Egypt4u

I tried to open the URL and while it got me to Flickr it also got me to an Asian site. Wasn't connecting for me.

Just browsed the macros and a few photoshop creations H but could see that others will be interesting from the thumbnails. Will be back for a closer look. I am also on flickr but joined mainly for the reason you mention, the uploads are much better than on forums and I think it was Bigken that introduced me to flickr. Can't even remember if I have anything posted there, must have a look when I look at more of your pics....

My username is johnjordan1 by the way

Had a browse on the tablet H after I had gone to bed Some we have seen but many we have not. Something that I note in particular is that you seem to get more brightness and colour in your pictures than I do. Any tips on achieving that? Is it phtoshop post treatment or do you use polarisers a lot?

Some really good pictures in there

Grandad, I only ever upload images that I am happy with, so they are either pleasing to me to start with or I make them so. Depending upon which images you mean then I suppose most have been tweaked in some way, very few images are great straight out of the camera (at least mine aren't) and in the same way that old school dark room guys would make them better then I would do the same in PhotoShop or similar. I mainly adjust the Brightness/Contrast and maybe a bit of sharpening, I never tweak the colour into something it is not, unless it’s a PS creation or similar. I very rarely use filters of any kind other than ND and CPL’s and usually keep my ‘film type’ as standard.

Now that you have seen them all I will have nothing new to post on here.

Horus, I don't want to take this topic away from your subject but to follow up your points, a bit of sharpening is something I do on almost every picture. In my opinion digital images never seem to match the old roll film prints on fine grain film. I expect a top end camera would achieve much nearer to what I am referring to. Having said that I do only use a minimum amount to sharpen up a picture.
I have a set of ND filters but have never used them and to be honest I don't really understand why they would be necessary, other than to increase exposure time. A little bit of your wisdom here would be appreciated

Nothing really to impart other than what you already know and that is you can increase exposure times and that can be useful, so you can use that to your advantage at times, smokey and milky water, car trails, capturing lightning etc.

Encouraged by Horus's super macros both here and on flickr, I thought it about time I tried the macro function on my Fuji. Something I have not tried before. The hypericum bush was the most convenient so I tried a few hand held at the bush. I still need to make a rig but the results have encouraged me to do just that. The example flower is 5 to 6cm across so you can get an idea of how small the stamens and little bugs really are.

Thats pretty good for hand held Grandad Take a look at this link to a 'Slider Rail' this will be a great help and it is as cheap as chips.

Dont bother comparing the others of the same type as they are all made at the same place, just different prices and this is the cheapest of them. If you use it on your tripod you should be able to get some great macro's.

Not exactly the same but the same idea and on Amazon.com HERE (USA) for $19.99 which is about half.



Great photos and really great Grandad for hand held. I find macro really interesting and love seeing the more highly detailed aspects of what I'm not seeing with my own eyes.

I have that indexing rail H, and have used it for anaglyphs. Mine is marked iShoot Photographic but, as you say they are all identical and probably come from the same manufacturer. Those little beetle things were only about 2mm long so I was quite encouraged by the hand held results.

That Neewer stuff is good value I have a few items supplied by them

My 3m cable release for the Nikon came from them Horus, under a tenner delivered from Hong Kong. About a third the Nikon price.

Back to macros. I had a visitor outback this afternoon who seemed to be trying to hide under the stone chips between the slabs. On close inspection of my pics he seems to have lost his long middle leg on his right side.
I have been trying to identify him but it seems bees come in many variations even within the same species. Nearest I have got is Common Carder Bee or White Tailed Bumblebee.



Hand held of course and dof is not too good but I am working on a crude table rig.

Nice pictures Grandad the macro is very good on your new camera.

I think that you may have ‘Bombus Hypnorum’ or a ‘Tree’ Bumble Bee and probably a female. The Queens can have some yellow hairs on the abdomen and males (a lot smaller) may have some yellow on the face. Ginger thorax, black abdomen with a white tip is the usual coloration, often they nest in bird boxes.

Good photos Grandad. Am thinking all those teeny tiny yellow bits on him are pollen?

I am sure you are correct with your identification Horus, thanks for that I also found a site where they are tracking the spread of these bees since they first appeared in the UK in 2001. I have added my sighting and picture.
Thanks again

Good macro pics Grandad

I don't think I would hang around too long to get them

They are spreading quite well I believe, up as far as Scotland, so keep your camera handy Kiya

Yikes!! I think the only flying things I would take is birds,choppers or planes like this one I got yesterday just before it disappeared behind the clouds.

Good one!!

Well, I said it would be crude but I needed something to try some Horus type macros. Needs some refinement but a sheet of conti board, a cheap hobbies vice from Lidl that I never used, a quick release plate from a broken tripod, the slider from Hong Kong, an hour in my workshop and bingo I have something resembling a macro slide. Clamped it to my desk and the only thing to hand to try was my ball pen.... Will try something more adventurous in due course.

The Set up


My first effort without any lighting


Now, where can I find some dead flys