SBG 100707 butterflies [1st attempt]

[log1t3ch]

1st attempt on butteflies
damn they are hard to approach =X
c&c are welcomed, want to know how to improve and a general feedback on my shots

[night86mare]

Check out the Sharing Butterflies #1 and #2 threads in Macro, a lot of expert butt shooters there who can give you tips on approach and how to bring out the beauty of a butterfly.

In most cases it is probably best to try to align yourself parallel to the wings of the butterfly, to get maximum Depth of Field and capture every detail of the wing AND the head/eyes.

#3 is not a bad view, but the background is a little distracting, and it appears to have some handshake, I presume.

[Michael]

nice try, the first two a bit too dark. Your DOF appears a bit too shallow and on the third one appears to have some motion blurr (handshake or leave moving?).
Did you use a flash for the shots? handheld?

[log1t3ch]

Originally Posted by night86mare Check out the Sharing Butterflies #1 and #2 threads in Macro, a lot of expert butt shooters there who can give you tips on approach and how to bring out the beauty of a butterfly. In most cases it is probably best to try to align yourself parallel to the wings of the butterfly, to get maximum Depth of Field and capture every detail of the wing AND the head/eyes. #3 is not a bad view, but the background is a little distracting, and it appears to have some handshake, I presume.

thanks for the tips. #3 was very shakey. strong winds and i had to go from a weird angle to shoot. 90 mm with teleconverter is superbly hard to keep steady man lol. somehow the details arnt as sharp as i would like it to be. by the way i shot it at F14, which is a reasonably good dof but i think its because of the low shutter speed, 1/80 that causes most of the shots to be slightly blurred.

[log1t3ch]

Originally Posted by Michael nice try, the first two a bit too dark. Your DOF appears a bit too shallow and on the third one appears to have some motion blurr (handshake or leave moving?). Did you use a flash for the shots? handheld?

yup all my shots are handheld(i can never keep the camera still with the 90mm + 2x tele) with a macro ring flash. orignally used to shoot tiny insects but still works well to take these butterflies, just brightens up the subject slightly with twin diffuse light from both sides or from the bottom and top. all shots are f14, 1/80. i think its the slow shutter speed. normally i'd prefer to use 1/200 onwards but i dont get a nice background. thanks for ur feedback, appreciate it

[zac08]

Get a monopod, it helps...

[night86mare]

Originally Posted by log1t3ch thanks for the tips. #3 was very shakey. strong winds and i had to go from a weird angle to shoot. 90 mm with teleconverter is superbly hard to keep steady man lol. somehow the details arnt as sharp as i would like it to be. by the way i shot it at F14, which is a reasonably good dof but i think its because of the low shutter speed, 1/80 that causes most of the shots to be slightly blurred.

Hahaha, oh well, either get a VR lens or monopod or change to a system with in-built SR.. =)

At the macro level, the line of DOF is razor sharp, even at F14, you still need to be as parallel to the subject's body as possible, if you want everything in. There are instances where a non-parallel take works as well, but not very common.