bug, bee, little unknown thing.

[newb2pro_1day_or_so]

I was at the park the other day and didn't realize I was shooting wide open, or nearly that. I think these came out rather well considering, and it's a different kind of shot. The spider especially. I'm used to seeing all in focus bugs, but it's nice to see an artistic bokeh background with a selective dof. I see that here every so often, and when I do, they are outstanding shots everytime! Not saying the norm of shots here aren't outstanding, but there are a select few I'd almost rather see less in focus.

1
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh59/Iseethroughglass/CantonParkBugs6-11-08-117.jpg
2
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh59/Iseethroughglass/CantonParkBugs6-11-08-129.jpg
3
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh59/Iseethroughglass/CantonParkBugs6-11-08-128.jpg

[newb2pro_1day_or_so]

no comments :( I guess you win some and you lose some.

[asylumxl]

They look alright to me :), bits that should be infocus IMO are in focus. The rest of the bugs isnt important to me :p.

[newb2pro_1day_or_so]

Thanks for your input. I've never posted a thread on here and not had a single comment. I found that strange. I know in the macro section a lot of bugs are posted and overlooked at times.

[LordV]

Lovely captures
#1 is narcissus fly- type of hoverfly
#2 baby jumping spider
#3 a mantis nymph

Brian V.

[newb2pro_1day_or_so]

Thanks for all the compliment and ID Brian

[troypiggo]

They are all nice shots, but looking at the EXIF your aperture is way too open at f/2.8. This is restricting your depth of field. If you look at some shots of the more experienced here, you'll see the apertures are in the order of f/11 for 1:1 shots. Looks like you're using Shutter Priority setting with flash. Don't be afraid of going full Manual mode. The flash will take care of it all for you if it's E-TTL. Try ISO200, f/11, 1/200s in Manual mode. Adjust the shutter speed or ISO to get the background right, and the flash will automatically take care of the subject with fill flash.

[asylumxl]

They are all nice shots, but looking at the EXIF your aperture is way too open at f/2.8. This is restricting your depth of field. If you look at some shots of the more experienced here, you'll see the apertures are in the order of f/11 for 1:1 shots. Looks like you're using Shutter Priority setting with flash. Don't be afraid of going full Manual mode. The flash will take care of it all for you if it's E-TTL. Try ISO200, f/11, 1/200s in Manual mode. Adjust the shutter speed or ISO to get the background right, and the flash will automatically take care of the subject with fill flash.

OP started his post with.

I was at the park the other day and didn't realize I was shooting wide open, or nearly that. I think these came out rather well considering,

[troypiggo]

Ok, I missed that. But that's the trap of shooting Tv mode. You don't control the aperture, your camera does. Just trying to help where I can. :)

[newb2pro_1day_or_so]

Thanks for the heads up. Ya, I mainly shoot in Manual, but it was a beautiful sunny day and I've been trying to more and more natural light shots as I can. I figured shutter priority would be the best way to try and push myself in that direction...aparently I'm not as cautious as I thought I was about what I'm shooting with. When shooting in manual, it's a little easier, you set the camera and you shoot. But in shutter priority, or ap priority, you always need to be concious of the settings because even a slight clowd cover can knock the aperature or slow the shutter speed way down. Thanks to all who posted here, it's really nice to see help in any way shape or form.

[troypiggo]

Yeah, I know what you mean. For a while there I was trying Av mode, but kept getting caught out with shutter speeds being too slow. Trick to getting around that is making sure your ISO is high enough that even when the clouds come over, the speeds are high enough. I think I experimented a bit and found ISO400 did the trick unless it was really dark clouds, in which case I figured I should be home watching the other TV :)

[newb2pro_1day_or_so]

Agreed. The only problem I have at ISO 400 is that on my XT the noise seems too high to be shooting imo. I don't really have a good noise reduction program, so 400 is really out of my territory.