Shieldbug mix

Some recent shieldbug shots from the garden. First 3 natural light Sony a6000.sigma 105 OS
Last 3 full flash. 5Dm2. MPE-65. 430Ex flash.
Many are focus stacks using zerene.

Brian V.

Courting gorse shieldbugs

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/24ZB​rC6

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Tuxy​go

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Tuxy​hq

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2fDG​DyR

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2fDG​Dzn

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2fDG​DA4

Those are great. When you shoot for stacks handheld (with flash) how many shots do you take and how many are not useful? I've tried a few times and I end up deleting at least half of a stack due to either nothing in focus or flash not recycling quick enough. I take it not many of the handheld stack bugs are moving around much?

I probably need A LOT more practice and get the balance between aperture, ISO, flash strength (faster recycling) and holding a bit more steady.

worth getting an external power pack for your flash if you are going to do a lot of stacking.

DesolateMirror wrote in post #18850805
Those are great. When you shoot for stacks handheld (with flash) how many shots do you take and how many are not useful? I've tried a few times and I end up deleting at least half of a stack due to either nothing in focus or flash not recycling quick enough. I take it not many of the handheld stack bugs are moving around much?

I probably need A LOT more practice and get the balance between aperture, ISO, flash strength (faster recycling) and holding a bit more steady.

Thanks for the comments.

When I'm doing high mag flash stacks (1:1 or higher) the subject is generally fairly stationary. Most times I'm holding the leaf or plant the bug is on with my left hand and resting the camera on that hand. This allows me to be fairly accurate with the manual focusing by moving the camera forward in increments on my hand whilst checking the viewfinder for focus points. Like this I shoot around 1 frame a second which normally allows the flash to recycle if necessary, plus the flash diffuser is near then of the lens which means I'm not using too much power. Like this I normally take around 2 to 10 shots depending on the subject most of which are useable.

Brian V

Wonderful series Brian.

Lester Wareham wrote in post #18851265
Wonderful series Brian.

Thanks Lester

Brian V.