Lynx Spider 5mm

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		from hank008/Henry (651) on March 22, 2005 1:24:03 AM CST (3) Like the spider, I think a little bit further back might help but like you've mentioned these shots tend to happen fast. Might I suggest one of those silly flash diffusers that attach with velcro. I use one with my Nikon FE2. It looks silly but when I angle the tilt or adjust the zoom on the flash it allows me to change the light and it can remove any hint that you're using flash. Of course the FE2 has TTL flash and that helps alot. Reply  Show ratings  From narler/Nigel (942) on April 2, 2005 9:05:10 AM CST Hi, Thanks for the information. With the diffuser does it help by reducing the flash intensity and therefore also reducing the intensity of the shadow thats cast by the flash? If yes then I may look at doing that.. Thanks. I'll still endeavour to use 2 flashes though to help remove shadows all together, it's just an issue of cost and configuration that I have to overcome first. Thanks for taking the time to comment on my photo. Regards Nigel. Reply  From hank008/Henry (651) on April 6, 2005 1:43:40 PM CDT With the TTl flash metering I never have to worry about to much light. The gear does that for me. The diffuser does soften the shadows quite a bit, I've took shots where it was hard to tell flash was used. ( take a look at my shots of Wilma and Betty my two cats, it was used on them.) When I used this setup on my FM (no TTL) I found I had to experiment and yes adjust the power level of the flash. It definatly was in my best interests to bracket my exposures. Reply
		from wpb/Pat (1,033) on March 10, 2005 2:52:55 AM CST (3) Not a bad photo of a spider. Compositionally, I would like the spider to be in the left part of the frame. The surface the spider is on is kind of busy and bright on the left, but it compliments the spider. In lieu of another flash, you could get a little white card and place it at an opposing angle to the flash, which would help fill in shadows. The spiders nicely in focus, but the photo is a little soft which is probably due to it being resized not having any unsharp mask applied, since you said you were against manipulation in Photoshop. However, I'm sure the original slide was sharper, so I'd hope thats something you'd be willing to do to make it more pleasing to display. Reply  Show ratings  From narler/Nigel (942) on March 10, 2005 4:37:03 AM CST Thanks for the comments. I would have liked to frame it a little better and/or have found a specimen on a different surface, but at all times I photograph the subject where it was found and as the lynx spider is a rover it's not always still long enough to setup and frame exactly as I'd like. A card, mirror or reflective surface the other side would have helped but I'd be out of hands as this photo was taken hand held.. no tripod, so 1 hand for focus and one holding the camera / shutter activation, I'd need an assistant :) for anything else. Oh I forgot to add to the description that I also used a 2x teleconverter, so that may have also impacted on sharpness slightly. Reply
		from otelo/Kirk (352) on March 10, 2005 2:45:28 AM CST (4) Great macro shot! Also the background is a good choice. I only have two suggestions: 1. better sharpness 2. the face area is too dark, a reflection panel or fill light would have avoided that. thanks for sharing! Reply  Show ratings  From narler/Nigel (942) on March 10, 2005 4:41:10 AM CST Thanks. I'm not sure if the sharpenss issue is due to the scanner I use, or if a dedicated neg scanner would yield better results, or it could be a result of the teleconverter, or the distance to subject vs hand held. The background is where I found the spider, as I always try and photograh the subject where it was found and with as little disturbance as possible, it was just lucky (or well chosen by the spider) that it blended in so well. I wish I could have removed the shadow from the face and I'm looking into getting another bracket to mount an additional flash to help fillin sections like that. Thanks for the comments. Reply

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From akaluke/Luke (1,656) on March 13, 2005 10:15:21 PM CST Possible to bounce the flash of a ceiling? Reply  From narler/Nigel (942) on April 17, 2005 9:08:49 AM CDT Hi, Thanks for the thought, but this shot was not indoors. Reply

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