# General > Member's Lounge > Photography >  27 Jan 08 - Macro outing at Alexandra Hospital

## Simon

Thanks for the turn out, weather stayed with us till we packed up and have our lunch. Hope you guys enjoy the outing and also hope you guys can share your experience on it. Hope Benny wouldn't find it too tiring  :Laughing: .

here are some of my pics

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6


#7


#8

----------


## hwchoy

#4 should look better if you rotate to landscape.

----------


## Simon

the angle of the shot will make it unnatural  :Smile:

----------


## trident

Simon,
All the butterflies are so beautifully taken.
That was quick posting, I just finish changing water, now going for dinner.
Will have to post my pictures later.
Pity I didn't get the leapard lacewing.
A big thank you to all who turn up today, I had a swell time.  :Smile:

----------


## Goondoo



----------


## Simon

Billy, try pushing up your ISO or lowering your shutterspeed to achieve a nicer background. For subjects like the jumping spider in #2, you will need more DOF to capture more of the subject

----------


## Goondoo

My ISO cannot push high high like your 40D leh.... oops... Even 400 can see pretty much of noise. HUAT ah! Tonight swee swee can buy a D300 liao! HUAT ah!

----------


## wasabi8888

Wah... looks like I missed a great outing.....

so ah... I am sure all of you are not tired.... when is the next one ah?

----------


## Simon

depends  :Smile:  keen to visit Ubin next week? organised by my butterfly group

----------


## trident

Here's my take

#1 Spider

#2 Knight Female

#3 Hover Fly

#4 Another Fly

#5 Yet another fly

#6 Caterpillar

----------


## benny

Wah!!! So fast!! I think the trip today was definitely much better. But unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to show for. Went home with 40 shots, but looks like they didn't come out good. Shame.

Richard and billy's shots are all nice!

Cheers,

----------


## Simon

Richard, your pic lack sharpness, did you crop down the pic or are these uncropped version?

----------


## trident

Benny,
Thanks. Sure your pictures didn't turn out well? That's a real shame.  :Confused: 
I was waiting for your caterpillar and dragonfly shots. 
This outing was definitely much better, especially with *M* so nearby!  :Well done: 

Simon, yes most of the pictures were cropped. only the knight is not cropped

----------


## Goondoo

> Wah!!! So fast!! I think the trip today was definitely much better. But unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to show for. Went home with 40 shots, but looks like they didn't come out good. Shame.
> 
> Richard and billy's shots are all nice!
> 
> Cheers,


Cannot be la!!! You should have at least a few good shot of that dragonfly, right?




> Richard, your pic lack sharpness, did you crop down the pic or are these uncropped version?


Sianz.... No luck this weekend, will try again next time....
Mean while must try cheaper options...  :Wink: 

Will repost my pictures in next few days after major editing... :Exasperated:

----------


## Simon

forgotten to post this

----------


## wasabi8888

Here is some of mine when I went on my own on Friday







Shots are not very sharp, due to the strong wind...

----------


## Merviso

Hi guys, thanks for the wonderful session.  :Smile: 

Here comes the newbie's shots, taken with automode, without flash, uncropped with only resize.. still looks a long way from all your wonderful shots  :Embarassed: 










All comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated !  :Roll Eyes:

----------


## benny

Jeffrey,

The last one is actually quite nice.

Anyway, here's the only flower shot I got today..


Merv,

The last three shots are exceptional! Looks like you are improving very fast!

Cheers,

----------


## Merviso

Thanks Benny..  :Grin: 

Looks like I can't really take as macro a shot take your guys are doing now with my current skill level, therefore, think I will work more on the picture composition and hopefully can tell more story with my shots..  :Grin: 

Hi Jeffery, on a side note, maybe you can work on your picture presentation style...  :Grin: 
The blue wordings on the black background is not very contrasting and therefore more difficult to read. Also, your picture is cropped with different dimension and ratio, thus when presented together looks a bit messy.  :Opps: 

Think Simon's way of flaming up the picure is quite professional especially when presenting a whole series of photos.. Just my humble opinon...  :Wink:

----------


## wasabi8888

Hi Mervin

No problem with your comments....

the funny thing with the blue words was that it looks ok on PS, but not on the AQ gallery. Looking at how to improve that. 

