Super Macro Images

[Horus]

I was having a mess around yesterday with some Foxglove flowers and taking some 'super' macro's so thought you may like a look. Both are taken by cutting away the front part of the flower tube to reveal the stamens, it is this part that will touch the Bumble Bees back as it sips the nectar and in the process some pollen grains get transferred to other flowers and some gets deposited back again from other flowers and cross pollination takes place and in this way the flower is fertilised.

In this image you can see the Stamens topped by the pollen bearing Anthers of the unfertilised flower, the Anthers in this image are about the size of the eye of a sewing needle, so the magnification is very high, the grainy bits are pollen grains.



This is another flower that has already been pollinated and the seeds are starting to form inside the swollen Anthers.

[Grandad]

Great stuff H Was that with your indexing rig and what camera did you use?
Very impressive.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Grandad said it for me - VERY impressive and actually very interesting with the foxgloves. Nice balance of spots and colour on the throats too.

[Horus]

A bit of both Grandad, I did use the indexing rig, but I used it manually to move it in and out and do the actual focussing. The reason being that my camera club buddy asked if we could continue to do something together while the club meetings were on our 3 month Summer break, so each week I try to teach him something new or run through some camera functions or camera methods with him and last Thursday the topic I chose was Macro. So the rig was still in my conservatory the following day and I decided to have a closer look at the Foxglove flowers in my garden.

I don’t claim to be any sort of expert and if its at all possible he knows even less than I do, so I pass on any tips I can give him and he says that he learns a lot more from me than he does at the club so I don’t mind. We usually turn it into a trip out somewhere and the previous week we did some landscape stuff and finished up in a ‘Real Ale’ pub along with Little Annie (who came along for a walk) for a couple of pints to finish the evening off.



The week before we did the ‘misty/milky water’ thing.



Oh and yes, I used my Fuji X-S1 for all these images.

[Grandad]

I like the flowing water exposure method, after all, who ever saw a waterfall with still water I don't think I have ever stopped the water flow with a high shutter speed so maybe I should to see what it looks like (just thinking out loud)

Your landscape is very strong and dramatic....is it HDR? A competition entry methinks

[Horus]

Thanks for the comments folks
Yes Grandad it has a very slight HDR effect, but the image itself was taken quite late in the afternoon hence the excellent slanting light comming in from the left that lite up the hillside and cast a deep shadow across the field below, I also used a circular polarising filter to get the sky better.
As to the water, I am being a bit dim today, did you mean you like the water in your images to be static ie. frozen, or do you like the misty/milky effect? as not everyone does.

[Grandad]

Sorry H I didn't put it very well.
My point was that you do not see still water at a water fall so can it be right to photograph it with a fast shutter to stop the movement? I like to see the mistyness of the moving water but if the exposure is too long then it becomes too milky. One of those situations where several settings for exposure are necessary IMO to get the best looking image.

Returning to your macros, I don't have macro lenses on my Nikon but the Fuji X10 has good macro capability. But so far I have not yet explored it to the full. In EXR mode it copes well with the whole range of distances, even some close ups, but I need to set up on the tripod to try something like you have produced.

Something else to do, I don't know how I found time to go to work before I retired

[Horus]

You definately need stability for macro work Grandad, I have enogh trouble with wide angle
OK now I understand your perspective on the water As you say you do need to experiment with exposure times to get the effect you want, I often use ND filters to give me more control.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Love the mountains photo H. Beautiful and very dramatic!!

[Kiya]

Great pics with your close-up & love the landscapes

[LovelyLadyLux]

With macro shots I understand how you can set up the camera so that it doesn't move but how do you get the subject to remain still? I really do like macro photography. Something along the lines of being a kid when I got a microscope as a Christmas present and was able to look at my hair and a grain of salt - introduced me to a whole new world.

[Horus]

That can be the biggest problem LLL, it is almost impossible with live objects and a fast trigger finger and a lot of luck comes into it. There are some tricks of the trade such as putting insects into the fridge for 10 minutes or so to make them sluggish, it rarely harms them and they recover quite well afterwards. I never kill anything just to photograph it as it goes against my principles, in fact I never harm any insects I just put them elsewhere, I reckon I must have been a Jain in another life (no, not a girl, the religion ).

When taking images such as flowers you really do have to eliminate all the movement otherwise the image will be blurred. To do this I will use cork message board pins to stick in them and attach that to a stand using ‘Blue Tack’ or similar. With insects they are always dead ones that I find here and there, some I can balance on a pin and others I may bend a paper clip into the shape I want and then use a dot of super glue to attach it then stick that into a lump of Blue Tack. Its all very primitive and each subject gets a different treatment, but they all end up on a little adjustable pedestal that I made and that is how I get my primary focus by sliding this up and down or in and out, its after that when the precision movement comes into play.

So there you go, in the interests of photography I am giving away all my trade secrets.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Macro does depend on everything being absolutely stone still. I've never photographed a dead insect and am not sure I want to even touch them to stick 'em with a pin or super glue etc. Course I have no problem at all swatting a fly with a swatter and probably after that it isn't worth photographing Don't mind bugs but I don't want to touch them.

I've tried with some flowers and while it can be a stone dull day without a spiff of wind the second I bring the camera out a gale comes up

Out to the backyard now with my book and camera and maybe to get some good shots of the hummers!

[Jayway]

Love to see a photo of one of your swatted flies, LLL .. be like abstract art ?

[Horus]

Here you are Jay you can see a not so dead fly of mine

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[LovelyLadyLux]

The shiney green almost makes him pretty (almost)

[Horus]

We call them 'Green Bottles' we also have another version the 'Blue Bottle'

[Grandad]

Just had a sneaky peak at your Flickr album H. All I can say is WOW! You have been hiding some of your best pictures from us. I suggest that friends here follow the link on your green bottle and be amazed.

[Ruby Slippers]

The iridescence of that fly is wonderfully photographed!

[Horus]

You are being far to generous Grandad, I make all of my Flickr stuff public so don't mind who views it as long as no one nicks it . Did you view all the albums Grandad or just the Macro one?
The good thing about Flickr is the image quality that you see, knocks spots off most forum posted images.