ellery

Terrible title...ill redo it later...anyway...first time Ive really shot these

much...had only like 20 minutes today...mid-day bad time for 1:1

shots...they move sooo much...any cc's welcomed.

weird, it finally settled down and just stared at the camera for 10

seconds...thoughts?

@kenneth - I know I know...but for the limited time I have off and the timing with my son (20 months old), it just seems that so far, it is difficult to find the arrangments for me to do an early am shoot....but I swear it is next on my list of to do's for sure....I have seen a number of specimens that I was DYING to photograph, but the little suckers would not cooperate - at mid-day, next to impossible to shoot with my 90mm macro!!!

@yannis - Man, what an honor...thanks... :D 

thanks Kathy...Im just starting to learn macro in the last month or so...it is great fun...and challenging.

These are some of my first attempts at dragon flies...this was about 12pm light so not the best light...and I quickly found out (and I had read this) that trying to photograph these things at mid-day is very difficult! The only reason this one seemed to not care about me was that it was chowing down.  For some reason (and I can only presume that other dragon flies would do the same) while eating these creatures do not mind a 6 foot mammal approaching them with a camera - which made me very excited an happy...

Next step is doing early morning time while it is cool to get even better light...Take Care!  Thanks for stopping by! 

really simple, but so detailed, sharp - great macro shot!! 

wonderful...an amazing shot!!

really great detail on the mite...not sure how big this one is compared to the ones I have tried to shoot, but at 1:1 mine are nearly too small to resolve this kind of detail...amazing shot!

Here in alabama they are quite common on plants...you have to just pick a bush or something and scan it for a while...you'll find one....but also you see them often here frequently on brick walls, moving around on concrete...I am getting extension tubes pretty soon and when I do these colorful things are on my hit list...I have a crappier attempt at a red spider mite in my macro portfolio...this appears to be a different species though than mine. 

yes, very neat composition great timing and execution!

love the composition, soft colors, and the bonus bug...really nice shot...I have yet to photograph butterflies really....

yeah, I have only had 2 quick opportunities to photograph them myself since starting to try and learn macro....I have one in my macro gallery...need to read up on what types of areas they frequent and hunt them out...they are just too cool of a macro subject..

This is an interesting shot...I think it fails just a tad in the sense the eyes were not perfectly sharp - but they are freaking skittish little suckers...my first go I got a couple good shots...my second encounter was nearly total failure....persistence is key in macro so I am told

Take Care! 

Just stop with the awesome mantis photos jeez :) - man, the lighting is so very cool here and what a cool specimen..where on earth do you get these to shoot so often?

how on earth did you get this depth of field from the body out to the wing??!  Impressive!

great warm light..WB looks good...I like it really...great iphone shot IMO

I think you could? achieve the same basic lighting with one shoot through on the one side...not sure what more the lower shoot through did for you...although I am by far no expert in the area..still learning to use my strobes in portraits!  So others may advice or clarify my statements.

I have found for such shots it more advantageous to use one shoot through up higher and either use a reflector on the other side for fill lighting or a nother shoot through for fill on the other side...for whatever reason I have found using the one light + relfector setup very much....which leaves me to use my other strobe for the background or as a hair light....

I think for this shot a bit more fill light would improve? Also do not be afraid to move those shoot throughs in as close as possible for max coverage, softest light, and larger catch lights in the eyes....

My 2 cents anyway...others will likely give you even more advice!  Cute kid, I like the expression captured and the pose has a candid feel to it..

Take Care...Ellery

the fill flash problem I could have easily corrected actually with my SB900 and at the time I just was so amped, I failed to think about it...ugh!

This shot was already heavily cropped from my able vantage point....

And Mike, you will find it difficult to shoot at 1:30pm under open sunlight at f2.5 - especially if I am to use my flash with sync speed max of 1/250 if I recall....

lol, thanks mike...I recall you have stated this before my friend :D

points taken...I will be trying these shots more often for sure!  Thanks for the suggestions!

AMAZING!!  color, sharpness, DOF...all perfect...

youve done it again...the detail is uncanny!!!  Was this at 1:1 or more?

I agree...really funny!!!!!!

yeah, it isnt the happiest looking creature...thanks!

yes, excellent...love it.