Do No Harm

[John K]

The death of one insect creature for photo: that is a catastrophe! One hundred thousand deaths by poisons in nature: that is a statistic.

A variation of another famous quote. Kill one person and you're a murderer, kill a million and you're a revolutionary -or something to that effect. The main point is that killing a subject for a photo just sends the wrong message -like giving away your photos for an image credit. The net worth of both is zero...

do you mow your lawn ?

Don

Absolutely. But I don't then photograph what I chop up with the mower...

 

[Donald B]

The death of one insect creature for photo: that is a catastrophe! One hundred thousand deaths by poisons in nature: that is a statistic.

A variation of another famous quote. Kill one person and you're a murderer, kill a million and you're a revolutionary -or something to that effect. The main point is that killing a subject for a photo just sends the wrong message -like giving away your photos for an image credit. The net worth of both is zero...

do you mow your lawn ?

Don

Absolutely. But I don't then photograph what I chop up with the mower...

you need to think out side the square how other people take their extreme macro shots without killing them, Im certainly not going to tell how i do it, just like my pro dance shoots. some set ups take months of practice and hundreds of hours to perfect im not going to share that in a 5 sec post. no pain no gain

Don

 

[Donald B]

this is an impressive set. fov down to 2mm

Don























--
Olympus EM5mk2 ,EM1mk2

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/9412035244

past toys. k100d, k10d,k7,fz5,fz150,500uz,canon G9, Olympus xz1 em5mk1

 

[John K]

you need to think out side the square how other people take their extreme macro shots without killing them, Im certainly not going to tell how i do it, just like my pro dance shoots. some set ups take months of practice and hundreds of hours to perfect im not going to share that in a 5 sec post. no pain no gain

Don

Take a look at my gallery Don, links in my signature, and tell me if you really think you have any macro related secrets that I don't know... Plenty of people out there shooting active to hyperactive subjects, some of them doing it hand held (some of them focus stacking). Not that tough, it's just muscle memory and mechanics and anyone can do it. You're not special...

 

[Luisifer]

You use quite often word extreme (in your links). Did you tried to take results in 20:1 with live (even steady) creatures?

 

[John K]

You use quite often word extreme (in your links). Did you tried to take results in 20:1 with live (even steady) creatures?

No, and for the same reason that I don't shoot at 5x often. It's really difficult to photograph a subject at high magnification and at the same time end up with an image that works from a composition perspective. If I photograph a bee I want the viewer to be able to recognize that it's a bee. At 4x with some subjects I'm almost shooting abstracts.

I also don't think of high magnification macro as being extreme, especially since there are microprocessor controlled focusing rails available that do most of the real work for a stack. To me extreme is photographing a live subject that's in motion and pulling off a usable composition without cropping in post (I never crop in post). Like this shot at 2x:

Or this shot at 4x:

Hand held, one frame, no cropping...

--
Also known as Dalantech
My Book: http://nocroppingzone.blogspot.com/2010/01/extreme-macro-art-of-patience.html
My Blog: http://www.extrememacro.com
My gallery: http://www.johnkimbler.com
Macro Tutorials: http://dalantech.deviantart.com/gallery/4122501/Tutorials
Always minimal post processing and no cropping -unless you count the viewfinder...

 

[John K]

If it was alive then you got lucky -all of the ants that I photograph here will jump as soon as the flash fires.

--
Also known as Dalantech
My Book: http://nocroppingzone.blogspot.com/2010/01/extreme-macro-art-of-patience.html
My Blog: http://www.extrememacro.com
My gallery: http://www.johnkimbler.com
Macro Tutorials: http://dalantech.deviantart.com/gallery/4122501/Tutorials
Always minimal post processing and no cropping -unless you count the viewfinder...

 

[Luisifer]

For bigger species is quite more difficult discipline - stack and stitch (i would like to be better that way).

