Delicate , Beautiful , But Deadly

[ZoddyZod]

Wow! Incredible shots.

How close were you to the dragonfly to get those?

think I'll be 'borrowing' the Canon 50D and macro this weekend....

 

[markandhisfish]

thanks zoddy , the 1st 2 shots i was about 2 feet away , the closeups i was probably about 8 or 9 inches away

 

[Ben M]

Great shots again Mark. Looking at some of your older shots you've improved loads.

I'm still trying to work out how to get a larger depth of field, as too much of my pics are blurred.

 

[markandhisfish]

thanks ben . do you mean just generally out of focus or not enough of the subject in focus? just generally oof is either just that your not focused properly or it could be camera shake . to increase you depth of feild just stop the lens down , ie use a smaller aperture .. this does mean tho that you will need more available light

 

[Ben M]

Hi, I mean that not enough of the subject is in focus. Like this pic:

Is a lower aperture a lower f number, or is a lower aperture a higher f number? The lower aperture being a higher f number seems to ring a bell, but I can't really remember.

Thanks for the tips.

cheers,
Ben

 

[markandhisfish]

with aperture the smaller the number the wider the aperture and the smaller the dof. bigger number = smaller aperture and increased dof. i usually use something around f/8 to f/11 for macro . this gives much better dof but the trade off is you need more light . the best way of acheiving this is by using flash . the cameras pop up flash isnt much cop for macro unfortunately and dedicated macro flashes are horribly expensive .

you can get fair results with a bit of trickery by extending the pop up flash using a pringles tube . the last image in this thread of the blue damsel fly http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/361171-feeding-my-macro-addiction/ was taken using this setup which i found on the net
http/www.petapixel.com/2011/04/26/use-a-pringles-can-as-a-cheap-diffuser-for-macro-photos/