GardenersHelper
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These were captured hand-held with an EF-mount Laowa 100mm 2:1 macro on a 2X teleconverter on a Sigma MC-11 EF to E adapter on a Sony A7ii with a Yongnuo YN24EX twin flash front-mounted on the lens.
The raw files were processed with presets in DXO PhotoLab and Silkypix, and then image-specific adjustments in Lightroom to produce 1300 pixel high JPEGs which were then adjusted in Topaz Sharpen AI.
There are 1300 pixel high versions of these images in this album at Flickr.
While I was doing my exercise walk around and around the garden I came across a moth on a very low (6" or so high) wall with its wings going ten to the dozen, with a fly buzzing around it. This looked unusual so I broke off the walk and went to get a camera in the hope that it would still be there when I got back.
It had gone. But I found it making its way across the grass, wings still going like the clappers. At this point I ran into the problem of using unfamiliar kit. I am still in the familiarisation stage with this setup and getting very variable results (including complete failures for some easy opportunities). It was only a narrow patch of grass and it was moving fairly fast. I didn't have long. but I don't have the muscle memory or the numbers firmly enough in my head needed to deal in a hurry with magnification-related aperture adjustments and coupled adjustments to the (manual) flash power. As a result in an emergency I tend to shoot first with whatever the current settings happen to be and adjust later if I get round to it. The result in this case was insufficient depth of field for the first three of these. Also for the fourth, but I had plenty of time for that one; it was simply operator error. The moth was in a really awkward location and I was struggling to get a line on it. I completely forgot about the aperture! The apertures were more considered for the last three.
#1
1664 01 2020_06_30 DSC05061_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AISf by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#2 I wonder if the broken off wing tip was part of the story here.
1664 02 2020_06_30 DSC05062_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AIS by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#3
1664 03 2020_06_30 DSC05069_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AISf by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#4 When it had got across the grass it climbed up a low plant that was nestling close under a bush. It got itself well hidden. I could just see its head in between the foliage (see below) but I couldn't see how to get a whole body shot of the sort I prefer. I came back later when I had finished my walk and after a lot of attempts I managed to find a line for this shot.
1664 04 2020_06_30 DSC05146_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AISf by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#5 During the mid-walk attempts I concentrated on the head. You may wonder why I didn't move up and/or around to the right to get an unobstructed view for this one. There was foliage in the way immediately to the top and the right of the frame so I had no room to manoeuvre.
1664 05 2020_06_30 DSC05119_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AISf by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#6
1664 06 2020_06_30 DSC05102_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AISf by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#7 I think this one was probably at maximum, 4X, magnification.
1664 07 2020_06_30 DSC05088_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AISf by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#8 Here it is cropped a bit more. It doesn't add anything to the detail but perhaps the composition is more "focused" on the eye. (The fine detail was destroyed for these four because of the extremely small apertures I used, somewhere around effective f/100. It the last one was at 4X magnification, then the effective aperture would have been around f/132.)
1664 08 2020_06_30 DSC05088_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-2-AISs by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
The raw files were processed with presets in DXO PhotoLab and Silkypix, and then image-specific adjustments in Lightroom to produce 1300 pixel high JPEGs which were then adjusted in Topaz Sharpen AI.
There are 1300 pixel high versions of these images in this album at Flickr.
While I was doing my exercise walk around and around the garden I came across a moth on a very low (6" or so high) wall with its wings going ten to the dozen, with a fly buzzing around it. This looked unusual so I broke off the walk and went to get a camera in the hope that it would still be there when I got back.
It had gone. But I found it making its way across the grass, wings still going like the clappers. At this point I ran into the problem of using unfamiliar kit. I am still in the familiarisation stage with this setup and getting very variable results (including complete failures for some easy opportunities). It was only a narrow patch of grass and it was moving fairly fast. I didn't have long. but I don't have the muscle memory or the numbers firmly enough in my head needed to deal in a hurry with magnification-related aperture adjustments and coupled adjustments to the (manual) flash power. As a result in an emergency I tend to shoot first with whatever the current settings happen to be and adjust later if I get round to it. The result in this case was insufficient depth of field for the first three of these. Also for the fourth, but I had plenty of time for that one; it was simply operator error. The moth was in a really awkward location and I was struggling to get a line on it. I completely forgot about the aperture! The apertures were more considered for the last three.
#1
1664 01 2020_06_30 DSC05061_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AISf by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#2 I wonder if the broken off wing tip was part of the story here.
1664 02 2020_06_30 DSC05062_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AIS by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#3
1664 03 2020_06_30 DSC05069_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AISf by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#4 When it had got across the grass it climbed up a low plant that was nestling close under a bush. It got itself well hidden. I could just see its head in between the foliage (see below) but I couldn't see how to get a whole body shot of the sort I prefer. I came back later when I had finished my walk and after a lot of attempts I managed to find a line for this shot.
1664 04 2020_06_30 DSC05146_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AISf by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#5 During the mid-walk attempts I concentrated on the head. You may wonder why I didn't move up and/or around to the right to get an unobstructed view for this one. There was foliage in the way immediately to the top and the right of the frame so I had no room to manoeuvre.
1664 05 2020_06_30 DSC05119_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AISf by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#6
1664 06 2020_06_30 DSC05102_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AISf by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#7 I think this one was probably at maximum, 4X, magnification.
1664 07 2020_06_30 DSC05088_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-AISf by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
#8 Here it is cropped a bit more. It doesn't add anything to the detail but perhaps the composition is more "focused" on the eye. (The fine detail was destroyed for these four because of the extremely small apertures I used, somewhere around effective f/100. It the last one was at 4X magnification, then the effective aperture would have been around f/132.)
1664 08 2020_06_30 DSC05088_PLab3 SP9 LR 1300h-2-AISs by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