On the cropping part, I know what you mean but I dont know how to solve it. I crop for the best image and sometimes it does mean that the crop is not the same dimensions... not sure how to change that though....

----------


## Merviso

Wow Billy, that's much nicer.. A good border layout can actually complement the photos...  :Kiss:  One thing I notice is that the small font are looking a bit blur... With small font size, one setting I like to use is Font: Photoshop small with font alias set to *none..* 

Jeffery, I will rather try to think about the picture composition at the point of taking the photo... otherwise, the only thing to play around is to resize the photo so that it will fit nicely into a standard layout of your own style.

I have actually been using stock photos on the internet for my previous website for the past few years. Therefore, this type of presentation thingy I will usually put more effort into..  :Razz:

----------


## luenny

Wah, so many post and so many pictures already. Just saw this. See that's the problem with not having internet connection at home. I have to wait till I come to the office before being able to view the beautiful pictures. *Sigh!* Everybody posted so many nice shots, I feel so pai seh (shy) to post now. Wait, I haven't seen my shots on the PC yet. Ok, let me go see what I can dig out.

----------


## Goondoo

> Wow Billy, that's much nicer.. A good border layout can actually complement the photos...  One thing I notice is that the small font are looking a bit blur... With small font size, one setting I like to use is Font: Photoshop small with font alias set to *none..*


Point noted. Special thanks to Simon for sharing the script file with me  :Kiss:

----------


## benny

> Sure your pictures didn't turn out well? That's a real shame. 
> I was waiting for your caterpillar and dragonfly shots.





> Cannot be la!!! You should have at least a few good shot of that dragonfly, right?


Yes. Regretably, I suck at shooting in the field. Still groping along.

For the Dragonfly, the side profile approach is bad... the wings are never going to be in focus and they get in the way of the head. I'm going to relook at how to do better next time.




For the catepillar, somehow, it lacks the oomph. Very flat. And I believe the lighting was too harsh.


The only half respectable shot I got was of the Blue Glassy Tiger..




However, the lighting for the first shot was a tad too harsh as well and the depth of field on the second frame was not deep enough. The tip of the wings were out of the range. I was too ambitious in trying to fill the frame with the subject. If it was shot further away and cropped down, perhaps they will be all be sharp. Arrgh!!

However, this round was not as tiring as the last. Most of the time, there was shade. Toilet was nearby and there were was a Cheers outlet there where we could buy drinks and tidbits. Also, within 10 mins of leaving the place, lunch was available. Very good.

Cheers,

----------


## luenny

Benny,
The photos are nice. I took the caterpillar the same position as you too. Hahaha ... seems like the caterpillar knows when to post for photography. Anyway, I don't think the lighting is too harsh. Looks fine to me.

----------


## trident

Benny,
I think maybe the condition is too comfortable that's why it couldn't bring out the best in you. Last week condition was tougher, but it brought out much more from you. So I think tougher trek like tree top walk is more suited for you....................  :Blah: 
For pic #1, the dragonfly didn't pose properly, not your fault................. :Evil: 
For the caterpillar, funny, I get the same effect, it's FAT but comes out FLAT
As for the Blue Grassy Tiger, everybody's favorite, so cooperative  :Well done: 

Luenny, I think it's time you get Internet in your home, package price are quite attractive.

----------


## wasabi8888

Hi Mervin

Trying to do the stuff that you told me... Question, how to crop so that all is consistent? I tried to change the image size after cropping, really screwed up the pic...

I have attached the other 2 that I can modify the image size so that at least it looks consistent....






The third one.. although I can crop it, but if i cropped to the above image size, it looks weird.. can anyone help?

----------


## wasabi8888

How did you guys get so close to the butterfly???????

Are the butterflies as dead as the one in Venus Drive? I tried to creep slowly... but it's so tough....i am so jealous that I can scolding vulgarities...

----------


## Goondoo

> How did you guys get so close to the butterfly???????
> 
> Are the butterflies as dead as the one in Venus Drive? I tried to creep slowly... but it's so tough....i am so jealous that I can scolding vulgarities...


We didn't.
We took turns to sit on the bridge, waiting for the butterflies to come  :Blah:  :Jump for joy:  :Blah:  :Jump for joy:

----------


## trident

yah lor, the bridge is shaded and quite comfortable......................... :Evil:  :Evil:

----------


## luenny

Yeah man, we were like resting at the bridge and the butt just won't leave us alone. Keep pestering us to take its photo.  :Grin:

----------


## mervin

wah ! so this is what i missed.....  :Sad: 

anyway Benny ! *You* went and shoot !!!! it is as promised si boh, easy walk with makan opposite and shopping by the side si boh !  :Laughing: 




> Tonight swee swee can *buy a D300* liao! HUAT ah!



Mai hor ......  :Shocked: 




> Benny,
> I think maybe the condition is too comfortable that's why it couldn't bring out the best in you. Last week condition was tougher, but it brought out much more from you. So I think tougher trek like tree top walk is more suited for you....................


Benny needs Riffle Range Road man !!!!  :Blah: 

Anway Benny, think your crop is too tight leh....

----------


## luenny

Ok, here's what I manage to dig out so far. Since everybody's favourite is butt, I process them first. A bit disappointed with the butt photos. But here goes.

Blue glassy tiger (this is the guy that keep pestering us) - harsh lighting.

How's this for getting close to the butt? No cropping done.


Knight

Another one with it flying off as I press the shutter.

----------


## valice

> 


This is beautiful.

----------


## Merviso

Hi Luenny, I like the last one.. the beauty of motion..  :Wink:

----------


## Simon

fwoah, so many replies  :Smile: 

looks like everyone had fun. Don't be disappointment if you think your pic is not up to expectation, or at least with expectation can you improve. I started out like everyone else many trials and errors before i start to like what I'm shooting, we should develop our own style and preference, so we can be different

Benny, your #2 dragon is a keeper, a typical standard specimen shot.

Luenny, love your first knight shot

Merv, practise more. 

Think through more practise everyone will improve. The way to get the entire butterfly in focus is to keep your subject parallel to the camera body, DOF on macro is extremely thin. But most importantly is everyone enjoy themselves, the rest is secondary.

so who's game for another round?

----------


## luenny

For those who like the last shot, I think Richard should be given credit. I think it is his flash that causes the knight to fly off when I shoot.  :Laughing: 




> fwoah, so many replies 
> so who's game for another round?


Me me ... just tell me when and let me get permission.  :Grin:

----------


## trident

Simon,
CNY round the corner, got to spend time at home, spring cleaning...etc
I am game after CNY
Luenny, that knight in flight is beautiful, I thought the wings might be blur but it came out good.  :Smile:

----------


## Simon

I'm only free at the beginning of my school term, as in the later part, I will be tied down with assignments. So, now I tying to squeeze in as many shoots possible.

I have posted up a Ubin trip this coming sunday, do join in and learn how to photograph butterflies and other macro

----------


## benny

> How's this for getting close to the butt? No cropping done.


Luenny! This one is great!

And I also agree that the last one is really nice.

Cheers,

----------


## benny

One more side profile of the dragonfly.

But this one has an additional side lighting from the left to try to get more light pass the wing. Since the dragonfly is stationary, it works. However, there were some hotspots as a result of the additional lighting.


Cheers,

----------


## kuching

> Jeffrey,
> 
> The last one is actually quite nice.
> 
> Anyway, here's the only flower shot I got today..
> 
> 
> Merv,
> 
> ...



I like this shot! :Well done:

----------


## luenny

Benny, nice dragonfly pic. Too bad the eye is covered by the wings. 

Anyway, here're my dragonfly shots.

Side and front views.


Close up (side)


Close up (front)


Man, they remind me of mask rider.

Smiling for the camera (St Andrew cross dragonfly??  :Grin: )

----------


## wf7850

SWEE AH....!!!!!

*You* guys r really masters in Macro.... having looked at your shots make me just want to do one thing.... i.e. DELETE ALL THOSE THAT I TOOK...!!!  :Embarassed:  :Knockout: 

hope to be able to learn more from *you* guys...  :Jump for joy: 

PS: I am William, the fatty with the 'PA' (wifey)....  :Evil: . It was a great outing *and* i totally enjoyed myself.

----------


## wasabi8888

I declare that I hate all of you guys......

How can you take so close? and so sharp.....

----------


## luenny

William,
Where're your shots? Show leh. Let the pros here advice you. That's how I got better.

Jeff,
That's why you should follow us on the trip-lar. Simon and Billy can teach you where to sit and wait for the butts.  :Grin: 

Wah, almost didn't see this. Great shot Simon.  :Well done: 




> forgotten to post this

----------


## Goondoo

> Jeff,
> That's why you should follow us on the trip-lar. Simon and Billy can teach you where to sit and wait for the butts.


Strange, somehow I can't tell if it's complement or....  :Confused:

----------


## trident

William,
It was nice meeting you and your wifey. 
I am a beginner too, still learning from the experts here.
Here's my shot of the (only) dragonfly, background's bad.


Luenny,
How come your dragonfly so colorful arh?
Mine not so colourful leh. I didn't notice the background till I come home, wah really bad.  :Confused:

----------


## wf7850

> William,
> Where're your shots? Show leh. Let the pros here advice you. That's how I got better.


okie... here *are* the two most 'eh kua' (can see) shots...  :Embarassed: 





Ok guys, fire away...  :Wink:

----------


## trident

william,
swee leh, the 2 most popular model that day.  :Well done:

----------


## wf7850

Richard, thanks for the compliments...  :Kiss: 

but i think still got much much room to improve... esp on the angle of shots and the bg...  :Opps:

----------


## Goondoo

> william,
> swee leh, the 2 most popular model that day.


Was unable to see this Linx Spider on a upright position before it jump down and disappear. Under such situations, how would you guys frame the picture? I am some how not comfortable with the orientation.  :Confused:

----------


## wasabi8888

Guess what... i just realized butt=butterfly... for a while, I was trying to understand the 'butt' thing... thought it meant the ***

Billy

Looks good to me leh

----------


## trident

Jeff,
Wah lau, took you so long to realize it. You must have a lot of funny ideas about Simon  :Laughing:  





> Guess what... i just realized butt=butterfly... for a while, I was trying to understand the 'butt' thing... thought it meant the ***


Billy,
looks good to me too, at least we know spiders do walk upside down. :Well done:

----------


## wasabi8888

Richard

Ya.... was wondering why he kept saying... seeing butts....taking butts....

----------


## Goondoo

> Billy
> 
> Looks good to me leh





> Billy,
> looks good to me too, at least we know spiders do walk upside down.


Thanks!




> Richard
> 
> Ya.... was wondering why he kept saying... seeing butts....taking butts....


What are you thinking when we were saying Simon is a butt specialist then?  :Embarassed:

----------


## Simon

haha, you guys very comical  :Smile: 

Looks like my ubin outing not very popular :P

billy, your lynx spider is a male

----------


## Goondoo

> haha, you guys very comical 
> 
> Looks like my ubin outing not very popular :P
> 
> billy, your lynx spider is a male


Brother I asking for composition la, not the sex....  :Laughing:  :Grin:

----------


## benny

Wah!! Luenny, Richard and William's dragonfly shot all not bad. Especially Luenny's second shot!

