Macro Photography....

[Graham 0]

Hey Ashby, Thats a nice collection of bugs. That sure is a tiny grasshopper, and the stink bug looks really cool, and the last photo rocks.

 

Graham

 

[Graham 0]

Very nice photo Will, amazing how there can be so much going on in still scene. And the light is perfect.

 

Graham

[Ashby 0]

Thanks Graham! That last bug I wish I knew what it was. It looks like something out of a movie. I told my wife it was a bed bug on roids and it was going to burrow into her skin while she slept :hyst: I got it on the sholder for that one.

 

Hey Will, I meant to coment on your picture. I agree with Graham on that one. There is so much to look at in that picture. A very awesome looking picture.

 

Ashby

[Ashby 0]

Here are some shots I took today while taking a walk with my son. I used a different setting on my camera this time so I could possibly get a better macro shot. I think it worked.

 

Ashby

 

 

 

 

[Mokai 0]

Ill say it worked Ashby..Those are great...

 

 

Here is a little Hazelnut ...

 

[Ashby 0]

Thanks, very nice Hazlenut, very Fall looking.

 

Ashby

[Steve P 0]

Sorry I'm a bit late with these and that i haven't been on in a while, but here are a few from me and my little digi in macro.

 

Here is a macro with the lake in the background.

 

Here is a little caterpillar that was crawling in the grass.

 

I did get carried away with these little white flowers but they turned out really cool I think.

 

Let me know what you think.

 

Steve

[Graham 0]

Beautiful flowers Steve, thanks for sharing!

 

Mokai, I love your hazelnut image, the subject, light, lines and textures all combine to create a beautiful image. I also like the curvature of the leaves which point inwards, and nothing leads my eye out of the frame. Very well done!

 

Graham

[Hardyhead 0]

Mokai, your Hazelnut photo is fantastic. The contrast in your shot was amazing, so I decided to B&W it using GIMP. I left the brightness the same, just increased the contrast a little. I hope you don't mind. As a huge black and white fan, and someone who shoots a lot of real film in B&W, it's important to remember that contrast is key, and that photos without sky in them often easily lend themselves to beautiful black and white shots. Anyway, here is your shot, with just a slight bump in the contrast, which is almost not even necessary. Great original, I hope you like the modification.

 

Ryan

 

[Graham 0]

Hi Hardyhead, Last night I was wondering what the key things are that make B&W so different when crafting an image, and I wondered if contrast was a big factor. I also wonder if scenes that ordinarilly would be improved using a polarizing filter to remove reflective glare would look better in B&W without the filter? I have a feeling it takes a quite a while to train the eye to know when it's best to shoot B&W instead of color. I'd love to eventually learn the nuances of effective B&W photography. And Mokais hazelnut looks great in B&W as well as the glorious fall colors. Very cool.

[Hardyhead 0]

 

Graham-

 

There are so many schools of thought on this that it hard to have a definitive answer, but I find reflections and a bit of glare can be very good in B&W, the key of course is not to have the glare or reflection be overpoweringly white. In the digital world, it can be tricky, you don't really get to choose your true grey. You can do it in a photo editing program, but not in the developing room, where the real magic happens in B&W.

 

I find that when I am photographing scenes without sky, having good contrast between light and dark colors makes the best shot, and that a recent rain, dew, or anything else wet makes the shots even better. When the sky is involved outdoors, you usually need some sort of color filter and possibly the polarizer. Many outdoor shots in B&W have a big washed out sky, cloud cover really helps, not total cover, but something to eliminate the giant band of blue sky (which turns out off white or grey). If you have clouds, you can filter the blue to be dark in the photo, and your clouds will stand out like and really make a great shot.

 

I am very much an amateur, and I would say about 3 or 4 of my shots out of a 24 shot roll are decent, the rest go straight to the trash, it takes a lot of practice to get contrasty scenes.

 

The composition of your photo is the same as in color, shoot what you like, what you think looks good. Just remember a scene with mix of light and dark elements/shadows/reflections will usually look fabulous. Read some of the books about how Ansel Adams shot his scenes, and a surprising amount of his struggles were with filtering sky. The mountains in winter are typically ideal for B&W, the snow combined with the granite leads to an easily contrasted shot, but the dang sky leads to a lot of washouts. So much to learn, so little time

[Mokai 0]

Thanks guys for the kind remarks..

 

That looks great in B&W Hardyhead..The contrast does really make it in the B&W version ..

[Mokai 0]

A little close up fall color...

 

[KVRNut 0]

I was out in the back yard a couple weeks ago and heard a fall blooming plant buzzing with activity in a lightly shaded area. It was difficult to see a blossom without some sort of flying insect on it. Grabbed the camera gear then had a lot of fun. With a high solid cloud cover, the light was soft, even, and just right to help bring out the colors. Thanks to a side arm on the tri-pod, I was able to take pics from 5 ft. high to just above ground level.

Here's some of the results of 4 rolls of film. Hope you don't mind a lot of pictures.

Ernie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't know what type of fly this is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I mentioned earlier that I had a lot of fun taking these pictures. I stand corrected. I had a ball...

 

Camera : EOS 3 on manual focus, aperture priority. Film: Fuji ISO 160 Pro S, ISO 100 Reala. Lens: Sigma 300mm Macro. Filters: 2x magnifier, softening filters, circular polarizer.

[Mokai 0]

Very nice Ernie

 

This one is my favorite..