Practice Makes....Permanent
Apr 12, 2021 15:00:40 #
Practice, practice, practice. I have to continue to practice. There is a saying that goes, "Practice makes Perfect" however in fact, continued practice makes "permanent".
Practicing while doing something wrong over and over is ingraining. A golfer that has a flaw in the why that they drive the ball will continue to do so until they train themselves to make a change for the better.
Today was a nice day to get a bit of practice with the rig that I plan to use this season on my walkabouts. This series of the Better Half's flowers was taken with the flash set at 1/32-second diffused through vellum tracing paper DIY diffuser mounted on the end of the lens. The camera is a Nikon Z6 and the lens is a Nikon 200mm f/4D macro set at f/20 with a shutter speed of 1/120 second. Ambient light was sunny at the flower bed.
The series appears to be quite abstract which I found them to be while looking through the lens.
Practicing while doing something wrong over and over is ingraining. A golfer that has a flaw in the why that they drive the ball will continue to do so until they train themselves to make a change for the better.
Today was a nice day to get a bit of practice with the rig that I plan to use this season on my walkabouts. This series of the Better Half's flowers was taken with the flash set at 1/32-second diffused through vellum tracing paper DIY diffuser mounted on the end of the lens. The camera is a Nikon Z6 and the lens is a Nikon 200mm f/4D macro set at f/20 with a shutter speed of 1/120 second. Ambient light was sunny at the flower bed.
The series appears to be quite abstract which I found them to be while looking through the lens.
Apr 12, 2021 16:46:43 #
These are very nice. The first is my favorite but all are well done.
Apr 12, 2021 16:53:48 #
Beautiful work! Gary, I guess that you are more than just a pretty face with a bunch of insects.
Apr 12, 2021 18:01:22 #
Cwilson341 wrote:
These are very nice. The first is my favorite but all are well done.
Thanks, Carol. The lens that I use has an extremely shallow depth of field so unless the subject is flat perpendicular to the lens there will be much of it in blur.
Apr 12, 2021 18:02:59 #
UTMike wrote:
Beautiful work! Gary, I guess that you are more than just a pretty face with a bunch of insects.
Thanks, UTMike. Your reply gave me a good laugh.
Apr 12, 2021 19:00:54 #
Apr 12, 2021 19:34:52 #
kpmac wrote:
I really enjoyed your practice, sippy.
Thanks, Kpmac. There's so many little fine points and tweaks to not only know how to do them but when to do them. I'm suspect that it is the same for you learning the best practices for your gear with the birds that you photograph both still and in flight.
Apr 12, 2021 19:35:55 #
Apr 12, 2021 20:54:27 #
sundar wrote:
Wonderful ! I like these shots !
Thanks for viewing and for the reply.
Apr 13, 2021 14:30:02 #
Apr 13, 2021 14:42:24 #
Apr 13, 2021 15:30:21 #
Curmudgeon wrote:
Nice set Sippy. Would post a picture of your rig please
This is my current setup with the Laowa Macro Twin Flash KX-800 "bendy arms". I made a diffuser with two sheets of vellum tracing paper where I used a piece of electrical wire to hold form by taping it along the outer edge. The flash also has an LED lamp that can be used when the view through the camera is too dark. The focus assist light is variable in brightness.
The flash does not communicate with the camera so the flash power durations are set manually and adjustable from left to right. I keep the flash heads back a distance from the diffuser so that the light can spread rather than have hot spots on the diffuser.
I chose to build the diffuser larger than just a cone on the end of the lens with the pretense that it will behave more like a large soft box or an umbrella would. The camera that it is mounted on is a Nikon Z6 although I have come to believe that there is little difference between modern digital cameras. Different features, for sure however sensor and microprocessing firmware produce very, very similar results. Most difference in images is related to more that of the operator.
Apr 13, 2021 15:30:55 #
HOT Texas wrote:
Very well done Sippy, Nice work!!!!! 
Thanks, HOT Texas. I appreciate the feedback.
Apr 13, 2021 15:34:53 #
Apr 13, 2021 16:31:40 #
Curmudgeon wrote:
Thanks Sippy
Here's a few examples of the progression in the pursuit of a more perfect off-camera flash to provide diffused light.
My go-to lens was the Nikon 200mm f/4D macro which has a minimum focus distance of 18-inches. I mounted the Nikon SB800 speedlight on an "L" bracket attached to the lens tripod mount rotated to the top. It worked okay however is was quite a front heavy rig.
My next attempt was to put the flash back on the camera and attach a Pringles Potato Chip can to it with the softbox attached to the end of it. This worked much better and was less awkward.
Then I bought a Mieke lens mounted twin flash which had many advantages for flash photography as well as macro photography. Although quite flexible in use in everyway I had difficulties in taming the light it produced and it appeared to be quite challenging to put any modifiers on it. This then prompted me find another solution which is why I made the DIY diffuser and went to the bendy arm flash.
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