of the package, no need to buy velcro tape like with my Gary Fong Puffers.


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## Natalie (Jan 7, 2012)

Continuing the carnivorous plant theme, here are a few more pictures to illustrate the lighting. I can't wait till I can find some critters to practice on and get _good_ photos!

















The light is all flash in these shots, no ambient light.


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## Snakeguy101 (Jan 7, 2012)

Very nice! I think I am more impressed by your carnivorous plant collection than the photos to be honest though. Here is one I took of my venus fly trap just yesterday. 



DSC_3293 by Snakeguy101, on Flickr


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## Robin Usagani (Jan 7, 2012)

Very cool.  How does it trap fly?  Sticky inside or it will close instantly?


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## Natalie (Jan 7, 2012)

Thanks guys!

Haha, I wish these plants were mine! All the ones I just posted were  taken a local carnivorous plant nursery,  California Carnivores;  only the Venus Flytrap in the first post is mine. I do have lots of  carnivorous plants of my own, but most of them are dormant and  ratty-looking right now.

Snakeguy101, your plant looks like it has a lot of new growth! Do you keep it mainly outside or inside? Seems like you would have the perfect climate for them. Last summer mine were struggling with the low humidity while sitting on the deck in the sun, but I think that's just because the places where I bought them were keeping them in high humidity and they needed time to adapt. Mine are looking like they're poised and ready for spring, I see a bunch of new traps folded up down near the bases of the plants.

Schwettylens, Venus Flytraps capture insects by snapping shut on them. They have sensitive trigger hairs on inside of the leaf, and when something brushes against the hairs twice within a short period of time, the leaves snap shut on the insect. It's really fascinating, and you can see a BBC video of it here:






EDIT: Unlike in the video above, the flies don't actually squeal and the traps don't make crunching noises when they snap shut. The producers added a bunch of sound effects to make the video more dramatic.


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## Robin Usagani (Jan 7, 2012)

Poor fly.  So sad at the end  .


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## Natalie (Jan 7, 2012)

Haha, if it makes you feel any better, I believe a few scientific studies have shown that most kinds of carnivorous plants actually _benefit_ insect populations. This is because they actually have a very low catch rate - the majority of the time, the insect gets away with a free nectar meal.


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## Robin Usagani (Jan 7, 2012)

But you can see the sad face and hear the sound of the fly...


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## Compaq (Jan 8, 2012)

The nature is awesome! I'm glad my knowledge of the theory of evolution is better than average, and I wish I knew much, much more! 

Nature is God.


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## jaicatalano (Jan 8, 2012)

Looks good.


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## Snakeguy101 (Jan 8, 2012)

Natalie said:


> Thanks guys!
> 
> Haha, I wish these plants were mine! All the ones I just posted were  taken a local carnivorous plant nursery,  California Carnivores;  only the Venus Flytrap in the first post is mine. I do have lots of  carnivorous plants of my own, but most of them are dormant and  ratty-looking right now.
> 
> Snakeguy101, your plant looks like it has a lot of new growth! Do you keep it mainly outside or inside? Seems like you would have the perfect climate for them. Last summer mine were struggling with the low humidity while sitting on the deck in the sun, but I think that's just because the places where I bought them were keeping them in high humidity and they needed time to adapt. Mine are looking like they're poised and ready for spring, I see a bunch of new traps folded up down near the bases of the plants.



That's awesome. I wish there was something like that around here. I used to have a nepenthes but I couldn't keep it alive for very long. The Fly trap is on a high from being in the agar (from being tissue cultured) which is why it has a lot of new growth and has not gone dormant for the winter. I keep it outside usually but we have had a few freezes lately so I am keeping it inside for now. It is sitting on top of my eyelash viper tank and I have a humidifier (the fog in the picture) so it keeps it nice and moist.


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## Robin Usagani (Jan 8, 2012)

So doest the plant die without eating insects?  Does it get extra nutrients from the root too?


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## Snakeguy101 (Jan 8, 2012)

actually the plant dies if it does eat insects. or at least when they eat too many of them. each shoot rots when it gets a bug that is big.


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## Trever1t (Jan 8, 2012)

Schwettylens said:


> But you can see the sad face and hear the sound of the fly...



"help me" lol, excerpt from the original movie.


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## Natalie (Jan 8, 2012)

Schwettylens said:


> So doest the plant die without eating insects?  Does it get extra nutrients from the root too?


Venus Flytraps raised in controlled laboratory conditions that were prevented from catching insects lasted a few years... They don't grow much and get progressively weaker every year and eventually die. This is because most carnivorous plants are native to boggy areas that have very few nutrients in the soil (which is why they resort to carnivory), so over millions of years their roots have evolved to become rather undeveloped, good only for anchoring the plant in the mud. Insects only provide the plants with nutrients, not energy (like most plants, they get their energy only from the sun), so depriving a carnivorous plant of insects has the equivalent effect of growing a standard garden plant in nutrient-free soil with no fertilizer.

Also, as mentioned above by Snakeguy101, too many insects can be detrimental as well. Typically overfeeding won't kill the whole plant, but it will cause the individual leaf (trap) to turn brown and die. A carnivorous plant catching too many insects would be like a garden plant getting too much fertilizer applied. You can see in this article about a _Nepenthes_ which caught a bird, the individual pitcher is turning brown and dying because the prey was too large. Sort of like "plant indigestion", if you will.


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## Joel_W (Jan 8, 2012)

Don't which impressed me more, your new light source which produced some of the best light I've ever seen for a portable unit, or your knowledge of Venus Flytraps. The video was amazing, and yes, you do actually feel sorry for the insect caught in the ending.


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## Natalie (Jan 8, 2012)

Thanks, Joel!


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## Natalie (Jan 14, 2012)

A few more shots from playing around with the flash today. This lack of rain we've been having this winter is terrible, I can't find any animals to practice on.




1/200 sec, f/29.0, ISO 200




1/125 sec, f/14.0, ISO 400




1/200 sec, f/14.0, ISO 100


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## Snakeguy101 (Jan 14, 2012)

beautiful! I love these shots!


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## Frequency (Jan 14, 2012)

These are all amazing shots..... yes, difficult to choose one as the best

Please keep posting 

Regards


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## GeorgieGirl (Jan 17, 2012)

I just had my Traveller 8 delivered today because I want to CopyCat shots like these!:thumbup:


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## Natalie (Jan 18, 2012)

Awesome! Be sure to post some sample shots when you try it out!


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## Joel_W (Jan 18, 2012)

Picture 1 is just outstanding. I really like the use of the rock as a base for the plant. I'm assuming that the black background was due to the twin flash.  Being a purist, and somewhat old fashioned (by age and nature), in picture #2 I wouldn't have cropped it so closely, keeping the top pedal of the furthest flower just in the frame. Also would have included the pedals of the middle flower fully in the frame. But that's just me.


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## Natalie (Jan 18, 2012)

Thanks for the feedback, Joel! I agree about the compositional issues. Had I been thinking more at the time I would have composed the shot better, but I was mainly just trying to get the lighting to look acceptable. I found out that _Mimulus aurantiacus_ are difficult to shoot even with the softbox, because their leaves are so waxy and shiny and want to create lots of harsh shadows deep in the plant.


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## 2WheelPhoto (Jan 18, 2012)

Trever1t said:


> Schwettylens said:
> 
> 
> > But you can see the sad face and hear the sound of the fly...
> ...



great movie indeed


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