Bush fly

[MickT]

Been away for a weeks holiday with no phone or internet access, so heaps of time to take pics.

I was really disappointed to have missed Marks macro day in December due to the wet weather, but have tried to take up some of the tips from his site. I essentially went hand hand but used my monopod as a kind of "lean to" rather than fixed to the camera and left the tripod back at the unit.

Also used the 7D rather than the full frame 5D11 which allowed me to not get so close to the target and this scare them off so easily. I found i had a better success rate than normal, but still no absolute standouts. However, these are my favorites from an hour or so wondering around the bush.

Apologies to Mark if i have misread some of your tips ..

[MarkB1]

Good variety of angles Michael. DOF looks a bit shallow in first two. Smaller A and SS to suit and flash will give a sharp shot most of the time - no motion blur as in #2. And if you've misread my Macro Illustrated you'll just have to read it again - fact is you can't get everything too quick, it takes time and experiment and comparison.

[MickT]

Thanks Mark. Could have gone a smaller AV, these were at 8 or 9 from memory. It was pretty dark where i was though, and i wasn't sure if the flash would be enough to overcome my shaky hands. Will give that a go next time though, and i will go back and have another read of your site.

[eaglem]

Good detail in the third shot of the series Mick and as Mark said for the first two of the series.

[MickT]

Cheers eagle. The 3rd shot is by far my favorite (and i think the best macro shot i have ever taken). The other two I threw up because I liked the angles and that you can see into his/ her mouth. Shame some of the more interesting subjects were not as clear as that 3rd shot. I got a few different bugs and spiders, but nothing good enough to share ...

[MarkB1]

Once you eliminate ambient light, more or less, the flash is your effective SS - very fast - can be up to 1/50,000, eliminates all shake.

Thanks Mark. Could have gone a smaller AV, these were at 8 or 9 from memory. It was pretty dark where i was though, and i wasn't sure if the flash would be enough to overcome my shaky hands. Will give that a go next time though, and i will go back and have another read of your site.

[Herby]

Fantastic detail with #3. Glad to see you experimenting & enjoying macro photography. Can be quite addictive.

[MickT]

Thanks for the comment Herby. Yeah, it is fun chasing little stuff around ... more than I thought it would be actually I find myself looking into bushes and stuff now for bugs etc rather than just walking on my. Have gotten a few funny comments from workmates who want to know what i'm looking for ...