I SEE YOU!

Well, I've been stalking this tiny Yellow Spider who's body length measures approximately 1/8 inch. Shot with my G-5 and a reverse mounted Pentax 50mm F/1.4 lens. Pentax lens wide open, and G-5 set to F/8.
Here's the little critter playing a game of Hide and Seek.
I'm not real good at taking macro shot yet (Obviously). I used a tripod as a monopod, rocking it forwards and backwards until it looked to be in focus, while having the camera set to manual focus and using the LCD screen to check it.
Any suggestions or advice gladly accepted. This Macro stuff is ADDICTING!
-Bruce

You have a nice start Bruce. I just started shooting macro not too long ago too. One thing i learn is, i have to rely on tripod alot. When subject is magnified, slight motion will cause the image to come out blur. As for focus, so far 100% of my macro is MF and i'll continue to do so. Happy shooting.

cfcRebel wrote:
You have a nice start Bruce. I just started shooting macro not too long ago too. One thing i learn is, i have to rely on tripod alot. When subject is magnified, slight motion will cause the image to come out blur. As for focus, so far 100% of my macro is MF and i'll continue to do so. Happy shooting.

cfcrebels advice is right on, macro handheld is possible but it's not the safest way to assure yourself of a sharp image as small apertures are used very often and slow shutter speeds tend to follow that.

First image I feel would be better if you could actually make out the spiders head on the flowers petal there. The second image is much nicer but a little soft overall and either needed more DOF or focus missed a little.

Bruce, the Crab spider looks great. If I were to add anything, it would be to use the tripod as a tripod when possible, it gives you the most for stability and shake free photos. Try using the manual setting and an aperture of 125 with the f8 and an ISO of 100 or 200 in conjunction with a flash. aim for the eyes. I hope this helps. I use a remote cable release as well. works great for me.

Thanks for the kind words, and advice. This Spider was hiding in a Daisy that is about 4 FT tall, and of course there was a constant breeze, making it very difficult to get anything with the flower swaying.
Another question, is there an easy way to figure how many times lifesize a photo is? I'm wondering if I'm going for too much magnification too soon? Bear in mind, this Spiders body alone was approximately 1/8" long, and I managed to fill half of the sensor with it. There was no cropping done to these images. I think the lens was so close it was almost touching the flower and Spider.
-Bruce

If you can magnify it and it still be clear, which you can obviously do, then keep doing it. These pictures have excellent color and a tip, (i just started shooting macro, well, actually, shooting ANYTHING, too), PATIENCE is key :P

In the 2nd pic, the spider looks like he has a big smile on LOL

LOL on the smile, and thanks for the encouragement.
-Bruce

I would suggest investing in a set of extension tubes as well, not too expensive, but, worth their weight in gold. I routinely get as close as an inch to inch and a half away from my subjects. Shoot as many shots as you think you need, i usually shoot anywhere between 6 and 15 of each subject, with diff angles and settings. Patience and lots of practice. on the average, I try to take 50 to 60 shots a night.

Wow Bruce!

That second shot is unreal with all that color and textures.

I've got the poor mans set of extension tubes in M42 mount, and this is what I'm going to start practicing with. The bit about patience is probably one of the main ingredients I need to adhere to.
want to thank all of you for the advice, encouragement, and kind words, CFC, Eric, Bald Eagle, Alranet0, & Jaime.
-Bruce

Nice shots, Bruce. Love the colors. Practice is the KEY. I'm looking forward to seeing more great pics from you .

Leorooster wrote:
Nice shots, Bruce. Love the colors. Practice is the KEY. I'm looking forward to seeing more great pics from you .

Thanks Leo. One thing I found interesting was how the legs in the first shot are a different color than the Yellow in the second shot. The Yellow is more accurate. This Spider kind of matched the Daisy's petals in color. It's own sort of camouflage. If anyone can answer that question of how to calculate life size, or more, I'd appreciate it.
-Bruce

Ballen Photo wrote:
Thanks Leo. One thing I found interesting was how the legs in the first shot are a different color than the Yellow in the second shot. The Yellow is more accurate. This Spider kind of matched the Daisy's petals in color. It's own sort of camouflage. If anyone can answer that question of how to calculate life size, or more, I'd appreciate it.
-Bruce

Hi Bruce - my understanding is that to calculate the magnificaton rate, you need to divide the dimensions of the film (in the digital world, it would be the sensor dimension) by the dimensions of the subject.

The simple way - take a picture of a ruler. I can get down to about 30mm with the kit lens and a +10 filter. The sensor is 22.7mm wide so:

22.7 / 30 = 0.75 lifesize

or as a ratio is

30 / 22.7 = 1:1.32

Andy

I see that most of the macro shots here that I really admire are taken with extension tubes. When I went to the camera store to check them out, I was told that they don't work with digital cameras. Is there something special I need to make them work with digital?