• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

Focusing on the small things in life... Macro Photography

...I wander what type of magnification is needed to get a really close image of the "compound eye" of the ant?

:tab Better than 1:1, that's for sure. The biggest problem is getting the ant to be still long enough for you to frame and take the shot with any hope of having it focused. A lot of the macro shooters that do the super detailed high magnification shots will chill their subjects to slow them down or just use dead specimens. They also tend to use focus stacking, which requires multiple exposures of the same image with a slightly different focal plane in each image. That is extremely hard to do with an active subject. I chased this one ant for probably 5-6 minutes, blasting away with the camera, just to get this one decent shot. That is typical for things like the bees, flies, ants, lady bugs, and similar active critters. Dragon flies, spiders, and some of the other bugs tend to be still for longer periods of time and it is easier to get lots of shots of them. I tried chasing a BIG ant yesterday and it was all I could do to keep him in the view finder, forget trying to actually compose and focus a shot!!
 
A lot of the macro shooters that do the super detailed high magnification shots will chill their subjects to slow them down or just use dead specimens. They also tend to use focus stacking, which requires multiple exposures of the same image with a slightly different focal plane in each image. That is extremely hard to do with an active subject. I chased this one ant for probably 5-6 minutes, blasting away with the camera, just to get this one decent shot. I tried chasing a BIG ant yesterday and it was all I could do to keep him in the view finder, forget trying to actually compose and focus a shot!!

How about acquiring dry ice (use a small fan on the side to keep away the frost clouds) and perhaps supplement your lens with a wide magnifying glass?

I wander if you can get an adapter to use on a standard microscope?

RB
 
Last edited:
You can add close up filters like these,

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J8XLG5W/?tag=twowhetex-20

Which I might do eventually. They can be used on any lens, not just a "macro" lens. Of course, anything you do that gets you more magnification just makes the DOF ever thinner! That makes shots of live moving subjects even more difficult.
 
:tab This next batch of images comes from a small part of our back yard. We had four of those little raised bed garden boxes that are 4' X 4' and 10" high. The weeds have long since taken them over and choked out just about anything we'd want growing there other than a nice patch of Pink Ladies. I had a spare 15 minutes or so the other evening and it was pretty, so I headed out with the camera.

:tab At first, I wasn't seeing a whole lot. So I sat there and just kind of let my focus drift until I started seeing small movements. Then, once my brain keyed in on looking for small movements, I started seeing stuff all over the place!

Spotted Cucumber Beetle
720_1870.jpg


720_1872.jpg


720_1877.jpg


720_1878.jpg


720_1895.jpg


720_1896.jpg


720_1897.jpg


720_1898.jpg


720_1925.jpg


720_1949.jpg


720_1956.jpg


720_2009.jpg


720_2056.jpg


720_2058.jpg


720_2118.jpg


You can see that nailing the focus is REALLY freaking hard!! It is impossible to hold really still while crouching down. Even if I could, the bug is moving constantly and quickly. By the time I was done and heading back inside to import everything into Lightroom, I had close to 350 images!


Bee Mimic-Beetle
720_1881.jpg


720_1883.jpg


720_1887.jpg


720_1889.jpg


720_1893.jpg



I have been unable to identify this guy :shrug: I love the slick shiny look as compared to the wild hairy look of so many bugs. It's like this is the dude that is the sharp dressed man!
720_1903.jpg


720_1905.jpg


720_1907.jpg


720_1937.jpg



This series is a Circle of Life thing...
720_1908.jpg


720_1909.jpg


720_1910.jpg


720_1911.jpg


720_1912.jpg


720_1913.jpg


720_2062.jpg


720_2063.jpg


720_2064.jpg


720_2066.jpg


720_2068.jpg



Here are some shots of the same kind of bug as their dinner, of the "Plant Bug" family.
720_1916.jpg


