dryfly purist 0 Report post Posted June 11, 2013 Tried to get some photos of a flying ant today. That was extremely hard to do. The ant was constantly climbing up and down a straw and that in combination with heavy wind made it almost impossible to get the ant in focus. I had to hand hold the camera and even with VRll it is more or less hopeless to get a good focus in the conditions we had today. The light conditions was horrible to and i actually forgot my flash so i had to shoot on high ISO (ISO 1000) to get a fast shutter speed and enough light. ....... but of course it was really fun and challenging :-) "Adam - the flying ant" tries to hide from me behind the straw :-) Terje Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Piker20 0 Report post Posted June 11, 2013 Wow, hand held that's amazing. Are you sure your not the top guy on national geographic?? All this learning to take photos I thinks a ruse!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dryfly purist 0 Report post Posted June 11, 2013 Wow, hand held that's amazing. Are you sure your not the top guy on national geographic?? All this learning to take photos I thinks a ruse!! It´s hand held alright, but man it was hard with the ant moving all the time and the wind blowing the straw and the ant out of focus :-) I´m about 5000000000 lightyears away from National Geographic standard :-) Terje Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
netabrookie 0 Report post Posted June 12, 2013 I don't think its a straw.... I think we are actually seeing a section of that magic wand that works so well on all your flies... From the photos that you post you could be only light-seconds away instead of light years Terje... Take Care, Tony Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dryfly purist 0 Report post Posted June 12, 2013 I don't think its a straw.... I think we are actually seeing a section of that magic wand that works so well on all your flies... From the photos that you post you could be only light-seconds away instead of light years Terje...Take Care, Tony You´re far to kind, Tony :-) :-) ...... but thanks a lot, man :-) :-) btw...... "Adam - the flying ant" was, as i said, constantly climbing up and down the straw making it very hard to focus...... here he is on his way up the straw for the 1000th time or so........ ...... but suddenly after about 45 minutes "Adam" lost his grip and fell down on the water. He tried desperately to hold on to another straw on the water surface but the current took him and the straw and "Adam" drifted away down the river, and who knows he might be dead eaten by a big brown trout further down the river. Thanks for the photo shoot, "Adam" :-) :-) The End Terje Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kentuckytroutbum 0 Report post Posted June 12, 2013 Terje- Another set of outstanding photos. A 105mm macro lens is a fantastic lens. I use a Canon 100mm macro and I've been very pleased with it. You might try to step down the f-stop one more setting to address the DOF in the first image. And are you bracketing your exposure in Aperture mode? As a matter of technique, I always bracket my exposure. But you are correct, trying to shoot macro while hand holding the camera is difficult. And insects don't always want to cooperate by staying still. Please keep posting your photos, Bill Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mridenour 0 Report post Posted June 12, 2013 Great pics...again!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dryfly purist 0 Report post Posted June 12, 2013 Terje- Another set of outstanding photos. A 105mm macro lens is a fantastic lens. I use a Canon 100mm macro and I've been very pleased with it. You might try to step down the f-stop one more setting to address the DOF in the first image. And are you bracketing your exposure in Aperture mode? As a matter of technique, I always bracket my exposure. But you are correct, trying to shoot macro while hand holding the camera is difficult. And insects don't always want to cooperate by staying still. Please keep posting your photos, Bill Thanks a lot, Bill :-) I found it hard to go further down on the f-stop because the light conditions was quite bad and i was afraid to loose more light. I always shoot my macro shots in Manual mode. I´m not sure i understood what bracketing the exposure means so i would be glad to get some more info on that issue :-) I´m definitely gonna get a gorilla pod for these kind of shots so i can get lower when shooting. The ant was sitting on a straw just a few cm above the water surface. A gorilla pod would have been perfect for the job :-) Thanks again :-) mridenour: Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it :-) Terje Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dryfly purist 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2013 "Adam - the flying ant" meets the dryfly purist :-) :-) :-) PHOTO: Vidar Langerud Terje Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mridenour 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2013 that's another cool pic! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lykos33 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2013 While the pics are impressive as usual, I really would have been impressed if you could have got a song out of "Adam" Murray Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dryfly purist 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2013 While the pics are impressive as usual, I really would have been impressed if you could have got a song out of "Adam"Murray Well, the closest i can get is this :-) :-) :-) Adam and the ants - Prince charming Terje Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kentuckytroutbum 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2013 "Adam - the flying ant" meets the dryfly purist :-) :-) :-) PHOTO: Vidar Langerud Terje Terje- That is definitely what I call get close to your subject. Great Photo! Bracketing is where you set your camera up, via the on-camera menu to take 3 images in quick succession automatically. I'm not that familiar with Nikon cameras as I use Canon cameras & products. Canon calls it AEB or Auto Exposure Bracketing. The first shot will be at the camera's standard exposure setting, the second will be slightly under-exposed, and the third shot will be slightly overexposed. You can set it up in Aperture, Shutter Priority, or Automatic mode. In the menu settings, you tell it how much you want the exposure to change. It could be 1/3 stop, 1/2 stop, all the way up to 2 stops. For macro of living bugs or even animals, I would set it in Shutter Priority, and let the camera vary the f-stop, which is also your DOF. This bracketing should be explained in your camera's instruction manual. I would give it a try in all 3 (or more) of your camera's modes. For low light conditions, I always bump up my ISO, and eliminate the "noise" in post processing using Lightroom 4. And a gorillapod is a great little tripod. Bill Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dryfly purist 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2013 "Adam - the flying ant" meets the dryfly purist :-) :-) :-) PHOTO: Vidar Langerud Terje Terje- That is definitely what I call get close to your subject. Great Photo! Bracketing is where you set your camera up, via the on-camera menu to take 3 images in quick succession automatically. I'm not that familiar with Nikon cameras as I use Canon cameras & products. Canon calls it AEB or Auto Exposure Bracketing. The first shot will be at the camera's standard exposure setting, the second will be slightly under-exposed, and the third shot will be slightly overexposed. You can set it up in Aperture, Shutter Priority, or Automatic mode. In the menu settings, you tell it how much you want the exposure to change. It could be 1/3 stop, 1/2 stop, all the way up to 2 stops. For macro of living bugs or even animals, I would set it in Shutter Priority, and let the camera vary the f-stop, which is also your DOF. This bracketing should be explained in your camera's instruction manual. I would give it a try in all 3 (or more) of your camera's modes. For low light conditions, I always bump up my ISO, and eliminate the "noise" in post processing using Lightroom 4. And a gorillapod is a great little tripod. Bill Hi BIll. Now i know you meant. I think it´s possible to the same thing on a Nikon camera. Thanks a lot for your help, i appreciate all the help i can get :-) Terje Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kentuckytroutbum 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2013 Terje- I'm glad that I was able to help you! Nikons are great products as are Canons. Love your photos. Bill Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites