Couple of ladybird instars...

Images of undisturbed subjects in their natural environment. All subject types.

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Beatsy
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Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:10 am
Location: Malvern, UK

Couple of ladybird instars...

Post by Beatsy »

At least I think it is. I know the black one is a late instar, but only assume the one on the left is an earlier one.

Handheld stack of 12 images - 90mm, 1/200, f/7.1, ISO 100 - cropped. Only one flash with an ad-hoc prototype diffuser attached. I was trying that out when this scene presented itself so I quickly grabbed what I could.
2021-06-11-22.04.35 ZS retouched_1 1.jpg

Dalantech
Posts: 694
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:57 am

Re: Couple of ladybird instars...

Post by Dalantech »

I like the shot Beatsy, but there's room for improvement.

1) Turn it 180 degrees. The darker of the two is the subject, and I'm turning my head to look at it. I'm sure the way you posted it is the way you shot it, but with no obvious frame of reference there's no reason why you can't turn that shot in post. When viewing a scene like that one I'll compose it knowing that I'll turn it in post, and it's a handy skill to learn.

2) Me thinks that there is a hot spot in your diffuser -the specular highlights are almost blown and there's a lot of what I call micro contrast in the scene: Areas all over the frame where the pixels are blown. Sure, you can drag them back from the brink in post, bust a lot of those pixels are not pure white but that's how you recorded them. Lots of lost texture detail due to your light not being diffused enough. In my experience several layers of light diffusion material, separated by a small air gap (a few millimeters), works better than one or two thick diffusion layers.

Soft light is easy: Just use a diffuser that's large relative to the subject. But soft light is not the same as diffused light, and one of the problems with shooting macro is the short distance between the the flash and the subject -not enough room to really let the light spread out. Gotta find a way to force the light to diffuse without just blocking it. After years of experimenting the only material I found that worked was 1/4 stop white China silk. YMMV.

Beatsy
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Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:10 am
Location: Malvern, UK

Re: Couple of ladybird instars...

Post by Beatsy »

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I was experimenting with the diffuser itself, adding and removing spaced layers of diffuser material inside it then taking handheld test shots (shiny leaves). It was partly disassembled when this scene appeared. I shot it (quickly) as a record of the event because I hadn't seen the two types of instars together before. Since I was on high speed drive mode, I ran through different focus depths to be sure of a keeper, but got enough frames in close proximity to make a focus stack - so I did. It certainly has the issues you list and could be improved - but not to the point that I'd ever post it as a "good image" in terms of the art - so I put no effort into that. But thanks for the refresher on basic lighting principles.

Dalantech
Posts: 694
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:57 am

Re: Couple of ladybird instars...

Post by Dalantech »

Beatsy wrote:
Sat Jun 12, 2021 12:26 am
Sorry, I wasn't clear. I was experimenting with the diffuser itself, adding and removing spaced layers of diffuser material inside it then taking handheld test shots (shiny leaves). It was partly disassembled when this scene appeared. I shot it (quickly) as a record of the event because I hadn't seen the two types of instars together before. Since I was on high speed drive mode, I ran through different focus depths to be sure of a keeper, but got enough frames in close proximity to make a focus stack - so I did. It certainly has the issues you list and could be improved - but not to the point that I'd ever post it as a "good image" in terms of the art - so I put no effort into that. But thanks for the refresher on basic lighting principles.
My bad :)

Beatsy
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Location: Malvern, UK

Re: Couple of ladybird instars...

Post by Beatsy »

You did nothing bad. This site is all about sharing info and techniques - and that's what you did. Good stuff.
As I said, my post was unclear and would most likely be interpreted as me testing a specific (but inadequate) diffuser setup - not testing and trying out different configurations of a diffuser setup (which is what I was doing). No offence or affront taken here, the "bad" was all mine for not being specific enough. Cheers.

Dalantech
Posts: 694
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:57 am

Re: Couple of ladybird instars...

Post by Dalantech »

Beatsy wrote:
Sat Jun 12, 2021 4:15 am
You did nothing bad. This site is all about sharing info and techniques - and that's what you did. Good stuff.
As I said, my post was unclear and would most likely be interpreted as me testing a specific (but inadequate) diffuser setup - not testing and trying out different configurations of a diffuser setup (which is what I was doing). No offence or affront taken here, the "bad" was all mine for not being specific enough. Cheers.
I'm glad you and I can hold a civil conversation -even though I don't focus stack I got a lot out of your posts when you were shooting with an objective (hope that's the right term).

As for building a custom diffuser: I struggled for years experimenting with different materials trying to force the light from a twin flash to spread out in a short enough space to make using it at the end of a lens practical. The only material I found that worked with minimal light loss was 1/4 stop white China Silk. A bit on the expensive side, and I wish I could find a cheaper source of the same material. With a few millimeters between layers the light loss is only 1/4 stop (or less). I'm using four layers and a Garry Fong Puffer Plus and only losing 1 1/4 stops when compared to the bare flash heads. I'm never completely satisfied with my light quality (I think I might be obsessed with it) and will most likely build a new diffuser set this winter. But you've seen my Critter Mix posts so you know how good my current light looks.

Footnote: Using the Puffer Plus diffusers as my final diffusion stage cause that plastic is dimpled and it acts like a much larger diffusion surface. Would also like to find a similar material that's cheaper.

MarkSturtevant
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Re: Couple of ladybird instars...

Post by MarkSturtevant »

Very fine details in there. The smaller larva on the left is a Syrphid fly larva. Since both of these insects feed on aphids, they are often seen lurking together in the same area.

Lately, I've been working on my diffusers, and have seen significant benefits of relying on reflecting the light off of mirrored surfaces inside the diffuser space. This is done by hanging a reflective "deflector" in front of the flash, and all surfaces in the diffuser space is also reflective. ALL light coming out of the flash head must first be reflected before any of it gets to the subject. A nice reflective material is HVAC tape, which is mirror-like but also has a very slight matte finish.
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

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