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Black and White Fly
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Black and White Fly



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Black and White Fly - Hand held focus stack of 5 images

Black and White Fly - Hand held focus stack of 5 images
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cameraCanon EOS 5D Mark II

settings Aperture 9/1 ISO 100 Shutter 1/200 Focal Length 65/1 

upload_dateOct, 2016

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7835

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Awards

Chatter Award
Zenith Award
Top Shot Award 22
Legendary Award
Contest Finalist in A World In Black And White Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in All Things Black And White Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Miniature Worlds Photo Contest
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35 Comments |
Witmar
 
Witmar October 07, 2016
great shot
keithpassaur
keithpassaur October 25, 2016
Thank you
bobisr23
 
bobisr23 November 30, 2016
Incredible!
patriciaashe
 
patriciaashe November 30, 2016
Join the conversation. Add a comment or even better, a critique. Let's get better together!
ginakruger Premium
 
ginakruger December 01, 2016
I think this is the best photo I have ever seen! What lens did you use? Truly amazing!
keithpassaur
keithpassaur December 01, 2016
Thank you, it was done with Canon's MPE-65; however, you don't need this lens to do it. An option that I think produces a little better image is a Nikon Enlarger Lens reversed on tubes. A little harder to use but killer sharp.
markcowne PRO
 
markcowne December 01, 2016
Brilliantly done. Great use of stacking. Absolutely amazing. I think that you are what Canon designed the MPE-65 for.
keithpassaur
keithpassaur December 01, 2016
Thank you, that is a very kind complement.
Neckbone
 
Neckbone December 06, 2016
Amazing talent! Now I know what it looks like to be eaten by a bug!
DonNewton Platinum
 
DonNewton December 08, 2016
Bonum opus! Should I be afraid of focus stacking? You give lessons?
Tracker89
 
Tracker89 January 25, 2017
Wow! This is a really great capture I love it
trexkamal
 
trexkamal January 25, 2017
Excellent shot..thanks you for sharing details
Speejink PRO
 
Speejink February 03, 2017
Most amazing detail! Wow!!!
adrianmcguirk
 
adrianmcguirk April 03, 2017
Join the conversation. Add a comment or even better, a critique.
adrianmcguirk
 
adrianmcguirk April 03, 2017
Wow.what a shot. I've been trying to get a shot like that for ages
ptacruz
 
ptacruz April 10, 2017
beautiful photo!
Michael_Lev
 
Michael_Lev April 18, 2017
Absolutely Stunning!
otradus
 
otradus April 24, 2017
Extraordinary
richandcherylshaffer
 
richandcherylshaffer April 30, 2017
Excellent Shot
richardalliers
 
richardalliers May 01, 2017
Extremely sharp. Well done
ziggyzoo52
 
ziggyzoo52 June 01, 2017
Brilliant macro
podesta
 
podesta June 25, 2017
Fantastic macro
angelabranson
 
angelabranson June 27, 2017
Incredible!
petercundill PRO
 
petercundill July 23, 2017
Awesome macro shot!
shelleymillercampbell
 
shelleymillercampbell August 16, 2017
Wow, what a fantastic capture. He has a fencing mask! ;-)
brandonlee_0265
 
brandonlee_0265 October 05, 2017
What lens did you use?
Quinny1981
 
Quinny1981 October 22, 2017
Wow
travismandenberg Ultimate
 
travismandenberg November 23, 2017
I'm guessing that there was a LOT of photo stacking required to get the focus you did on this.
Owenharris
 
Owenharris March 26, 2018
Amazing work
CatWezel66
 
CatWezel66 June 05, 2018
Brilliant 👌
jleosadauskas Ultimate
 
jleosadauskas June 19, 2018
Sheer genius.
valeriemurchie-stolpe
 
valeriemurchie-stolpe June 19, 2018
This is fabulous!!!
Julia_137
 
Julia_137 August 03, 2018
Great picture ! Come and check out a few of mine sometime 😃😄
morganjames_6692
 
morganjames_6692 December 14, 2018
Epic shot📸
MikeysCaptureChapter
 
MikeysCaptureChapter March 05, 2019
how? lol such a cool shot...
owenduda
 
owenduda April 29, 2020
Incredible detail!
keithpassaur
keithpassaur April 29, 2020
Thank you😀
RickL PRO+
 
RickL October 03, 2020
Amazing composition and excellent detail
keithpassaur
keithpassaur October 04, 2020
Thank you😀
KathyHolliker PRO
 
KathyHolliker January 27, 2021
AMAZING SHOT!
keithpassaur
keithpassaur January 27, 2021
thank you

Submitted to Photo Contests

Tags

#black and white #fly #insect #macro
See all

Behind The Lens

Location

This was taken at the entrance to my neighborhood in Valrico FL. However it is a common fly and they are everywhere.

Time

This shot was taken at a little after eight in the morning. It is supposed to be easier to take photos of bugs in the morning as they are less active. However, I have more trouble finding them.

Lighting

The lighting for this shot was provided by a Canon MR 14 EX Ring Flash. This flash has some real positives as well as negatives. The positive is that it provides very nice even light all around a subject, and it is close to the subject for short flash duration times. The negative is that if the subject is reflective you have a doughnut reflection (white circle with a black hole in it). The second negative is that it makes the end of the lens larger in diameter, which restricts in some cases the angle you can shoot as you are very close to the subject.

