R7 macro and close-up shots, RF 100 Macro and RF 100-500

A few shots from a busy weekend. I happened to come across some of my favorite macro subjects, specifically adult antlions. I don't see many of them, and coming across two in one weekend was a nice surprise.

I have two main species that I see, the first has some of the most interesting eyes on any insect that I've seen in my area. The second has very different colored eyes, but much more iridescent colors in the wings, and they both have pretty unique "clubbed" antennas.

One nice thing about ant lions is that they settle in to a "perch" and don't like to move once they are there, so if you don't startle them they're great subjects to get a few un-rushed shots of.

Then I was able to make it out to the local butterfly conservatory and take a few shots there as well. The RF 100-500 with the R7 is a great combination for the larger insects like this. I can keep a fair distance from them, but still fill the frame with the FOV that the combination provides.

These were all taken hand held with the electronic shutter

I use time behind the camera as a way to get out from behind my desk, and get out of the house in general. I try not to spend more time editing these then necessary so I'm sure there are imperfections to them. If they look good when viewing them full screen on my monitor then I'm happy and usually call it quits at that point.

Beautiful critters.  Love those eyes!  Thanks for sharing.

R2

JayLT4 wrote:

I try not to spend more time editing these then necessary so I'm sure there are imperfections to them. If they look good when viewing them full screen on my monitor then I'm happy and usually call it quits at that point.

Yes, as someone noted in another thread, I'm sure they are pretty terrible.  You obviously need a better camera.  When you get it, you can just send this one to me.

Seriously, these are very well done.  I am especially impressed with the natural lighting, which shows great tonality and modeling, and is sufficient to show great detail in all the important places.  I'm not sure whether to ascribe that to the camera, to skill, the lighting, or all of the above.

Cameleon wrote:

Thanks for sharing those beautiful photos. Built in focus stacking in EOS R7 really helps a lot.

Thanks! The focus bracketing in the R7, like the R5 can be very handy to have. I still need to do it manually when using a flash if the light isn't there, but other then that it can make the process a lot easier.

R2D2 wrote:

Beautiful critters. Love those eyes! Thanks for sharing.

R2

Thanks! Antlions certainly have some unique eyes, at least for the insects in my area

ThrillaMozilla wrote:

JayLT4 wrote:

I try not to spend more time editing these then necessary so I'm sure there are imperfections to them. If they look good when viewing them full screen on my monitor then I'm happy and usually call it quits at that point.

Yes, as someone noted in another thread, I'm sure they are pretty terrible. You obviously need a better camera. When you get it, you can just send this one to me.

Seriously, these are very well done. I am especially impressed with the natural lighting, which shows great tonality and modeling, and is sufficient to show great detail in all the important places. I'm not sure whether to ascribe that to the camera, to skill, the lighting, or all of the above.

Clearly a new camera is required, if anyone wants to contribute to an R3-fund maybe, just maybe, I can work on getting something better!

The lighting is a lot of work for the antlions, getting good detail in the eye but not washing everything else out can be tricky.  Thankfully they are (usually) very cooperative to me moving around.  For the  butterflies, well you take what you can get!

Thanks!

BlueRay2 wrote:

beautiful subjects and nice work. thanks for sharing.

Thanks, I liked how they came out.  I don't see many antlions throughout the summer so I almost always take the opportunity to get a shot when I can.  Some just work out better then others.  In this case one of my sage bused was blooming and allowed for a lot of purple to be added.