Today I decided to go to a local nature reserve at Eskrigg, Lockerbie and I took these moth images. There are no less than 194 species of moth recorded at this reserve.
Cheers
Bob
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You have fantastic camera and lens, but your photos are very bad...sorry :(

Originally Posted by unique93 You have fantastic camera and lens, but your photos are very bad...sorry :(

Yeah I haven't done any macro for a long while. No probs.
Cheers
Bob

Bob

This is a good effort, but the main problem with some of them (#3 - #6) is the lack of difference between the subject and the background. That makes it very hard to visually pick out the subject. Most butterfly and moth shots seem to me to work best where they are on a plant and the background bokeh hides the background detail. Try a different background?

Originally Posted by rob marshall Bob This is a good effort, but the main problem with some of them (#3 - #6) is the lack of difference between the subject and the background. That makes it very hard to visually pick out the subject. Most butterfly and moth shots seem to me to work best where they are on a plant and the background bokeh hides the background detail. Try a different background?

Thanks Rob for looking and replying. I knew the tree didn't make a good background for them the shots were mainly for identification purposes.
Cheers
Bob

Agree the focus could be better on some but i have no problem with bugs taken against their natural background.
Brian v.

if you cannot use a smaller aperture , try to make several shots at different distance
then you can do some manual stacking

all of above photo's could have been fixed that way

Originally Posted by basflt if you cannot use a smaller aperture , try to make several shots at different distance then you can do some manual stacking all of above photo's could have been fixed that way

Thanks Brian and Basfit for looking and replying. I will attempt to do that in future.
Cheers
Bob

Stacking requires either that you are steady enough that the images are reasonably well aligned, or manually aligning them. There are folks on this forum who do this all the time with hand-held shots--and I do it all the time with tripod shots--but I have had a hard time being steady enough, and I have not often gotten stacking to work with handheld shots.

If you have the same problem, there are several steps you can take. Close the aperture down, say, to f/13. (Truth is that you will probably find that you can go somewhat smaller than this without visible problems, even though you will generate some diffraction. The greater DOF may more than offset the softness from diffraction in terms of the overall impression of sharpness.) Second, try to keep the subject as close to parallel to the sensor as you can, to minimize the needed DOF. Third, worry about focusing on things people will most notice, in particular, eyes.

For example, I took this one with a 50D, a 100mm macro lens, and a 36mm extension tube. It is a single shot at f/13, with no stacking. I shot it with a monopod for support. I'm posting it just to show that there is a lot you can do with handheld shots without stacking.

Originally Posted by paddler4 Stacking requires either that you are steady enough that the images are reasonably well aligned, or manually aligning them. There are folks on this forum who do this all the time with hand-held shots--and I do it all the time with tripod shots--but I have had a hard time being steady enough, and I have not often gotten stacking to work with handheld shots.

that goes for software-stacking ( Zerene , and similar )
manual stacking can always be done , weather images are aligned or not

i do it all the time
simply because i cannot get all my shots aligned either

Yeah the main issue is plane focus... you gotta think about the plane of detail that is going to be recorded and also what your main focal point is.

here is one of the methods i often use
http://www.flickr.com/groups/macrovi...7624267681728/

Originally Posted by paddler4 Stacking requires either that you are steady enough that the images are reasonably well aligned, or manually aligning them. There are folks on this forum who do this all the time with hand-held shots--and I do it all the time with tripod shots--but I have had a hard time being steady enough, and I have not often gotten stacking to work with handheld shots. If you have the same problem, there are several steps you can take. Close the aperture down, say, to f/13. (Truth is that you will probably find that you can go somewhat smaller than this without visible problems, even though you will generate some diffraction. The greater DOF may more than offset the softness from diffraction in terms of the overall impression of sharpness.) Second, try to keep the subject as close to parallel to the sensor as you can, to minimize the needed DOF. Third, worry about focusing on things people will most notice, in particular, eyes. For example, I took this one with a 50D, a 100mm macro lens, and a 36mm extension tube. It is a single shot at f/13, with no stacking. I shot it with a monopod for support. I'm posting it just to show that there is a lot you can do with handheld shots without stacking.

Thanks ever so much Paddler for taking the time in replying in so much detail which I truly appreciate.
That is a first class image for a single shot. I would have had to use my MPE-65 to achieve a shot like that. Having said that I find it very difficult using that lens and mainly stick with the 100L.
In actual fact I did take several shots with a view to stacking with Zerene Stacker. I was hand held and tried to start at the head and work my way to the tail. I think I must have had my settings wrong as I had my F stop at F6.3 and F.8, because when I put them through Zerene Stacker they were not good at all so I chose to send a single shot of each.
I will use my monopod the next time. yesterday I took a shot of a Large Yellow Underwing moth two frames through Zerene Stacker. I didn't dare send it in view of the initial remarks but in view of your post I decided to give it a go.
Yellow Underwing Moth

Originally Posted by canon400d http://canon400d.smugmug.com/Other/M...erwing-2-L.jpg

i got the feeling you could easily use a smaller aperture here
try to experiment with different settings , untill you find a setting that works
then use that as base setting

Originally Posted by basflt i got the feeling you could easily use a smaller aperture here try to experiment with different settings , untill you find a setting that works then use that as base setting

Thanks for that Bas I will try that when it stops raining!!!!!
Cheers
Bob

Bob, I shoot with a 7D and a 100L. I tend to shoot at F11 all the time unless I decide to change for various reasons.
I'll shoot at shutter 1/200th and ISO 200 with my Speedlite 430 EXII Flashgun.

As for raining, don't wait for the rain to give up. Find something in the house to practice with :).

A screw is always a good subject. Focus at 1:1 and Shoot it at F2.8, F8, F11 and F22 to see the differences. Then try some cutlery or something and you could even get creative with a bowl of water and some oil in it with a CD underneath. Shine a lamp from one side so you get the spectrum and photograph from directly above. No Flash, you can get away with a wider aperture for stuff like this

Originally Posted by IPClark Bob, I shoot with a 7D and a 100L. I tend to shoot at F11 all the time unless I decide to change for various reasons. I'll shoot at shutter 1/200th and ISO 200 with my Speedlite 430 EXII Flashgun. As for raining, don't wait for the rain to give up. Find something in the house to practice with :). A screw is always a good subject. Focus at 1:1 and Shoot it at F2.8, F8, F11 and F22 to see the differences. Then try some cutlery or something and you could even get creative with a bowl of water and some oil in it with a CD underneath. Shine a lamp from one side so you get the spectrum and photograph from directly above. No Flash, you can get away with a wider aperture for stuff like this

Great stuff Ian and thanks for that I really appreciate it and I will have a go right away and be guided with what you have told me.
Cheers
Bob