help: why doesn't my bugs' eyes look cool like everyone else's

Nice fly. Focus is a bit soft. Also need to focus on the eyes. Don't forget you get very small DOF with macro. Need to be very steady so as not to blur the image.
Have you done any sharpening? That may help.

Looks OOF as far as I can tell. Try MF with a tripod, but if the bastard moves, your screwed....

yeah, i haven't used tripod yet, so i end up having the little bugger in focus, and as i take a slight breath, the focus changes (assuming the fly stays still).

i think the focus plane actually ended up on the right eye instead..

tripod is so inconvenient to try to position near the subject though, even without considering the "scared away" factor. maybe i'll try the monopod and see if that helps.

Its taken me ages to get decent pictures, i used to get ones like yours too. Eyes not in focus. Best too is to try and get a side shot, that way more is in focus amd as said focus on the eyes. It does look like your focus point is just behind the head, see the hairs.

I dont have the lens set to autofocus either, and only the middle or left or right AF point is active on mine.
view the fly with the eye on the activated AF point wait for it to beep and go red then click.

Camera settings look ok. Looks a little dark - using flash? MF or AF? Is this a crop of a larger image?

it's a sub 100% crop of a bigger pic, so some of it was compressed. It's really not a show of a "good picture" as much as an example to help frame my question.

this was taken with natural/ambient light.

should i have gone with the flash, stopped down to gain more dof? what's a good ISO to shoot macro at?

MF (especially since the AF on the tamron 90 is really horrendously slow and hunts a lot.. ) The shot was taken with other people's suggestion of holding the focal length, and shifting my body in until the focus beep comes on. makes it pretty difficult to hold still for the shot though.

You need a flash. Look at the sticky of the macro forum called "show us your macro rig" to see examples of the flashes that people use.

i actually have one that i made :

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oredith wrote in post #6227781
is it better to stop down and use the flash, even in day light?

for crisp bug images, yes.

To add to what has been said, I think you will find most people just set the centre focus point only on the camera, so do that to make it easier to get the focus exactly where you want it.

You should still be ok with F9 and the settings you used (also assuming it was in Manual), but use the flash. If the image is cropped, then you could do with getting in a lot closer if you want to get the facets on the eye(s). A tripod or monopod is not practical with insects in their natural habitat, so I would concentrate on getting a good technique that suits you.

Breath before you take the shot, press the shutter smoothly but quickly to eliminate movement (and breath again afterwards or you will pass out LOL).

I personally dont use full manual focussing when I take shots, I start off by manually focussing on the subject with the lense and position myself, then I let the lense auto focus by half pressing the shutter a couple of times to make sure I get focus correctly and quickly take the shot. Its probably a strange way of doing it but it works well for me - but I do use Canon macro lenses which are probably quicker than yours which helps.

Keep practising and you should get better detail.

Linda

I think your flash is too far out. There is not enough light on the side closest to the lens. Pull back and down some, then try again.

Don't you think it is too dark up front?

oredith wrote in post #6227720
it's a sub 100% crop of a bigger pic, so some of it was compressed. It's really not a show of a "good picture" as much as an example to help frame my question.

this was taken with natural/ambient light.

should i have gone with the flash, stopped down to gain more dof? what's a good ISO to shoot macro at?

MF (especially since the AF on the tamron 90 is really horrendously slow and hunts a lot.. ) The shot was taken with other people's suggestion of holding the focal length, and shifting my body in until the focus beep comes on. makes it pretty difficult to hold still for the shot though.

If you crop, you're going to lose some quality. The best eye detail shots, IMHO, are taken when you are as close as you can possibly be to the subject of course - maximum quality. Go out early in the morning when the insects are least active and you can get really close and practise more shots.

Flash - yes. I always use flash. I know there are some great natural light shots, but fill flash is just more forgiving. Set your camera manually as you did - f/9-f/11 for 1:1 shooting, shutter speeds around 1/200-1/250, and adjust ISO from 100-400 say to get more or less ambient background in. Let the flash take up the difference.

Stop down more for better DoF? Sure - but not too much. Keep below f/13-f/16 if you can. f/16 and over you'll start seeing diffraction softening.
My rule of thumb, derived from Brian's posts and personal testing, is for 1:1 f/11, 2:1 f/9. I'm still playing with higher mags on the MP-E 65. Keep in mind that with your macro lens, if you're not shooting at it's minimum focus distance, you're not shooting 1:1 and since you're a touch further away you can probably get away with slightly wider apertures for similar DoF.

MF technique you mentioned is the way to go IMO. Focus on the eyes, move forward until the eyes go just out of focus, then come back until they are in focus again. This ensures the in focus DoF is maximised on the eyes or whatever you're focusing on.

It's just practise. Sounds like you're doing all the right things.

i usually set it to 1 to 1 and rock back and forth to get focus. like everyone else mention use center point. f8 to f11 for me. iso 200 and manual. set flash to ettl and make sure your shutter is fast enough.

Bill

tried it again tonight.

uncropped image: