Macro '0n-the-wing' shots

[Rosti]

I am not talking about 'static' or near static macro photography but high speed / in-flight subjects. The method I am using for on the wing definately has a very high proportion of luck involved and hence a low sucess rate. A few tolerable snaps but as far as getting good movement Macro's I have a zero success rate so far (3rd year of trying).

Any tips from those who have cracked 'on-the-wing' macro's would be greatly appreciated. Alternatively a debating thread to develop, trial and report techniques would be equally welcomed.

My normal 'static insect' technique is to stop down as far as I dare (for the conditions), set to high speed shutter, manual focus right down at the bottom end of the range and then get subject in sights and 'rock' the camera through the focal point whilst shooting, this with a 100mm fixed focal length macro lens.

..... but ..... useless on the wing!

All my favoured and successful sports photography methods are not reliable at the macro end of things. Giving increased distance from the subject can achieve a focussed result but without the fine detail and it's not a true macro in my book (just a crop), so I am not counting this as a valid strategy.

Thoughts much appreciated. R

P.S. I only have the 1 macro lens and at 2.8 it's not that fast, but that's what I have to work with!

 

[beeboybee]

I have seen some great results with a ring flash on the lens. Try wherehouse express.com fir good prices and macro tips

 

[Hombre]

Probably not a lot of use, but many years ago I had a passing interest in macro photography and acquired a set of extension tubes. Many years later I had a 450mm Soligor F8 lens and found that I could focus nearer by dropping one of the extension rings behind it.

Instead of putting tubes behind a regular lens, would it be practical to put them behind a telephoto lens of some sort to give you the same sort of magnification at a slightly greater distance with an increase in depth of field, or it this entirely impractical?

I guess cameras have moved on from fixed extension tubes for the poor that can't afford bellows

 

[susbees]

All my favoured and successful sports photography methods are not reliable at the macro end of things.

Exactly! I have had many in-focus wingless wonders. Interesting thread...

 

[tidymeup]

I think the key is light so as mentioned earlier in the threat something like a ring flash would work well or they make a mount for twin flashes mounted to the lens.

With the extra light you can get quicker shutter speeds and play with your aperture a little more.

 

[Rosti]

Thanks for the replies all. I have a macro ring flash and you guys are right, it does speed up the shutter so you can freeze frame but you do get some colour depth loss though and on the plus-side wings come to life, on the downside you loose definition from compound eyes with a flash. My biggest problem is actually tracking the little devils in flight to get them within both viewing arc and focal depth of field (assuming you are right at the 1:1 end of things and hence on manual focus). I have tried using the live view facility on the body but Lady luck still has more influence over my performance than I do! The result zilch on the wing shots that I'd be proud to share.

Back to my original question "any pet tricks to increase the odds in our favour?"

 

[Winker]

I will try get some this week, time depending.

I will try with a tripod 100mm 2.8 Macro lens and a 580EX speedlite flash firing from behind the lens.

Method:

Spray and Pray!

You need to set the camera up at a position you know bees will come to. If you use a true macro lens at an aperture of 2.8, you cant afford to be chasing anything around. Your depth of focus will be very small and you need to keep the camera as steady as possible or the shot will be a blur. even with apertures of above 2.8 your depth of focus is not large enough to be running around.

So you need a tripod and a place you know the bees will be.

You will have to use some form of flash, ring flash or mounted behind the lens. You need to freeze that moment in time and the only way to do it is with a flash.

So i would sit the tripod at the hive entrance and just start firing off shots as fast as your flash can recycle

If you feel that depth of colour is lost with the flash use Photoshop to bring everything back to the way you seen it. Post processing is just as important as pushing the button to fire the camera.

Don't worry about trying to frame your shot, you can do that in Photoshop too.

 

[Rosti]

Winker I am a fully paid up (founding) member of the spray and pray club! Sounds like we are both Canon bods, same lens as well. I have a 580 but I am running a MR 14 ring for macro work. I feel a cable release purchase coming on, just realised that my blunt proding of the take button won't be helping things. R

 

[SER]

I feel a cable release purchase coming on, just realised that my blunt proding of the take button won't be helping things. R

Macro isn't my thing so can't help you there but the great thing about the canon dslr cable release is they use 2.5mm stereo jacks with one wire to ground acting as the autofocus/metering 'half press' and the other to ground to open the shutter 'full press'

So if you are handy with a soldering iron you can knock up alsorts of cable releases

I have a wireless one made from a car alarm type key fob and a couple of pressure pad type triggers for remote shots of bird feeders etc.