720_1919.jpg


720_2129.jpg


720_2130.jpg


720_2134.jpg


720_2136.jpg


720_2137.jpg



This has to be my favorite bug of the session. I had no idea what it was. Turns out it is a Lady Beetle (Lady Bug) Larva! In contrast to an actual Lady Beetle, these things look ferocious. No doubt, to the little Potato Aphid it devours while I am snapping away, it was ferocious...
720_1935.jpg


720_1939.jpg


Hors d'oeuvres are served?
720_1943.jpg


He ignores the little critter... to small to spend the effort?
720_1940.jpg


Definitely either really brave or stupid...
720_1946.jpg


Found a few others over the course of shooting.
720_2016.jpg


Potato Aphid... It's what's for dinner.
720_2023.jpg


720_2026.jpg


720_2028.jpg


He makes short work of the unfortunate aphid...
720_2029.jpg


720_2043.jpg



Potato Aphid, these were all over the place
720_2090.jpg


720_2094.jpg



No idea what this might be... Maybe a transition from the larva to Lady Beetle?
720_2086.jpg


720_2088.jpg



This guy showed up briefly... a Damsel Fly of some sort
720_1967.jpg


720_1969.jpg



Metallic Flea Beetle
720_1977.jpg



And some actual Lady Beetles
720_1986.jpg


720_2097.jpg


720_2099.jpg


720_2101.jpg



Some kind of mite?
720_2104.jpg


720_2105.jpg


720_2108.jpg


720_2110.jpg



Emerald Lynx Spider - Daniel spotted this guy after I totally missed him.
720_2122.jpg


720_2120.jpg


720_2073.jpg



He also spotted this guy, which was climbing around his arm almost faster than Daniel could twist around to keep it facing me so I could get a shot of it! A Black Tailed Red Sheetweaver.
720_2076.jpg



A Zebra Longhorn - note the red parasite on the back of his neck...
720_2047.jpg


720_2048.jpg


720_2050.jpg


720_2051.jpg



:tab I reached the point where I thought I'd found most of the bugs in the flower patch and decided to head over to a wood pile on the side of the house in search of spiders. I found this guy, which I think might be the same one I found a few weeks prior in the same general area.


Some kind of Orb Weaver
720_2150.jpg


720_2152.jpg



:tab There weren't any other spiders I could find, so I moved on around front to some bushes outside our kitchen window and found these.


I've not been able to identify this one.
720_2157.jpg


720_2165.jpg


720_2166.jpg


720_2175.jpg


720_2172.jpg



And last, bu not least of all, some kind of common fly
720_2185.jpg


720_2197.jpg
 
These shots are from a church picnic. There is a lake on the property with a trail around it. I figured I'd be able to find a few bugs there.

Sarah handed me a single clover flower. I didn't see a thing until I held it up in front of the camera :doh:
720_1772.jpg


720_1776.jpg


They were even tucked up inside the flower... just tons of them on this ONE single flower/stalk!
720_1783.jpg



I didn't even realize this guy had hold of a praying mantis until I got home and looked at the images on my computer :doh:
720_1790.jpg


720_1792.jpg


720_1794.jpg
 
:tab These were shot on my back porch. This guy was watching me closely, but he never gave any indication that he was going to come after me even though I got right up in his face and started popping the flash.

720_1749.jpg


720_1756.jpg


720_1758.jpg


:tab I was ready to run on short notice, hopefully without tripping over something and killing myself and the camera in the process... :wary:
 
:tab These were all taken just outside our front door. We have a large Holly Bush and a Crape Myrtle. I was amazed at the variety of stuff I was able to find in about ten minutes or so of shooting!

No idea what is going on here... :-?
720_2214.jpg



This guy saw me coming and quickly headed deep into the bush.
720_2216.jpg



A Non-biting Midge I believe
720_2224.jpg



I probably should have included the uncropped image here so you could get a better idea of just how tiny this fly really is. It's maybe 3-4mm head to tail, at best...
720_2230.jpg



This is a Pine Ladybird
720_2238.jpg


720_2241.jpg


720_2250.jpg


720_2339.jpg



I haven't got a clue... :scratch: I have never seen anything like this before :shrug:
720_2251.jpg


720_2253.jpg


720_2256.jpg



:tab This is probably my favorite series of captures yet! It's a Magnolia Green Jumping Spider. They hang out on the underside of the leaves and blend in really well. The two main eyes were rapidly changing color. One would go clear while the other went black, then they would flip flop, rarely being the same color at the same time. This guy was pretty tolerant of me moving leaves out of the way and even moving the branch on which he was sitting.
720_2259.jpg


720_2262.jpg


It must be a female because it has eyes in the back of its head :-P
720_2272.jpg


720_2274.jpg


Massive crop
720_2274-2.jpg


No idea what that thing above her is? Something caught on some web maybe :shrug:
720_2278.jpg


720_2294.jpg


720_2296.jpg


720_2298.jpg



Lastly, another incredibly TINY fly...
720_2315.jpg
 
More shots from the Holly Bush in my front yard, a seemingly never ending supply of new critters to photograph, and there are still a few familiar faces as well.

720_2351.jpg


720_2360.jpg


720_2362.jpg



Some kind of "midge", of which apparently there are quite a few varieties.
720_2364.jpg


720_2367.jpg



Another variety of midge
720_2376.jpg



Some kind of Orb Weaver
720_2381.jpg



This spider is TINY, like only a few millimeters across at most. It was hard to see without looking through the lens to magnify it. It was also moving FAST as it was spinning its web, which made it hard to find and keep it in the view finder!! The whole web might have been about 2" in diameter at most.
720_2404.jpg


720_2408.jpg


720_2417.jpg


720_2419.jpg


720_2420.jpg


720_2421.jpg


720_2429.jpg



This guy is also super TINY. Just look at the cell structure in the leaf for scale! Not the greatest shot focus wise, but I wanted to show the size. If I see one again, I will try to get a better shot.
720_2444.jpg



A dead June Bug from the back porch.
720_2450.jpg
 
Last edited:
This session started in the front yard with the Holly Bush but ended in the back yard in a big bush that only has a few flowers left on it.

That is the pointy tip of the Holly Bush leaf. This guy is really little. The little black dot in the compound eye followed me when I moved... :wary:
720_2470.jpg



This guy was sitting back up in the bush and getting the flash on him was a challenge.
720_2482.jpg



An ant. A REALLY tiny ant. Just looked like a spec of dust to the naked eye.
720_2488.jpg



No idea what this is, but I loved the color of his eyes. It's about 1/8" long from front to back.
720_2500.jpg


720_2502.jpg



Long Legged Fly, which come in an amazing variety of primary colors and endless secondary colors! They rarely sit still for more than a fraction of a moment, but they tend to buzz away and come right back to the same leaf for several minutes before finally moving on to a new leaf.
720_2523.jpg


720_2534.jpg


I moved to the back yard to see if I could find anything different. I was hoping to find some jumping spiders, but wasn't having any luck. Instead I found this fly, which appeared dead, but then started moving :scratch:
720_2538.jpg


That's when I noticed this guy!
720_2565.jpg


720_2574.jpg


720_2581.jpg


720_2583.jpg


720_2593.jpg


The spider was quite tolerant of me moving the branch around and holding it steady to get better angles. This is a tip from one of the macro sites I've read, look for bugs that are busy doing something and they will be less likely to react to your presence. Eating is a good form of busy because they are rarely willing to give up a meal.
 
