Weekly Photo Contest , January 14-21 : Macro

[anotherscotsman]

Thanks for the placement and feedback - amazed given the quality of all the entries. My two winners were Alexander.of.Oz and Kenoh so congratulations to both.

Focus stack to get decent depth of field.

 

[needfx]

Congrats for an excellent theme & amazing submissions!!
Super deserved winners - stupendous entries
Many thanks for input
Simple single flash bounce from the ceiling
My entry was extremely edited for this result as this particular micro-machine has seen better days

 

[kenoh]

Thanks for the placement and feedback - amazed given the quality of all the entries. My two winners were Alexander.of.Oz and Kenoh so congratulations to both.

Focus stack to get decent depth of field.

Thank you kindly.
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Took me forever to judge this thing , the quality of this weeks’ submissions were good beyond belief .

1st : Alexander.Of.Oz


2nd : Kenoh


3rd : Tie ….. MacRy and anotherscotsman


And I’ve got to give Honorable mentions to : JohnDS , Hughmac ,and Apple fanboy


Congrats to the placers , and thanks to everyone who entered !


And now , I’ll try to duplicate @Digger148 ‘s entry . Suspect it might take several tries…..

My god how good were the entries this week!?!? Some of the bug shots are worthy of reference textbook images! Wow!

Well done picking through them. Thank you for the runner up spot. I really dont think I deserved that with the other entries this week. Bowled over by the skills guys! applause here. Just amazing.

My favourites were the flower from MacRy, CmdrLaForge's FLower which I like the symmetry of and also OzBok's butterfly. I mean wow! just wow!

On my watch, that was my 40th birthday present to myself. I love IWC watches, they have an elegance I dont think other brands can capture. You will be glad to know it is only the stainless steel version. Mainly because I wanted it for the blue hands and you cannot get the blue hands on the Rose or Yellow gold versions.... so peace is restored...

 

[MacRy]

Great feedback and congrats to the winners.

I did try mine a bit more centered but it didn't have the same impact. Looks better with the negative space.

Oh and Ken....great watch!

 

[Apple fanboy]

Apple fanboy : The frog on leaf shot ! I’ve done a few of there in Central America.

This looks like a zoo shot . But not through zoo’s smudgie glass , so I guess you have friends in high places that let you into the frog enclosure . How was this lit? Ambient ,a light panel of some sort , flash ? Macro lens , or a zoom? Nice Work !

Didn't envy your task of judging this one. Some great shots. Congrats to the winners. Thanks for the honourable mention.

So you were right in that it's not a wild shot. It was shot in a photography studio. They own all the bugs and frogs and are pro photographers so really understand what you need. Studio lights, hair lights, soft boxes (with canopy leaves silhouetted), various backgrounds.
Going back there in a few weeks time. Great guys if you are looking for something different.
http://www.wildarena.com

 

[Moakesy]

Moakesy : Another fly…or gnat … or wasp . Looks like its pretty small , on a flower?

Again , good detail , got the hairs , and the thumbscrew thing under the wing . Can’t see if it’s got faceted eyes , though . The image hints like it does , but can’t really make it out for sure .

Thanks for the feedback....must have taken you ages to type all that up!

It was my first ever entry into the weekly competition, small fly, shot hand held in the back garden as the fly sat on a flower in the sun.

Looking at the quality of the submissions, there is some real inspirational work here. Top quality all around and well done to the winners.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Alexander.Of.Oz: Wow ! Wonderfully detailed image , got the hairs , the faceting on the eyes , and the errant bits of schmutz . Plus a neutral background/ground plane that blend together . Great even lighting . Was it alive and cooperative , alive and chilled into immobility , or just slightly dead ?

@someoldguy Thanks for the excellent job of providing such detailed feedback and judging this one with so many fine entries!

Congratulations to all who entered this week, the bar was raised yet again by all entries. I thought @kenoh or @anotherscotsman had it in the bag!

My fly was very much alive, just sun baking at the time I caught her. She just stayed there perfectly still whilst the speedlites popped off time after time. This was handheld with a macro lens that has no image stabilisation and 43mm of extension tubes applied, so as to get really up close and personal. My one regret is that I didn't try focus stacking from front to back of her, there's always next time I guess.

I'll get a new contest up as soon as I can.

 

[Moakesy]

@someoldguy
This was handheld with a macro lens that has no image stabilisation and 43mm of extension tubes applied, so as to get really up close and personal.

Wow! Handheld with no IS and extension tubes....great work and steady hands!

I want to try focus stacking, but figured the would only work with tripod and a subject matter that wasn't likely to move!! Would love to see your results if you give it a go...

 

[OzBok]

Well done to the winners, and thanks for the feedback. Handheld it most certainly was. I was determined to best my last effort at the butterfly house. Last time was the 80-400mm this time a macro lens. Struggled with the head in focus, for a couple shots before I decided to focus on getting the texture in the wings and try improve my framing. So many things I would never think of If it wasn't for the feedback on here of what I post, and what everybody else posts. Think I'm getting the hang of exposure control, so now to learn aperture control for depth of field.

Looking forward to the next challenge!

 

[AZhappyjack]

Good stuff this week. Love the entries. Congrats to @Alexander.Of.Oz and the place finishers... and great job with the judging/feedback, @someoldguy.

I also agree that an ongoing thread for macro photography would be a great addition.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Good stuff this week. Love the entries. Congrats to @Alexander.Of.Oz and the place finishers... and great job with the judging/feedback, @someoldguy.

I also agree that an ongoing thread for macro photography would be a great addition.

One created here for those that want to carry on with the Small stuff.
Small Talk (Macro thread)

 

[Hughmac]

One created here for those that want to carry on with the Small stuff.
Small Talk (Macro thread)

Oh fantastic, well done
Maybe I can learn something over there.

Cheers

Hugh

 

[PfEMP1]

Took me forever to judge this thing , the quality of this weeks’ submissions were good beyond belief .

PfEMP : Here’s a change from the usual mundane green grasshopper ! Great color , lots of detail in the parts that are in focus . Were you dealing with some sort of leaf blowing around causing the blurring in the front ?

@Digger148 ‘s entry . Suspect it might take several tries…..

Thanks for the comments. The grasshoppers there were far from mundane, the most "boring" ones I saw where like purple glitter...they do not do subtle!
The blur is from the leaves on the bush the grasshopper was sitting in. Of course it had to be in the middle of the bush, and the bush had to be very, very spiky.