A Mature Katydid? I took these earlier this evening around 6:30 p.m. Tried different combinations of f/stops, ISOs and flash power to be able to get focused and as little glare as...

sford122 Loc: Amarillo TX

I took these earlier this evening around 6:30 p.m. Tried different combinations of f/stops, ISOs and flash power to be able to get focused and as little glare as possible. Still learning.

Canon Rebel T3, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, 20mm extension tube, Canon Speedlite 430EX11, Rocketfish diffuser.

#1 f/22, 1/200, ISO 200
#2, #3 and #4 f/22, 1/200, ISO 400
#5, f/18, 1/200, ISO 800 (got dark fast and camera would
not let me use the lower ISO)

(Okay Douglass, I wasn't going to ask but what's going on in #5?)

tinusbum Loc: east texas

i like #3 good shot.tom

sford122 Loc: Amarillo TX

tinusbum wrote:

i like #3 good shot.tom

Thanks Tom.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Most of these are still back-focused.
Image #1: the antennae tip near lower right corner is sharper than antennae base or eyes.
Image #2: soft everywhere.
Image #3: eyes OoF, but carapace & abdomen in focus.
Image #4: looks okay.
Image #5: eyes OoF. Looks like foreleg in focus.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Really nice Susan! You are getting there.:)
Erv

sford122 Loc: Amarillo TX

Nikonian72 wrote:

Most of these are still back-focused.
Image #1: the antennae tip near lower right corner is sharper than antennae base or eyes.
Image #2: soft everywhere.
Image #3: eyes OoF, but carapace & abdomen in focus.
Image #4: looks okay.
Image #5: eyes OoF. Looks like foreleg in focus.

Thanks Douglass.

sford122 Loc: Amarillo TX

Erv wrote:

Really nice Susan! You are getting there.:)
Erv

Thanks Erv.

rvingbob Loc: Knotts Island NC

Great Set

sford122 Loc: Amarillo TX

rvingbob wrote:

Great Set

Thanks Bob!

richardh76 Loc: VT, Central, Champlain Valley

They look great Susan, as the man said it takes practice, practice, practice!! :-) :thumbup: :thumbup:
Richard

sford122 Loc: Amarillo TX

richardh76 wrote:

They look great Susan, as the man said it takes practice, practice, practice!! :-) :thumbup: :thumbup:
Richard

Thanks Richard. Not so great, but at least I am practicing... and my hubbie thinks I'm a superstar, so what more could I ask! :)

Stevieboy Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

Nice...You are getting there...Have fun experimenting.. You may want to try setting your flash to manual mode and decreasing the power to 1/2 or 1/4 or 1/8, and then opening the aperture a bit, in the f/18 range. If pics are then too dark, you may have to play with the ISO. May be worth a try.

sford122 Loc: Amarillo TX

Stevieboy wrote:

Nice...You are getting there...Have fun experimenting.. You may want to try setting your flash to manual mode and decreasing the power to 1/2 or 1/4 or 1/8, and then opening the aperture a bit, in the f/18 range. If pics are then too dark, you may have to play with the ISO. May be worth a try.

Thanks Steve. You are so right about trying the different settings. I worked at this for 45 minutes last night (6:13 p.m. till nearly 7:00 p.m.). I do use manual flash and even just going down to 1/1 -.03 was too dark. Adjusted ISO, f/stops, in various combinations. Was a very unrealistic time for me to try to make adjustments. lol Sun set and each time I'd try something new, it would be darker outside than the settings I used before, so I really couldn't evaluate the results of my adjustments. I need to do this during daylight hours when the environment lighting won't change while I'm practicing. Still had fun, but poor results. My husband liked these and convinced me to post. His "eye" for quality is even worse than mine. :) I'll post again when I think they are good enough to post. Glad I got the feedback though, it's pushing me in the right direction.

Stevieboy Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

Susan,
Glad you are trying. Make sure that you are not getting mixed up with flash compensation which you can adjust on the back of the flash ( or within the camera) and manual mode. Don't know if your flash offers it but on my Canon Flash which is a 580 EX 11 you can change the mode on the back of the flash from ETTL to manual. IF you can do that, change to manual and then you can change the flash power. That is totally different than flash compensation which is done in the ETTL mode...I am sure this is confusing. Hope this helps and good luck. Steve

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

sford122 wrote:

Okay Douglass, I wasn't going to ask but what's going on in #5?

I missed this question earlier.

I believe that this female katydid is preparing herself to lay eggs. This is a very interesting photo.