Mebby a different bug shot

[Anonymous]

This ain't the best shot in the world but what it is is a bunch of ants, tending their aphids. They protect them because when they stroke the little bugs (the black spots) with their antenna, the little guys give off a sweet drop of honeydew, which the ants love.
I wish I could get shots like funkie but gotta work on it

 

[Anonymous]

Macros make you slow down and look at the world a little differently. Thanks Royal. <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="">

 

[Anonymous]

maybe it is my camera or maybe it is just me. I want to be able to get pictures like funkie did of the mantis. Now that is a great shot. I have not been satisfied with any pictures I have taken, the last couple years.
Yes Macro's make you see a whole new world. I sure enjoy it

 

[Anonymous]

The more I get into photography the more I understand why the pros spend the money they do on good equipment. You can do everything right and still just get a mediocre shot if you don't have the right equipment.

 

[Anonymous]

lighting and the fact that I hand hold. If I turn up the shutter speed to compensate for movement, I have problems with the light.
I like the halo light that funkie uses but there isn't one for my camera <img src="/metal/html/cry.gif" border=0 width=40 height=15 alt=":cry">
I am gonna try to use one of those unipods and see if that helps. I have a small reflector but have not used it as my hands are full as it is.
My CD 500 is in for repair now so I am going to be using my CD 300 this holiday week.
My camera has a Carl Zues, or how ever you spell it, so it should not be the lens

 

[Anonymous]

Have you thought about a ringlight flash with a small slave to trigger it? When I was doing photography for the public I used one on 35 mm cameras and it was great for macro shots. Soft, rather flat light but you can diffuse one side for directional lighting. I doubt if there's one specifically for your camera but there should be one out there somewhere you can adapt. Vivitar made one several years ago that could be mounted on any lens that didn't have a diameter larger than the ringlight, if you could find one of those it would solve your lighting problems on macro shots.
JB

 

[Anonymous]

I think both bug shots look great, good depth of field and good focus. I looked at them in PS LE and the seem a little bit too artifacty. The wasp is only 49Kbytes, which might mean you're going a bit heavy on the jpeg compression. I use medium 5 in PS LE most of the time. I dunno Royal, just grasping at straws.
It could also mean that you are reducing the size of the image too much, or picking a size that is not a good ratio. I start with an image 1024 x 768 and first try 512 x 384 or 768 x 576 if that's too small, to see how it looks. I also wait until I have the size I want before tweaking the levels and unsharp mask. I never make a jpeg and then make corrections, because you must save it as a jpeg again. A jpeg of a jpeg is not good. But you probably know all this stuff, and I'm way off base.
The Nikon 4500 can macro focus to within .8 inches of the lens, which is one of the main reasons I bought it. On the other hand, it does a poor job with night shots, and the Sony's are much better at that.
The Carl Zeis lenses are excellent, but I don't know anything about your cameras. Sorry I can't be of more help. Jane and I have been on a little trip, so I'm just catching up on all the posts.
fod