Tack Gary Mellinus arvensis
Nov, 2011Views
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karen11571
March 13, 2012
I dont think I have EVER seen a macro pic that is as PHENOMINAL as this is! Bravo!!
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andspran
March 13, 2012
This is remarkable. Fantastic job! I don't do Macro photography and am amazed at the sharpness and clarity of these close up shots. May I ask the technical aspects of this shot? What lens did you use? Great job!
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This hyper macro image is created in the studio.Time
This image was shot at 10pm approx. I usually shoot my hyper macro image of an evening and post process them during the day light hours.Lighting
This specimen was shot in a studio environment at f5.6. To produce hyper macro images it is essential to use plenty of light. For the lighting of this image I used three Elinchrom 100 studio light heads on stands fitted with 62cm soft-boxes. I placed one light 35cm to the left of the subject and one to the right. The third light was placed 60cm directly above and facing down on to the subject. All three lights were triggered using a radio trigger fitted to each light. This system is excellent for illuminating unwanted shadows.Equipment
To create this shot I used a Nikon D300 camera body with a 60mm Nikon micro lens mounted on a Nikon DB6 bellows system attached to a Stack-Shot focus rail and mounted on a tripod. The subject was placed in a white environment and lit using three studio light heads fitted with soft-boxes and a radio trigger system.Inspiration
Whilst out and about with my camera I observed this wasp catch its prey. I was struck immediately with the thought of creating an image of the decisive moment when the wasp pounces and captures the fly.Editing
This image is a composite made of two elements, the wasp and the fly. The two specimens were shot separately under similar lighting conditions. Each image is made up of 80 separate images and is stacked in Photoshop to produce one image with 100% in focus from front to back. The images were then married up in Photoshop. To achieve this I first removed the back ground on both images using the eraser tool. I then made a copy of the fly image and saved it. I then moved the wasp image on top of the fly image. I wasn’t entirely happy with the composition as the legs of the fly needed some adjustment. To adjust this I imported the image of the fly that I had saved earlier and erased the body of the fly leaving just the legs. I clicked on the fly and wasp image and erased the legs of the fly. I clicked back onto the fly image and moved a leg onto the fly and wasp image placed it where I wanted it and repeated the process until I had achieved what I thought to be the most pleasing and realistic composition. I then flattened and saved. The composition was right but the tonal value of the fly was slightly different to that of the wasp, to correct this I used a layer mask of about 3% applied with the brush tool to save the integrity of the white background. Then I made fine adjustments using curves and finished the process using the dodging and burning tool where necessary and flattened the image before sharpening and saving.In my camera bag
I carry in my bag a Nikon D3x camera body, a Nikon 60mm micro lens, a Nikon 15-80mmVR lens, a Nikon twin wireless macro speed light kit, a Nikon SB-800 speed light, several memory cards two spare camera batteries, spare batteries for both speed lights, a Joby gorilla pod, remote shutter relies, a lens cloth and a camera cleaning cloth, a small fish-tank net for catching insects some specimen tubes and some IDFeedback
My overriding advice to others wishing to create images like this is to have a great deal of patience. You will also need – • An in depth knowledge of – • The subject matter in order to achieve accurate results. • Knowledge of lighting • Photoshop and the ability to use it creatively • Use of a pen and tablet • Art and a flair for detail and composition Above all you need an eye for a good shot and a computer with enough RAM to handle large quantities of images at one time.