:tab That hard part about shooting such small subjects is getting what you want focused to actually BE focused. At such small apertures, generally f/11 to maybe f/22, and at such close distances, maybe 1-3" from the end of the lens to the subject, the depth of field for the focus is INCREDIBLY thin, like less than a millimeter at times. This can make it almost impossible to get an entire head focused, much less a body. Just the beating of my heart is enough to move the camera and throw off my desired focus. Then there is the breathing, trying to steady myself in often awkward positions while holding the weight of the camera far from my body's center of gravity, etc,... Even the SLIGHTEST breeze can move a subject WAY out of focus. So the keeper ratio of good shots to bad shots is really small. It is not unusual for me to shoot 250-350 images and end up with maybe 15-30 useable images. Even then, most of those are not really what I am happy with, they were just what I was able to use. There have been times where I have just deleted everything! I am getting better though.

:tab I have settled on settings that seem to work fairly well. I generally use an aperture of f/16 and a shutter speed of 1/250 (fastest for the D7200 with a flash). Before I start shooting, I pop a shot to see where my ambient exposure is. If I start with ISO 100, the ambient is pretty much shut down and I get a black screen. If I take it up to 400 or maybe even 800, I start getting the colors of the background without the details. I set the metering to center weighted and I tend to have the subject mostly centered when shooting. I start with the flash set at 0 FEC and will play with that as needed. I may sometimes drop the exposure compensation on the camera to -1 ev just to saturate the colors a bit more.

:tab I use manual focus only on the 105 mm macro lens. Up close, the auto focus is essentially useless because it cannot react fast enough to the slight movements of my body. I generally start with the focus set to 1:1 and will back off that to maybe 1:2 depending on the size of the critter. Backing off the 1:1 also gets the lens further from the subject and allows for a bit, and only a bit, more of DOF for the focus. Depending on the size of the subject, sometimes backing off and cropping to get the final image gives a better result than trying to stay real close and doing as little cropping as possible.

:tab I have tried playing around with some extension tubes and my 24-70mm lens. It will work, but the end results don't seem to be anywhere near as good as just using the 105mm macro. That might be me though as I have seen shots from other people using extension tubes with wide lenses with pretty good results. For natural light shots, I have had pretty good luck with the tubes and using my 70-200mm lens. I've just not put the time into messing with the tubes as I have with the 105mm lens. I probably just need to get more focused about technique :-P

:tab Using a flash REALLY brings out the colors that bugs have which we rarely seem to notice. Those tiny long legged flies are a perfect example. Unless the sun is hitting them when you see them, they basically look like dark flies. However, when the flash pops them, they look like exploding rainbows! Getting the light from the flash to the subject is the challenge. Not wanting to spend more money (yet) on specialty flashes, I threw together the flash tube shown earlier in this thread. It keeps the weight of the flash back at the body instead of out on the end of the lens like many of the macro specialty flashes. However, it needs to be revised. I am thinking some kind of Y shape to split the light off center. Also, it still needs better diffusion. I think I can probably still make something out of the remaining foam board I have at home :ponder:

:tab The flash also helps a lot with getting sharp focus. The closer the flash is to the subject, the less time it has to fire to get the right exposure. If I expose ambient soft enough that any blur from my movement won't matter (which should be minimal anyway at the 1/250 shutter speed), then the only thing left affecting exposure time of my subject is the flash alone. That gives me an effective shutter speed/exposure time of thousandths of a second. I also have the flash set to rear curtain sync. When I started doing this, the images improved noticeably.

:tab The other thing that helped a lot is really paying attention to the orientation of the subject to the plane of the lens. It takes three points in space to define a plane. This means that I basically have three points on my subject to choose how I want the plane of focus oriented. I typically want the near eye in focus, perhaps a wing, and then a near leg or antenna. So I have to consciously look for those points and try to orient the camera (sometimes on a moving bug) to get all three in focus at once, then time my shutter release with all my motion, the bug's motion, and even the wind blowing the plant... You can see how it can take a LOT of shots just to get a small handful of keepers!! However, actively working at doing all of that for every shot really helps!

