You are a photographic genius @Alan Clark2 in Liverpool , I am a happy snapper, who takes a minute or two to compose my picture, by which time most of my subjects have moved on. I will persevere but in the meantime I will enjoy your and other photographers lovely pictures.
Really beautiful photos @Alan Clark2 in Liverpool and @mikeymustard. My camera's macro facility isn't that great, but I knew that before I got it. I needed mine for a different type of photo, so it was less important to me, but I love seeing those detailed close ups from 'the boys' @Guernsey Donkey2 - sometimes it's just a case of practising too. The more you take, the better you get at composition etc. It's so much easier with digital cameras, and having the 'point and shoot, stick 'em on the computer' method means you can see what's good or bad quickly, and it's really helpful. Not that I'm any kind of expert I've been taking photos since I was a child, and as many of them were of moving targets, and then you had to wait for them to be developed, it was often frustrating. I suppose patience was cultivated early back then Remember that? Taking a film to the chemist to get developed and waiting a week for them, and half of them being rubbish? Happy days
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Oh yes I do @Fairygirl , but somehow we just got on with it back then - but now everyone wants perfection and have got to have it right now too - the younger generation don't understand how lucky they are in that respect. I will keep practicing my photography, it's great to be able to have a nice camera for once. I remember having a Polaroid camera with instant development - a novelty that didn't last long - my photos using it were rubbish!
I do remember those, although I never had one @Guernsey Donkey2 . The digital ones are great, although you often end up with hundreds, because you want to pick the best one, and then it takes ages to go through them all! The ability to filter and sharpen the colours, crop, and resize at the touch of a button on a computer is fantastic too. It was only when DavidK, who used to post here, showed me how to do it that I realised how different it made the images. I mostly do it automatically, especially with my hill photos, but I sometimes find the greens can look a bit blue, so I tinker with those individually.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Even though I have DSLRs, I'm very impressed by what my phone can do (Samsung s6) providing you can get close enough to the subject. A bedraggled bee clinging on to an agastache flower during the rain:
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Bird box camera recommendations - I know I have asked before but this time I am thinking Christmas present wish list. Something not too complicated, and easy to set up. Perhaps something we can buy through the RSPB or Amazon. Can anyone recommend from first hand experience.
@Guernsey Donkey2 I use Raspberry Pi's in my bird boxes, which I hesitate to recommend because getting them working is rather involved. Can give great pictures though, and also stream live to YouTube etc when nesting is in full swing, but since I haven't used others I can't recommend. I can however suggest that you pop over to our (entirely non-commercial) bird box forum here where you will get some good advice if you join up and ask your question there. It is a little quiet over there at the moment because we are in the "off season" as far as nesting is concerned, but people are still popping in.
Here's a pic from earlier this year from one of my boxes. Unfortunately I didn't get a nest this year (bluetits can be quite fickle in that regard), but lots of visits before they decided to go elsewhere!
@Alan Clark2 in Liverpool just catching up on this thread and, as usual, some amazing pics! I think I am going to try and get a cheap extension tube for my old Nikon and see what I can do. Image stacking sounds ingenious but I am amazed you can get the insects to stay still long enough to make it work. How do you adjust the focus? Do you have some automatic feature on your camera or do you just do it by hand? Does that introduce risk of wobble?
matt_fender said: @Alan Clark2 in Liverpool just catching up on this thread and, as usual, some amazing pics! I think I am going to try and get a cheap extension tube for my old Nikon and see what I can do. Image stacking sounds ingenious but I am amazed you can get the insects to stay still long enough to make it work. How do you adjust the focus? Do you have some automatic feature on your camera or do you just do it by hand? Does that introduce risk of wobble?
You must turn off autofocus. One method is to set the camera to continuous shooting - I use ten frames per second. I start by focusing on the near point then start shooting as I slowly change the focus - either by moving the camera if it is hand held, or by adjusting the lens if using a tripod. I work at about f5.6 and 400 to 1600 ISO which gives fast shutter speeds, so camera shake is not a problem. The main problem with hand-held shots is keeping the subject in roughly the same position in the frame. The software can compensate for some movement, but there is a danger that the movement will be too much, especially at high magnification. Doing it without a tripod needs practice, but I have seen great images made with a x5 lens, hand held!
The other method is with a focusing rail. This allows you to move the camera a fraction of a millimetre between single frames, and is better for higher magnification, more than x1, as long as the subject is unlikely to move for a long time.
There is a risk that the insect will move during the sequence, which ruins the result. However minor movements can be corrected in the software. In the first photo of the shield bug it moved one antenna so it was doubled in the merged picture, but I retouched it in Helicon Focus by cloning part of one image into that part of the picture.
There are now some cameras, eg Olympus mirrorless cameras, which can do image stacking automatically in the camera. It takes perhaps 16 jpegs then combines them to give another jpeg with the images stacked.
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I needed mine for a different type of photo, so it was less important to me, but I love seeing those detailed close ups from 'the boys'
@Guernsey Donkey2 - sometimes it's just a case of practising too. The more you take, the better you get at composition etc. It's so much easier with digital cameras, and having the 'point and shoot, stick 'em on the computer' method means you can see what's good or bad quickly, and it's really helpful. Not that I'm any kind of expert
I've been taking photos since I was a child, and as many of them were of moving targets, and then you had to wait for them to be developed, it was often frustrating. I suppose patience was cultivated early back then
Remember that? Taking a film to the chemist to get developed and waiting a week for them, and half of them being rubbish? Happy days
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The digital ones are great, although you often end up with hundreds, because you want to pick the best one, and then it takes ages to go through them all!
The ability to filter and sharpen the colours, crop, and resize at the touch of a button on a computer is fantastic too. It was only when DavidK, who used to post here, showed me how to do it that I realised how different it made the images.
I mostly do it automatically, especially with my hill photos, but I sometimes find the greens can look a bit blue, so I tinker with those individually.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Here's a pic from earlier this year from one of my boxes. Unfortunately I didn't get a nest this year (bluetits can be quite fickle in that regard), but lots of visits before they decided to go elsewhere!
@Alan Clark2 in Liverpool just catching up on this thread and, as usual, some amazing pics! I think I am going to try and get a cheap extension tube for my old Nikon and see what I can do. Image stacking sounds ingenious but I am amazed you can get the insects to stay still long enough to make it work. How do you adjust the focus? Do you have some automatic feature on your camera or do you just do it by hand? Does that introduce risk of wobble?
The other method is with a focusing rail. This allows you to move the camera a fraction of a millimetre between single frames, and is better for higher magnification, more than x1, as long as the subject is unlikely to move for a long time.
There is a risk that the insect will move during the sequence, which ruins the result. However minor movements can be corrected in the software. In the first photo of the shield bug it moved one antenna so it was doubled in the merged picture, but I retouched it in Helicon Focus by cloning part of one image into that part of the picture.
There are now some cameras, eg Olympus mirrorless cameras, which can do image stacking automatically in the camera. It takes perhaps 16 jpegs then combines them to give another jpeg with the images stacked.