Billy,

I would have framed your picture differently. I would have shot the picture with the flower entering the frame from the top right corner toward the lower left corner and used a landscape format instead.

Cheers,

----------


## Goondoo

Point noted. Thanks  :Well done:

----------


## trident

Benny,
Thanks. The dragonfly was cooperative and allow me to go very near until I forgot about the background. :Smile:

----------


## luenny

> Luenny,
> How come your dragonfly so colorful arh?
> Mine not so colourful leh. I didn't notice the background till I come home, wah really bad.


Richard,

I don't know where you shoot the dragonfly from but if you look at mine, the pic with the frontal shot also got black and gray background too. Only the ones where I shoot from the side got green background because of the leaves there. Just have to keep in mind the background when you shoot - which is not easy because you keep concentrating on the subject it is so easy to forget about background.

Anyway, if you look closely at your photo, the background is mainly a big patch of light colored (beige) area. This causes your dragonfly's head to be a bit underexposed because your metering averages the scene's light (unless you use spot metering which is not the case here according to your EXIF info). This causes the dragonfly's color to be a bit dull. When you shoot scene like this you can still use the same metering but overexpose it a bit to compensate. Otherwise, use spot metering but you have to be careful so that the spot does not land on the black part on the nose of the dragonfly. If that happens everything else will be overexposed.




> Strange, somehow I can't tell if it's complement or....


Just kidding bro.  :Grin: 

Anyway, for the lynx spider, I would use landscape format like what Benny said. Plus, I would cheat a bit by rotating it 180 degrees. I think people are more used to looking at it right side up. Anyway, it's a great shot which I missed. My spider shots that they are all junky except maybe 1.




> Ok guys, fire away...


William,
The butt looks ok except you might want to control your DOF a bit so that the wire mesh at the back is blurred away.

Dragonfly is good. How come got a fishing line there one? Trying to catch fish for breakfast?  :Grin:

----------


## wasabi8888

Hi all

So how to crop and still get the right size of the image

----------


## Goondoo

> Hi all
> 
> So how to crop and still get the right size of the image


Shoot further away maybe?  :Laughing:

----------


## hwchoy

> Hi all
> 
> So how to crop and still get the right size of the image


I assume you mean cropping while retaining the aspect ratio. if you use photoshop the cropping tool allows you to set the 1) aspect ratio or 2) resultant image size in pixels i.e. crop + resize or 3) fixed pixel size i.e. crop without resize

the final aspect ratio will depend on what you key into the value boxes. so for most 3/2 aspect DSLR your can crop with 3000×2000 final image size, for example.

----------


## benny

I was adviced that the compositions were too tight. Since the pictures were not cropped, I don't have anymore freeplay for a bigger image with a smaller subject. Went back to dig and these are like the smallest that I can find. Unfortuately, not very ideal either.


Was told black background is not ideal. Green should be better. But at least it's got a bit more space than the previous image.


This one is a green background, but wings not entirely in focus. Sian.....


Cropped image for fun.

Cheers,

----------


## luenny

Just thought I post some photos of these since nobody's posting them. And for those who say they can't get close to insect, these are great. They won't run but you might if you get too close.  :Grin: 

Weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina)

This guy is either impersonating a lawn mover or a vacuum cleaner.  :Grin: 



Come any closer and these will be in you!!