:tab The biggest obstacle is my own vision. I need glasses for anything within about 20" of my face. Beyond that, I have 20/20. So when I am poking around, I need the glasses to find my subjects. However, the glasses get in the way of trying to look through the viewfinder. I can make the view finder sharp using the dioptre controls for when I don't have the glasses, but the image is still so small that it is hard to tell when I really have sharp focus or not, especially on the really really small bugs. Most of the time I just crank off a bunch of shots while I am wobbling back and forth. Usually, one will come out decent. The ability to see a larger image of the bugs when focusing would help tremendously!! Having good light on the subject other than the flash also helps. I am thinking some kind of view finder magnifier might be worth trying :ponder:
 
Last edited:
:tab So I moved over to the side of the house where we have a flower bed with a rose bush in it that is growing like crazy. These big grasshoppers recently showed up and they are eating the old growth on the bush rather quickly. I managed to keep Daniel from squishing them long enough to get some shots. My Mom has trained him to kill these guys on sight because they destroy her garden.

720_2608.jpg


720_2610.jpg


720_2614.jpg


720_2625.jpg


720_2647.jpg



Our neighbor has a cow in their front yard. It seems we always have flies now...
720_2649.jpg


720_2653.jpg


It was soon too dark to be able to see to focus, so I called it an evening and headed inside to process several hundred images to get these.
 
Here are some shots from last night. The first bug is apparently the adult version of one I found a few weeks back. Both were found on the Holly Bush in front of the house. The adult version is maybe 3/16" - 1/4" from end to end.

720_2687.jpg


720_2694.jpg


:tab I wasn't having my typical luck with the Holly Bush, so I wandered over to some Crepe Myrtles on the far side of our drive way. They had these incredibly tiny ants running up and down the branches. They were moving pretty fast, but over the same path, so I was able to follow them. Still, they were super hard to get focused because they were just so twitchy in their movements, rarely being still for even an instant.

720_2711.jpg


720_2720.jpg


720_2726.jpg


720_2727.jpg


:tab I wasn't "feeling it" with the ants. The above shots are so so, but the best of the many shots taken. So I moved to the back porch and found a beetle with his foot stuck in the window screen. I snapped a few shots before I realized he was stuck, then I managed to get him free. He was happy to hang around while I grabbed a few more shots of him.

720_2745.jpg


720_2747.jpg


720_2754.jpg


720_2755.jpg


720_2762.jpg


720_2764.jpg


:tab I headed into the back yard in search of more light. It was getting dark on the back porch and hard to see to focus. We have some kind of small tree growing in one of our "garden" beds (they are really weed beds now). I spotted some super small ants running around on the leaves. Again, FAST moving and never stopping.

720_2766.jpg


720_2774.jpg


The blur behind this one is one of the "larger" winged ants. You can see their relative sizes better in the previous shot above.
720_2781.jpg


720_2782.jpg


720_2786.jpg
 
:tab So I have still be taking macro shots, I just haven't been getting them posted here. I'm going to add shot taken in May, June, and early July to get caught back up to my current images. Now that Spring has come and gone, it is getting harder to find the bugs around the house. The Holly bush in the front yard that was so full of bugs has nothing left in it now except for extremely tiny spiders that are simply beyond the ability of my gear to capture. They are hard to even see with the naked eye, even if I wear my glasses. The lake across the street from our house still has a good supply of dragon and damsel flies, the occasional frog, and some spiders.

:tab So, without further ado...

720_2969.jpg



720_2977.jpg


720_2994.jpg


720_2983.jpg



720_3007.jpg


720_3009.jpg



720_3016.jpg



720_3018.jpg


720_3019.jpg


720_3020.jpg



720_3023.jpg


720_3026.jpg


720_3028.jpg



720_3035.jpg


720_3037.jpg


720_3047.jpg


720_3048.jpg


720_3052.jpg
 
:tab I love this spider! It's a funny story how we found it. We were getting in my truck to head home after getting lunch on a Sunday afternoon. Sarah (my 13 yo daughter) was getting in the front passenger seat when she spotted this spider crawling on my iPhone sitting in the console between the seats. She asked if I wanted her to catch it so we could take pictures of it and I told her not to worry about it, thinking we'd never be able to keep it contained until we got home and got the camera gear ready. As we pulled away, I forgot about it...

