My ladybug conquests - 12 images, sorry for length.

I joined this forum a little over 6 years ago looking for info on a new DSLR. I bought the 450D four years ago with dreams of becoming a professional photographer and making millions and shooting NFL games and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue models. As of now my dreams remain unfulfilled.

One day I saw a ladybug picture that imqqmi posted and I got a new dream, to take a nice picture of a ladybug. I have been trying for 3 years to get a decent picture of a ladybug. My main problem was finding the blasted critters. This year has been a boon for finding them, just today I had 5 in my backyard while I was taking pictures. Later in the day I went out and found 8. Crazy!!! So, naturally, I went bananas and took about 100 pictures today. I'm still not to the level of imqqmi's ladybug on the blue flowers but I think I'm getting a little closer. It's fun to try anyway.

Here are a few of my pics in my pursuit of the elusive ladybug. There are 12 of them so sorry for making it so long. The one consolation is, I could have made it longer.

That's a great collection of ladybugs, lewynn! I really like the two with the reflections. (And was wondering how you set it up.) That's a very good job on the lighting and DOF with those. I like #11 too with the three ladybugs. Wonder what those two in the foreground are discussing. 

Nick

lewynn wrote:

I joined this forum a little over 6 years ago looking for info on a new DSLR. I bought the 450D four years ago with dreams of becoming a professional photographer and making millions and shooting NFL games and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue models. As of now my dreams remain unfulfilled.

One day I saw a ladybug picture that imqqmi posted and I got a new dream, to take a nice picture of a ladybug.

I see your dream is still unfulfilled. You didn't take a nice picture of a ladybug, you took twelve...

If you want to take a dozen (million) more, you should come to Montreal. They've invaded the city this past week because of the abnormally warm weather for this time of year. You can barely go outside without getting hit in the face. It's gotten so bad that they're "almost" not cute anymore.

I have been trying for 3 years to get a decent picture of a ladybug. My main problem was finding the blasted critters. This year has been a boon for finding them, just today I had 5 in my backyard while I was taking pictures. Later in the day I went out and found 8. Crazy!!! So, naturally, I went bananas and took about 100 pictures today. I'm still not to the level of imqqmi's ladybug on the blue flowers but I think I'm getting a little closer. It's fun to try anyway.

Here are a few of my pics in my pursuit of the elusive ladybug. There are 12 of them so sorry for making it so long. The one consolation is, I could have made it longer.

great set, nice DOF

i good way to attract ladybugs is to plant some milkweed and a fire-bush if your climate allows.

i planted a firebush last year and notice several ladybug larva on it.

the milkweed is a aphid magnate, and the ladybugs are happy to eat on them.

subsequently, the firebush is very popular with butterflies and hummingbirds .

lewynn wrote:

AvyMan wrote:

That's a great collection of ladybugs, lewynn! I really like the two with the reflections. (And was wondering how you set it up.) That's a very good job on the lighting and DOF with those. I like #11 too with the three ladybugs. Wonder what those two in the foreground are discussing.

Hey Nick,

The two with reflections were on different days with different ladybugs. My wife has a shelf under her tv that has some black glass on it. I thought it would be cool to take a picture of something and try to get a nice reflection. Those ladybugs don't sit still for very long and they tend to run away from the stuff I was using as a background. Lucky for me the one on the yellow flower walked over to and climbed over it so I was able to get several pictures with it on the flower. I used my 430 EXII as off camera flash.

Thanks for the explanation on that. Again, nice job--especially with a moving subject.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

You should be. 

Thank you very much for the comment!

You're welcome.

Nick

first word that springs to mind WOW I love the first one, red on white looks so nice.

shk12 wrote:

great set, nice DOF

i good way to attract ladybugs is to plant some milkweed and a fire-bush if your climate allows.

i planted a firebush last year and notice several ladybug larva on it.

the milkweed is a aphid magnate, and the ladybugs are happy to eat on them.

The ladybug or ladybird as we English call them actually milk aphids they use them like we do cattle.

subsequently, the firebush is very popular with butterflies and hummingbirds .

http://www.thebeneficialinsectco.com/aphid-control-ladybugs.htm

"ladybugs can eat up to 1000 aphids a day"

ants milk aphids like cattle

It is so funny because as a young kid, we are taught that ladybugs are nice insects and so when we see them or they jump on us, we do not freak out.  But other bugs less colorful or ones we are not taught to think that way with, if they jump on us, we jump around all crazy screaming "bug, bug!  Get it off me!"  lol.

Hi Lewynn!

Looks very good to me!

Love the water droplets in this one!

The edges of the green leafs contrasts nicely with the soft background, nice ladybug pose and composition

A tighter crop would make this shot even better:

I like the combination if the two, and the reflection works well here:

I like it, but I'd try a bigger diffuser on the flash. I used a milky white diffused plastic bag. Compared to the bug it's like a cloudy sky to it. It will create nice soft highlights

Very nice composition of the three bugs, it's like the two are gossiping about the third

Nice mix of colors. Again I'd use a bigger diffuser.

I've looked through the macro's I shot on the same day as the one with the forget-me-not flowers. Turned out I didn't process one that I like now, and have post processed it and focus stacked (I took two with varying distances).

lewynn wrote:

Thank you very much for all the remarks !

I didn't even think of using a diffuser, I have a little cheapo thing I got on Amazon that would probably help.

Your picture is, once again, amazing! I don't think my camera is able to get the detail that yours gets. Are you using the 7D? When I get big I hope to get the 7D MkII. I like a lot of it's features.

Thanks! The 7D is an amazing camera and the mk II looks to be even better. However, I used the trusty old 40D, and the plastic fantastic 50mm f/1.8 with another nikkor 50mm f/1.8 manual focus lens stuck in front. So not exactly the latest and greatest stuff

I think it's due to post processing that I did that it looks detailed. I post processed in LR, then in Photoshop I did some noise reduction and sharpenening, resized and sharpened some more.

Here's a full description and pictures of the poor-mans setup

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/35342919