# Hornet shot



## SashaT (Oct 2, 2013)

Was out practicing shooting in manual focus yesterday and saw this hornet just sitting on a leaf.


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## cgipson1 (Oct 2, 2013)

They are fun to shoot! What was your aperture?


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## SashaT (Oct 2, 2013)

cgipson1 said:


> They are fun to shoot! What was your aperture?





Forgot to add the settings in the original post here they are: Lens Nikon 60mm AF-D 2.8 micro (I had the lens manually focused to 1:1 and moved myself to get it in focus), 1/50, and f/22.


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## cgipson1 (Oct 2, 2013)

SashaT said:


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Sweet! I was wondering... DOF seems a bit shallow, but at F22... can't do much more without getting nasty diffraction. They can be pretty cooperative subjects!

Have you seen my yellow jacket series?


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## SashaT (Oct 2, 2013)

cgipson1 said:


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There were four of them all were very cooperative at that time in the late afternoon. It was fairly cool and they were just sitting on this one plant, not flying at all just moving slow. From time to time they would put their faces on the leafs and just sit there. I am thinking just raise your head so I can snap the photo... I hear ya on the DOF thing, I did take several shots in the f/30-39 range. While there is another one I like from the shots, there is some nasty patterns in the black part of the head from my flash. I attempted to correct it via Lightroom but could not get rid of it.


No, I have not seen your yellow jacket series. I assume one of the pics in your sigline is one of the shots?


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## JacaRanda (Oct 2, 2013)

Kudos to you guys that are crazy good manually focusing on little critters like that.

Man, sometimes I feel like I am getting sea sick trying.


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## cgipson1 (Oct 2, 2013)

SashaT said:


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Yes... that is one of them... I will post them.... what do you think?

Yellow Jacket Zilla



YellowJacket by CGipson Photography, on Flickr

I see YOU!



Yellow Jacket Face by CGipson Photography, on Flickr

Wanna play fetch?



Yellow Jacket Pouncing by CGipson Photography, on Flickr


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## SashaT (Oct 2, 2013)

cgipson1 said:


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After seeing them I think: I need to work on my lighting, lightroom skills (just got the program last week) and focusing/settings skills a bit! But hey I just started out at this. So what camera, lens, setting, etc. for those? I want to be able to do stuff like that.


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## SashaT (Oct 2, 2013)

JacaRanda said:


> Kudos to you guys that are crazy good manually focusing on little critters like that.
> 
> Man, sometimes I feel like I am getting sea sick trying.






I don't consider myself crazy good; I am still learning the ropes so to speak. However, thank you 


Never have had any type of motion sickness so it works for me


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## cgipson1 (Oct 2, 2013)

SashaT said:


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Always glad to help with this..   these were shot with a single SB-900 using a Fotodiox 6"x8" softbox , D800 with the Nikon 105 macro. 

I did focus stacking with a manual rail on the first one... ( why I had it at F32.. I don't remember, but diffraction was minimal with the focus stacking. Normally I stack at F8 or F11). Not much photoshop in there really.. I did use Zerene Stacker for the stacking on#1.

#1

Camera: NIKON D800
Lens: AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm F2.8G IF-ED
Aperture: F32
Exposure time: 1/160"
ISO speed rating: 100/21°
Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Spot
White Balance: Cloudy
Focus Mode: Manual
Flash: Nikon SU-800 Remote Commander, Flash fired, compulsory flash mode, return light not detected 

ON #2...

Aperture: F22
Exposure time: 1/160"
ISO speed rating: 100/21°
Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Spot
White Balance: Manual
Flash: Flash fired, compulsory flash mode, return light not detected

#3

Aperture: F32  (I wanted as much DOF as possible.. and have found with good light, and a good lens... diffraction is minimized)
Exposure time: 1/160"
ISO speed rating: 100/21°
Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Spot
White Balance: Manual
Flash: Flash fired, compulsory flash mode, return light not detected

Keep in mind that I have a couple of years more experience than you do.. but if you practice, you can nail it! And it is FUN!


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## SashaT (Oct 2, 2013)

cgipson1 said:


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A "couple" of years more experience? You're too funny, considering I only recently decided to get more serious with this   But yea practice, practice is my game plan.

Thanks for the info, well I see one rookie move that I did. When I took this one and the others that I did not post. I was out in my yard playing with my kids. I use my 60 2.8 quite a bit to take photos of them. As I was doing that I had forgotten that I put my metering into matrix and forgot to switch it back to spot like I do when I shoot bugs. As far as the stacking thing goes, I have never attempted to do it. I should probably read up on the subject a bit and give it a go. I am also thinking I may need something in addition to the 60, while I like it, I have to get so damn close to things at 1:1.


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## cgipson1 (Oct 2, 2013)

SashaT said:


> A "couple" of years more experience? You're too funny, considering I only recently decided to get more serious with this   But yea practice, practice is my game plan.
> 
> Thanks for the info, well I see one rookie move that I did. When I took this one and the others that I did not post. I was out in my yard playing with my kids. I use my 60 2.8 quite a bit to take photos of them. As I was doing that I had forgotten that I put my metering into matrix and forgot to switch it back to spot like I do when I shoot bugs. As far as the stacking thing goes, I have never attempted to do it. I should probably read up on the subject a bit and give it a go. I am also thinking I may need something in addition to the 60, while I like it, I have to get so damn close to things at 1:1.



Yea.. at least a couple of years! lol!

*HINT!!!* (notice the BOLD CAPS and Exclamation Marks?)  Most good macro is shot in Manual Focus.. not AF. AF just doesn't work as well with the close distances involved. AF also explains the very shallow DOF I mentioned on your image above. The camera did not pick the correct focus point.. and may not have done better even in spot focus mode.

Set your lens to manual... and full 1:1 focus. (yep... all the way over!)

Look at your subject through the viewfinder... and move the camera back and forth... until that focus is where YOU want it. Play with it and you will see what I mean. With practice, this is fast.. consistent... and since you are going to always be working at basically the same distance to the subject...once you have the flash dialed in, it will always be perfect at that distance.

And that little softbox I suggested above does wonders... especially if you get the flash off camera, either on a hotshoe extension cable or wireless. I use a Kirk universal Macro Flash bracket a lot when shooting in the field.. and hardly ever bother with a Tripod.


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## SashaT (Oct 5, 2013)

cgipson1 said:


> SashaT said:
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> > A "couple" of years more experience? You're too funny, considering I only recently decided to get more serious with this  But yea practice, practice is my game plan.
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Thanks for all the advise and tips. This is an area of photography that I am very interested in learning. I am going to keep practicing until I am able to get the shots I want consistently. Naturally, I will add some additional equipment to help me achieve this.


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