:tab Later that afternoon, after a throne session, I spotted the same little spider crawling across the top of the toilet tank lid! I guess it hitched a ride on my iPhone and then jumped from it to me or the toilet. Anyway, I got it to jump to my hand and stay put long enough that I was able to take it out front and place it on a leaf of our Holly bush. I then ran inside and grabbed my camera. When I got back out front, it was if the spider were sitting there waiting for me! It was very patient and quite curious.

720_3062.jpg


720_3064.jpg


720_3069.jpg


720_3071.jpg


720_3073.jpg


720_3075.jpg


720_3076.jpg


720_3083.jpg


720_3084.jpg


720_3086.jpg


720_3087.jpg


720_3096.jpg
 
:tab This first batch of the spider in the web is from the side of our house. This spider has been a resident for at least four months. It's always there when I go to look for it. It is hard to get good shots of it though because it is always sitting on the underside of the web and is in an awkward spot. I was playing around with different flash compensation levels and different ISO settings in an attempt to get a more pleasing background and less of a hot spot from the flash. Not real happy with the end results, but some still came out fairly well.

720_3112.jpg


720_3113.jpg


720_3115.jpg


One of the higher ISO shots, which lets in more background color at the expense of more noise.
720_3117.jpg


A better balance of flash and background.
720_3119.jpg


720_3120.jpg


720_3121.jpg


720_3122.jpg


720_3123.jpg


720_3124.jpg


720_3132.jpg


720_3133.jpg


720_3135.jpg


720_3141.jpg


Spiders sitting in a web are harder to do because there is nothing nearby to reflect light from the flash, which makes for dark backgrounds unless you crank up the ISO. However, that brings in the grainy noise you see in the background of some of the above images. Other critters are usually sitting on leaves or other things which helps a lot. You can see this in the following images, all captured at the lake across the street from our house.

720_3148.jpg


720_3155.jpg


720_3159.jpg


A two-fer
720_3163.jpg


And another two-fer
720_3173.jpg


720_3174.jpg


720_3175.jpg



720_3181.jpg


720_3182.jpg



720_3184.jpg


720_3189.jpg



720_3191.jpg



720_3192.jpg


720_3193.jpg



720_3194.jpg



720_3201.jpg


720_3202.jpg


720_3204.jpg



720_3217.jpg


720_3220.jpg


720_3229.jpg



720_3232.jpg


720_3235.jpg


720_3236.jpg



720_3244.jpg


720_3253.jpg



720_3258.jpg



720_3260.jpg


720_3261.jpg


720_3267.jpg


720_3268.jpg


:tab The damsel and dragon flies are quite curious. If I see them and they take off while I am trying to get in position to shoot them, if I wait a bit, they usually return close enough that I can get the shots. It doesn't take long for them to come back. Spiders are kind of hit and miss. Some flee instantly and don't come back. Spiders on webs tend to want to stay put. The jumping spiders, like the last images above, are very curious and will even put up with me moving leaves out of the way or pruning them with my thumbnail so I can get a better shot. The flash does not seem to bother any of the bugs.
 
