Blowing Bubbles

[Dalantech]

Shot at 4x with a Canon MPE-65mm macro lens. Just don't tell the Mrs. I put honey on the window sill... :D

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3008/3045128011_a1db02846c_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3232/3045963944_e90fbddf80_b.jpg

F8, 1/250, ISO 100. MT-24EX at -2/3 FEC.

[LordV]

Lots of bubble blowing around- excellent shots John :)
Brian V.

[sparkplug]

Excellent.

[JoYork]

Outstanding!

[troypiggo]

Great detail seeing inside of mouth. Awesome.

[racketman]

nice one, I found one doing the same this afternoon.

[Dalantech]

Thanks folks :)

For Scott: 4x, F8, one frame :D

[alliec]

Great Work :-)

[macro junkie]

Thanks folks :)

For Scott: 4x, F8, one frame :D
i cant help thinking if u had taken another shot of the other eye in focus and stacked it the image would look alot better?

[spidermanrbryce2006]

brilliant shot

[Dalantech]

i cant help thinking if u had taken another shot of the other eye in focus and stacked it the image would look alot better?

Alan Melson over at www.livingpixels.org (http://www.livingpixels.org) said the same thing. But the fly is turned so far to camera right in that shot that I don't think it would have made any difference. I want your attention to stay on the leading eye and the bubble, and keeping the depth shallow does that. Plus stacking that shot would have been impossible -every time the E-TTL pre-flash fired the fly jumped. Kinda stunned I got the shots that I did.

Maybe I should have been at F11 instead of F8...

I've got nothing against stacking Scott, but keep in mind that depth of field is a compositional tool and sometimes getting everything in sharp focus just makes an image "confusing" -the viewer's eyes don't know where to go...

[Dalantech]

Great Work :-)

Thanks Alistair :)

[Dalantech]

brilliant shot

Thanks Bryce :)

[macro junkie]

I've got nothing against stacking Scott, but keep in mind that depth of field is a compositional tool and sometimes getting everything in sharp focus just makes an image "confusing" -the viewer's eyes don't know where to go...
i dont agree with you..brians been doing this for thr past 2 years and i love every image he stacks..i guees it comes down to taste..i would just prefer alot of my images to have both eyes in focus..and it really annoys me im having to think about stacking to do that..wish i could stick it on f/16 and get the level of sharpness im getting at f/11..I hear my mum in the background saying "You cant have it all son" :D

how comes you have started to use f/8 more these days?you prefer the extra bit of sharpness your getting>?

[Dalantech]

...i guees it comes down to taste..


Composition isn't a matter of taste Scott -it's what separates those at the top of a discipline from everyone else...


how comes you have started to use f/8 more these days?you prefer the extra bit of sharpness your getting>?

It depends on the critter I'm shooting Scott -some of them just don't have a lot of fine details so stopping down isn't a problem (dragonfly portraits are a good example, shot nearly all of them this year at F11). But if I'm shooting an insect that has a lot of fine detail, and I think I can get an angle that will give me all of the depth I need for the shot, then I'll drop down to F8. I also get a break on the flash duration, and with it a reduction in glare. Handy when I'm shooting a subject in bright sunlight, or a window sill ;)

[macro junkie]

Composition isn't a matter of taste Scott -it's what separates those at the top of a discipline from everyone else...



;)
well i would say brian is right at the top and he stacks every image.like i said its all about taste.Alot of people like that style including me:)

i agree with you that you don't want every thing in focus all of the time...but the eyes on an insect imo its better to get them both in focus. even at the angle u shot that fly with the bubble at.i know alot of the time tho its near on inposiball to stack them as they move when the flash goes off,..that was the trouble i was having with the flly i was shooting today.but imo having them both in focus makes the image look better.but thats just my opion.i like that style..

[alliec]

I think the DOF on these is perfect and they are superbly composed and lit, i think having the head in total focus would have drawn my attention away from what John is trying to show which is the bubble. Focus stacking is a valuable tool in Macro Photography and one that i employ regulary but it isnt the be all and end all :-)

[Dalantech]

...well i would say Brian is right at the top and he stacks every image...

Stacking didn't get him there -there is no one technique that's a "magic bullet". I often see stacked images (from Brian and others) that are not composed well, or the composition was thrown off by the stack, or the shooter was putting so much mental energy into keeping the scene lined up from image to image that they didn't pay attention to where the subject was in the frame. Then there are those shooters who don't care about composition, they stack simply to get maximum detail. Nothing wrong with doing that -your photography is your photography and who's going to argue with what makes you happy. But a poorly composed razor sharp image is, at the end of the day, just one of many poorly composed images in a discipline that has become saturated with them. One of the reasons why macro gets little respect outside of our community is because the average shot looks no better, from a compositional standpoint, than someone's point and shoot vacation photos. Average Joe neither knows, nor cares, nor would he understand how difficult it is to shoot macro even if you where standing right there next to him and could explain every image. All average Joe sees is the final photo and if it's not composed well average Joe's not going to spend more than a few seconds looking at your work.

Macro is photography and not gymnastics -no one gets points for difficulty...


...i know alot of the time tho its near on inposiball to stack them as they move when the flash goes off...

That's the reason why you need to practice nailing the focus in a single frame and to not stack every shot... ;)

I'm not telling you not to stack Scott, but I am telling you that you need to make sure your work is compositionally sound. 2009 is going to be an interesting year: For the first time people within the community are going to expect a macro image to be well composed -nailing the focus and being able to count every little hair won't be enough. Those who understand composition (and I'm including lighting in that since light is a compositional tool) will be in the upper 10% in macro. Composition is going to be the yardstick by which every shooter in the discipline will be measured -just like every other form of photography. Then macro will start to get the respect that it derserves...

[Dalantech]

...I think having the head in total focus would have drawn my attention away from what John is trying to show which is the bubble...

Thanks Alistair :)

As I look back over the year I see a lot of images in my gallery that I wish I had taken as two or three frame stacks, and I'm going to work on getting a few this spring. But only when the composition will benefit from it...