Damselfly

[molucca]

I looked at the images after about 50 shots, and they were all over exposed.

The meter was reading hte background and letting the foreground suffer. I changed to manual at F11 & 125 with the flash and lowered the EV. I was testing EV vs flash distance. This way the background is essentially ignored, and the flash compensated for the F setting.

Rich

[raynerj1]

You should check to see if you have a spot metering mode. I use that all the time. It gets me pretty close all the time. I just move the spot meter reading around and try and find the highlights and deepest shadows and try and keep em within 3 F stops (highlight/shadow). The background I usually do not worry about. I prefer it to go white or black... the more out of focus the better.

Nice dragon flys by the way... Have you tried taking em without the fill flash? Your highlights will have much less chance of being over exposed...

[molucca]

John,

I got out my monopod and will try without a flash. The damselfly likes it in the garden, and may be there tomorrow.

I am not getting as close since I am not climbing the ladder into the bush. I'll look at a few other settings.

Rich

[raynerj1]

I use a tripod, much more stable. and a cable trip release... but if the wind blows and you have a slow exposure your shot can still be trashed.

I was taking some 1/2 second shots at F25 tonight... Don't even want to count the blurred shots...


Now this one is an interesting shot... Is that a real one or a construct? 2 different size butterflys... Male & Female? or one behind the other... Please fill us in a bit more...

[molucca]

Just butterflys in flight. It is usually difficult to get them in focus colse up.

They were two different sizes.

Rich

[raynerj1]

Your flutterby shots are awesome Rich! You really need to think about printing one or two and trying to get a gallery to sell them for you. Make a few bucks...

[molucca]

Thanks John,

A couple of bees. I think that spike from the back of the bee is a feeding tube that rotates out in front. It must fold back for flying, and keep the bee from sticking into a tree.

Rich

[raynerj1]

Great Shots Rich!

How do you get those bees to pose for you?

Have you contacted any bug colllectors and seen if you might be able to sell a picture or two? Maybe a museum or two might be interested in your shots. If Audobon made a living from birds, you should be able to make a little with your bees.

Can you get wittle kids to pose like that? (they sit still as long as bees). If so, you can make a mint doing kiddie photos. Young momma's love to have pics taken of dere kids.