Last edited:
:tab This set is from the lake across the street. My daughter, Sarah, likes to go with me when I look for bugs. She's a great spotter! She also likes to try her hand at getting pictures, but struggles with the patience of taking lots of bad pictures before getting a few good ones. She's a bit of a perfectionist and wants every shot to be perfect :-P She was using my D7200 with the macro lens. I was using my D750 with the 70-200mm F2.8 lens and an extension tube (30mm I think). None of her pics came out well. She forgot to adjust the diopter for the viewfinder on the camera to her better eyesight and it resulted in all of her shots being out of focus :doh:

_7500535.jpg



_7500536.jpg



_7500538.jpg



_7500542.jpg



_7500545.jpg



If you look closely, you can see what's for dinner...
_7500548.jpg


_7500550.jpg


_7500552.jpg


_7500554.jpg



_7500555.jpg



_7500560.jpg



_7500562.jpg


:tab While we were shooting, we started hearing a buzzing racket down in some weeds. I poked around and we found this huge dragon fly that was obviously not having a good day. I was able to pick it up. Despite no obvious injuries, it was unable to fly away and was remarkably calm sitting in my hand. We eventually took it back to the house to show my wife and the other kids. It died during the night. These shots were all posed while at the lake.

_7500564.jpg


_7500568.jpg


_7500570.jpg


My favorite of the bunch
_7500572.jpg


Look closely and you might see either a cause or a result of its demise... :ponder:
_7500574.jpg


You might spot it here as well...
_7500575.jpg


See them now...?
_7500581.jpg


_7500593.jpg



_7500596.jpg



A sticky situation...
_7500597.jpg


_7500600.jpg
 
:tab So it's back to the front yard Holly bush. Right now it is full of these TINY spiders. I can barely see them at all, even when looking right at them. I've tried using both cameras and various lenses with and without extension tubes, but I just can't get a decent shot of any of them! I really need more of a microscope lens that goes higher than 1:1. So the first shot below is the best shot I have been able to manage. I include it mostly to show the lack of detail. The spider is maybe 2mm across at its longest dimension. The entire web is maybe 1-1/2 to 2" across.

720_3405.jpg



:tab Sarah spotted this little spider, a seriously fuzzy critter! I had a hard time getting any really sharp images of this one, not sure why. It might be that sometimes a setting on the camera gets changed and I forget to reset things, like the dipoter on the view finder :shrug:
720_3431.jpg


Getting dinner
720_3434.jpg


720_3441.jpg


720_3442.jpg


720_3445.jpg



720_3439.jpg



This is one of the "big" spiders. You can see relative to the leaves that the web is not real big. The bush is FULL of webs like this one!
720_3455.jpg


There are also tons of these super tiny flies. To the naked eye, they just look like black blobs. When the flash hits them, the black gives way to amazing detail! If you look closely at the eye, you will see a little black spot about 1/3 of the distance from the top. That spot moves, similar to our pupil. It will track me as I move around trying to get different angles for the shot.
720_3474.jpg



This has to be the SMALLEST jumping spider I've ever seen. It looks hairless and translucent. The black spots are some of its eyes. Look real close and you can see the two main eyes facing front. They look clear as well.
720_3480.jpg


720_3485.jpg


720_3489.jpg



I have no idea what this is and have never seen one before, but it is very cool looking! I love the eyes!
720_3493.jpg


720_3495.jpg



720_3497.jpg


720_3498.jpg


720_3499.jpg



Circle of life :-P
720_3510.jpg
 
:tab The tiny spiders on the Holly bush were annoying me. There has to be a way to get a better shot of them. These were taken with the D750, the 70-200mm f2.8, and a mess load of extension tubes (60mm total maybe?). Included here are the original uncropped images followed by a close crop. The spider is MUCH smaller than it looks on your screen. It is maybe the size of the head on a straight pen used for sewing. I love how the body pattern looks like a face.

_7500706.jpg


_7500706-2.jpg


_7500714.jpg


_7500714-2.jpg


:tab I like these next photos because they show an important aspect of reality. Whether it is a good day or a bad day really depends on your perspective... :-P (Taken with the D7200 and the 105mm Macro).

720_3523.jpg


720_3524.jpg


720_3525.jpg


720_3526.jpg


720_3534.jpg


:tab I am not sure the flying ant ever had a real chance... The spider was moving FAST.
 