Psst! You see that bright light that just flashes just now? Oops, there it is again.  :Laughing:

----------


## hwchoy

how come nobody shot any flowers?

for the learners I would advocate learning to shoot flowers since 1) they don't run away 2) they are still challenging as you have to deal with wind
3) some flowers have highly 3 dimensional structures which is a good exercise for you to think what parameters to use to enhance your DOF
4) they can also be very very small which is useful for practicing critical focusing (since you can shoot the same subject repeatedly to practice consistency)

some samples (purple flower 5mm across, yellow flower 1cm across):

* click pix for full resolution *

----------


## Simon

that is because you are not there to demostrate to us on how to shoot a flower  :Smile:

----------


## hwchoy

if I'm there, all you will see is my butt sticking up in the air and two 550EX flashing away  :Grin:

----------


## Merviso

> how come nobody shot any flowers?


Hi hwchoy, actually I did try to take some general photo shots on flower, but not in macro. Did not turn up well also.  :Embarassed:  

Maybe I should start with practising taking flower shots at home, thanks for the good idea.  :Grin:

----------


## hwchoy

yes flowers are good for aiming practice  :Grin:

----------


## trident

actually I shot a few flowers, not sure if it's good

----------


## Goondoo

> Billy,
> 
> I would have framed your picture differently. I would have shot the picture with the flower entering the frame from the top right corner toward the lower left corner and used a landscape format instead.
> 
> Cheers,


Like this?



Edit: On reading Benny's advise again, I recompose the picture. Thank Wf7850 for pointing out.

----------


## wf7850

> The butt looks ok except you might want to control your DOF a bit so that the wire mesh at the back is blurred away.


i have a couple shots which had the mesh blurred, but the butt was blur due to OOF.  :Crying: 

keke... really have to shoot more to improve. thanks for the note..!!  :Jump for joy: 




> .....How come got a fishing line there one? Trying to catch fish for breakfast?


keke... it looked like those tight-rope walker, using it's wings for balancing...  :Evil:

----------


## wf7850

> Like this?


billy, i think benny is saying to rotate the frame clockwise by 45deg, such that the stalk is coming down from an angle (if i read his sentence correctly..  :Opps: )

----------


## benny

> billy, i think benny is saying to rotate the frame clockwise by 45deg, such that the stalk is coming down from an angle (if i read his sentence correctly.. )


Bingo!

Cheers,

----------


## luenny

> Like this?
> 
> 
> 
> Edit: On reading Benny's advise again, I recompose the picture. Thank Wf7850 for pointing out.


I think this is good. Do a 180 rotation would be better though.

----------


## hwchoy

its unnatural if you rotate because of the direction the flowers would be facing.

----------


## Goondoo

> its unnatural if you rotate because of the direction the flowers would be facing.


Thats what I felt too, else I would have did it in the first place...  :Grin: 
The lighting will be unnatural too.  :Huh?:

----------


## Simon

yup, agree the rotated version wouldn't look right with the lighting

----------


## luenny

Oh yeah, now that you mention it. Didn't see the real thing, keep looking at the thumbnail which is a bit hard to see the lighting. Anyway, nice catch. I have never seen a lynx spider in real life before.

----------


## Simon

luenny, here is a clearer shot

----------


## luenny

Mice shot Simon. I have seen photos of it somewhere else too, just not the real thing. How big are they by the way?

----------


## Simon

not very big, about 1.5cm including the legs. The marsh pond at SBG has plenty in the morning

----------


## Goondoo

> not very big, about 1.5cm including the legs. The marsh pond at SBG has plenty in the morning


hmmm, the one I saw must be a juvenile then. It was not even 1cm. :Knockout:

----------


## wasabi8888

Hey maybe going to SBG later. Is there a good place to take insects? I always cant find any along the main walking paths...

----------


## benetay

SBG got a lot a lot of insects. Jeffery what time will you be there? I do not have my gear with me but i don't mind going there to take a walk but i only can do it in the late morning.

----------


## wasabi8888

Not sure... prob early morning though.. maybe 9 plus... but I should be there for a while.. give me a buzz...

90606752

----------


## luenny

Forgot to post these 2 shots of the caterpillar. One of it looks exactly like Benny's picture. Anyway, I rotated them 180 degrees for ease of viewing.

----------