Si.

 

[barratt_sab]

You could try trap focussing (sorry if this is one of the tricks you've already tried).

I know how to set this up on a Nikon, but not on Canon; the Wikipedia Autofocus article has a reference to how to get different Canon models to trap focus.

I guess you'd still need a flash to capture the motion.

You might also need quite a bit of patience waiting for a bee to get into the focus zone, unless you could find some way of restricting their flight path to make them more reliable subjects.

Here's a discussion on the topic:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/nikon_d300s_users/discuss/72157625956088524/

 

[Winker]

Winker I am a fully paid up (founding) member of the spray and pray club! Sounds like we are both Canon bods, same lens as well. I have a 580 but I am running a MR 14 ring for macro work. I feel a cable release purchase coming on, just realised that my blunt proding of the take button won't be helping things. R

I would love a Ring Flash, but being a wedding photographer i have loads of kit but not a ring flash. I got a great cable release from fleebay nice and cheep for my canon 40D.

I dont fire the flash directly at the subject, i use the bounce card on the flash to reflect the light, giving you a less harsh finish and more natural colours

 

[Rosti]

Still no success at this end for on-the-wing macro's.

Think I'll sell the house and get one of these babies!

World’s coolest camera setup was designed to shoot insects in-flight. < Link Here >

Manual: http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-p...designed-to-shoot-insects-in-flight-20110529/

 

[Rosti]

Still trying!

Still trying, most success has been to go for natural sun light at about 60 degree to subject. Moderate ISO, high speed (3000+). Flash just could not recover quick enough and threw the background in to an un-naturally dark state. I shot raw to give a degree of manipulation scope and, most importantly, trusted to luck. Must have shot 200o+ plus this morning!

Hive entrance was blocked down to increase traffic in the rough area of macro focus but even so I still only got about 10 half decent shots, these were probably the best of them. Doesn't seem to be a tech alternatuive to patience and if you go beyond about 600 ISO (at least with my camera) you loose definition.

 

[jdee]

You have had better results then me mate - have been trying to get something similar but other then snap the aerial on my remote shutter release gizzmo (By accident) I havent had much luck best part of 3500 shots taken as well. Have been using a cheap ring flash but at a third of the power to try and keep some of the colour in. None as good as your shots and certainly none flying

Rgds

JD

 

[nelletap]

Just amazing photos. I am so envious. How do people manage to illustrate any educational materials they need to create? I have some pretty unamazing pictures of bees gathering pollen amongst plants and you can see seome of their pollen sacs if you concentrate. To be honest, the fact you have to peer is what led me to think about 'Spot the bee' Having laminated the images so they could all point and stare without me running up huge printing costs I thought it would be useful for the children to learn to look for bees amongst plants and differentiate between honeybee and bumble bee and possibly some others. Having close ups of a honey bee and bumble bee so they know what they are looking for would make so much sense. Possibly also decent closeups of a drone though doubt whether kids will get close enough to any live ones to spot the difference.
Then we could use those skills to try and spot what plants are being foraged near to teh apiaries.
Tricia

 

[Headnavigator]

Worth every second of ploughing through the thread to reach those pictures - bloody lovely!

 

[beeatshellards]

fantastic shots ..me , I would have been pleased to have done shots like this , are you a perfectionist ?

 

[Rosti]

fantastic shots ..me , I would have been pleased to have done shots like this , are you a perfectionist ?

possibly, but no point aiming low!
Shot 1: ISO too high making it grainy and shutter speed to high giving too much of a freeze on the wings, does not look natural. Good study, not so good as a picture.
Shot 2: subject not within focal plane and not centred / boardered well enough
Shot 3: aperature too large, insufficient depth of field for angle of subject, wings nice though.

 

[beeatshellards]

hmm... see your point