:tab Okay, so my last batch for a bit. These were taken at a friend's house the Saturday before July 4th. They did a big cook out, fireworks, and a massive bonfire. They live out in the woods so there were a lot of bugs. All were taken with the D7200 and the 105mm macro lens.

720_3585.jpg



This guy was FAST and never sat still for a moment!
720_3590.jpg


720_3596.jpg


720_3597.jpg


720_3600.jpg


See the ant underneath?
720_3601.jpg



Under a bush by the garage...
720_3604.jpg


720_3606.jpg


720_3607.jpg


720_3608.jpg


720_3609.jpg


720_3613.jpg


720_3616.jpg


720_3618.jpg



The wind was making the web flick back and forth like crazy. It was hard to time the release with the moment the spider was in focus. This was the best I could do. It did not help that it was up above my head so I was holding the camera up in the air.
720_3624.jpg



This is along the side of the concrete of the front porch. It was very tolerant of my moving blades of grass and even poking near it with my finger to get it to move for a better shot.
720_3632.jpg


720_3633.jpg


720_3635.jpg



A similar spider to the one above, but a different one.
720_3642.jpg


720_3644.jpg


Note the missing leg sections on the 2nd right leg
720_3646.jpg



This orb weaver was spinning a web between the chains for the light and fan switches on a ceiling fan over the front porch.
720_3656.jpg



A similar orb weaver on a fluorescent light fixture.
720_3657.jpg


720_3658.jpg



:tab I went home about half way through the day to mow our yard and then headed back later for the fireworks and bonfire. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my D750 and the other lenses with me. The 105mm on the D7200 does not work real well for fireworks, especially hand held. This last one just looks kind of neat though, like confetti.

720_3676.jpg
 
So StromXTc got me thinking about updating this thread. My last shots above where from June of 2018 and I have done quite a bit since then. I have pretty much settled on my setup as shown earlier in the thread with my D7200, the 105mm Macro lens, and the SB-700 flash with my homemade diffuser tube thingy.

These shots are of a huge spider the kids found in the back yard sitting in our wheel barrow. It was unable to climb out. I didn't think to get anything in there with it to give a sense of the scale, but this guy was a couple inches across! After getting a bunch of shots of it, I helped it out of the wheel barrow. The shot of it on the tire is next to a cicada shell, which is about a bit more than an inch long.

720_3761.jpg


720_3761-2.jpg


720_3762.jpg


720_3762-2.jpg


720_3763.jpg


720_3764.jpg


720_3765.jpg


720_3766.jpg


720_3770.jpg
 
After playing around with spider above, I poked around looking for anything else that might be interesting and found these,

720_3771.jpg


I took a mess load of pics of this Midge and for some reason just wasn't able to get myself at the right angle to get both ends of his body focused. These things are super small, and even this shot is a pretty heavy crop of the original.
720_3775.jpg


720_3783.jpg


720_3784.jpg


720_3785.jpg


720_3786.jpg
 
So for July 4th we headed out to a friend's place in Lovelady. He's big into gardening, so I had to bring the camera as I was sure there would be a TON of bugs! All these shots are from his backyard and garden.

720_3790.jpg


720_3791.jpg


720_3792.jpg


No clue what kind of bugs these become :shrug:
720_3794.jpg


720_3795.jpg


Look how long that antenna is!!
720_3797.jpg


720_3797-2.jpg


720_3797-3.jpg


720_3801.jpg


720_3802.jpg


720_3805.jpg


720_3806.jpg


720_3807.jpg


720_3811.jpg


720_3812.jpg


720_3814.jpg


720_3817.jpg


720_3823.jpg


720_3832.jpg


720_3922.jpg


720_3923.jpg


720_3904.jpg


720_3904-2.jpg


720_3924.jpg


720_3927.jpg
 
Back
Top