Equipment

This was shot with a Canon 5D MK II with a MPE-65 lens and a MR 14 EX flash. The settings were 1/200 at f9, ISO 100. This was shot hand held and it is a focus stack of about 5 images. I had heard that people could hand hold a camera and shoot a focus stack and I never believed it. However I had just purchased the MPE - 65 lens a couple of days before and I realized that if it could be done I would need to figure out how as there is no depth of field and at over f/11 it sort of becomes very soft. I did figure out how to hand hold the camera and shoot the stack and I now sell a manual on how to do it at www.macroshooting.com. I only sell a few copies a year but it covers the hosting of the site which should be useful to those wanting to learn more about photographing live bugs. Anyway what made this shot possible is that the bug is sitting on something about the size of a piece of rice on the edge of a rock wall. So I had something to rest my hand on, I could shoot even with the subject (not looking down) and I had a background so it would not be the normal black from light fall off from the flash.

Inspiration

I enjoy hunting bugs and taking their photographs. So it is really two things the hunt and the photographing. You have to work with the surroundings you have and the camera setup you have in your hand as they never wait for you to change a lens which makes it more challenging.

Editing

I was beginning to learn about focus stacking when I took this shot. So I don't know if I did it correctly or not. I put them through Helicon Focus for stacking and then I processed the output in LightRoom. There was not a lot of processing of this image in LightRoom. I later converted it for a black and white contest on ViewBug. For what it is worth this is a major crop of an image that is exceptionally sharp. This image prints well at 16 X 20 as you can see the detail in the eye, at 8 X 10 this looks smooth and nowhere near as good. I am not talking just the head but the entire bug. So for my entry I cropped out the body.

In my camera bag

For what it is worth I don't usually use a camera bag. I have numerous ones and I have tried all kinds of styles from companies like Domke, Pelican Tamrac, LowePro etc. What I have ended up with is I store everything in an individual case. I have no particular favorite brand. I have lens cases from LowePro, Thinktank, and some Chinese ones as well. I put a tag on the lens case so I will know what is in it as they are all black and some are the same size. I then put what I want to take in a Stanley Fatmax box. The Faxmax boxes are tool boxes with a weather proof seal. They are similar to a Pelican case only much lighter and 10 percent of the cost. They are not the quality of a Pelican case but I don't need a pressure relief valve etc. When I go out to photograph bugs I always bring a flash. Which model really depends upon the mood that I am in. I have a 270 EXII, a 580 EXII, a MT-24 and Canon's Ring Flash. There are positives and negatives for each model. I always use a flash bracket to move the flash closer to the subject. I have numerous ones but what I like the best is a Magic Arm mounted to Custom Brackets Mini CB-RC. For a camera I usually use a Canon 5D MK II. For lenses I always have a 100mm Macro in my bag and either a Canon MP-65 or an old Canon 28-80 (the 28-90 is better but mine broke) and a Novoflex reversing ring. I also have a 24-105 kit lens and a 100-400 lens as well in my box. I don't lug any of this around. I go to the park take a quick look around to see what is available to shoot. I then pull out what I want from the trunk of my car. If I am not shooting bugs and have to walk to some location I just pull out what I want and put it in a light weight nylon backpack. For what it is worth I attended a workshop in Maine a couple of years ago and was laughed at as I was using my daughters old purple, white and black Jansport backpack from middle school. No one would steal a bag like this and everything inside was very well protected. Second I only carried what I needed to make the shot, an extra wide angle lens, filters etc. not items that would be useless to me on that shoot. Others had numerous lenses in very well padded massive backpacks and they never used any of it yet they were lugging it down to the site.

Feedback

Although this shot is a focus stack and I sell a manual on how to do it, you can get amazing shots without stacking. To me hand held focus stacks are something eventually you need to learn to do if you want to photograph bugs. However, if you say I am going to go out and shoot a stack today you maybe disappointed as only certain circumstances make it a good choice or even possibility. I have written a little manual on how to photograph live bugs. It is free and posted on www.macroshooting.com. It is called "Three days to Better Bug Photography" In a nut shell it will tell you most of what you read online about photographing live bugs is not true. Most was written by pros that have never done it, or done it well on a consistent basis. Do not read this manual and say "Oh I know that, I'm not going to do the exercise", if you do you won't get better. You really need to do the exercises to prove these things to yourself. I assure you it is not the equipment it is you. I can get a shots like this one with an old $40 lens and a reverse adapter. (I actually have) Or even better is a reversed Nikon Enlarger lens on a bellows, killer quality but more difficult to master. What you need to understand to do this is that you need to have absolutely, positivity no camera movement at all and the camera has to be at the perfect angle. The perfect angle is really a "Magic Angle" as DOF is virtually non-existent with increased magnification. Because of the non-existent DOF you need to manually focus and put the top, bottom, left and right plane of focus on the perfect spot. This comes with practice, not from auto focus. The no camera movement comes from the flash and the line "Flash stops all camera movement" is not correct at all and I can easily prove it. For consistent good shots you really need to be at about a 1/4 or less flash power.

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