But there are species that are a lot more smaller than bees. For example here is one of my first shooting for one entomologist. It is his catched and prepared beetle of very unique specie. Full frame without cropping:


only small resolution because of i don't know if he already publicate article with those photos

And 100% crop from this stack:



This specie is about one milimeter in longer dimension. So it is about 21x mag.

 

[John K]

For bigger species is quite more difficult discipline - stack and stitch (i would like to be better that way).

But there are species that are a lot more smaller than bees. For example here is one of my first shooting for one entomologist. It is his catched and prepared beetle of very unique specie. Full frame without cropping:


only small resolution because of i don't know if he already publicate article with those photos

And 100% crop from this stack:



This specie is about one milimeter in longer dimension. So it is about 21x mag.

Good job pulling that kind of detail out of such a small specimen!

I remember watching a video a while back of a photographer that went to a museum that had a large dead insect collection. He cleaned the critters he wanted to shoot and then panno focus stacked them -took an ungodly number of frames. Not sure how many weeks he spent working on each image, but the end results were really good.



--
Also known as Dalantech
My Book: http://nocroppingzone.blogspot.com/2010/01/extreme-macro-art-of-patience.html
My Blog: http://www.extrememacro.com
My gallery: http://www.johnkimbler.com
Macro Tutorials: http://dalantech.deviantart.com/gallery/4122501/Tutorials
Always minimal post processing and no cropping -unless you count the viewfinder...

 

[Luisifer]

But it is dead. And that entomologist had small box "full" of that beetles because of he studies them. And i just cannot imagine that some (non commerce) photographer will build any device to take photo of that beetle alive. (maybe in the (far) future)

Btw.: mentioned man:

 

[John K]

But it is dead. And that entomologist had small box "full" of that beetles because of he studies them. And i just cannot imagine that some (non commerce) photographer will build any device to take photo of that beetle alive. (maybe in the (far) future)

Btw.: mentioned man:

Definitely dead, but at least the photographer had some good composition skills and understood light and how the camera sees it.

 

[Leswick II]

Although I get what you are saying, and even if we remove all the car windshields or bumpers, many billions of bugs would crash into our faces.

 

[John K]

Although I get what you are saying, and even if we remove all the car windshields or bumpers, many billions of bugs would crash into our faces.

I know

Actually you're example is part of my concern. Between Naples and Gaeta (Italy) there is an elevated highway that passes through about 40 kilometers of farmland. About a decade ago while driving down that highway I'd almost use up all my window washing fluid trying to clean off all of the insects on my car window. Today I can make that same trip and I don't need to wash my window even once...

 

[n3eg]

So it's unethical for me to photograph killing bugs with a Raid/lighter flamethrower?

 

[Donald B]

you need to think out side the square how other people take their extreme macro shots without killing them, Im certainly not going to tell how i do it, just like my pro dance shoots. some set ups take months of practice and hundreds of hours to perfect im not going to share that in a 5 sec post. no pain no gain

Don

Take a look at my gallery Don, links in my signature, and tell me if you really think you have any macro related secrets that I don't know... Plenty of people out there shooting active to hyperactive subjects, some of them doing it hand held (some of them focus stacking). Not that tough, it's just muscle memory and mechanics and anyone can do it. You're not special...

the thing is john as your not using the same system as me other wise you would be sharing it and i haven't seen anything to show you are.

Don

 

[John K]

So it's unethical for me to photograph killing bugs with a Raid/lighter flamethrower?

I won't argue the ethics of it, but I do think that it sets a bad example. Not sure if you'd find an audience for the images, but rule 34...

 

[John K]

you need to think out side the square how other people take their extreme macro shots without killing them, Im certainly not going to tell how i do it, just like my pro dance shoots. some set ups take months of practice and hundreds of hours to perfect im not going to share that in a 5 sec post. no pain no gain

Don

Take a look at my gallery Don, links in my signature, and tell me if you really think you have any macro related secrets that I don't know... Plenty of people out there shooting active to hyperactive subjects, some of them doing it hand held (some of them focus stacking). Not that tough, it's just muscle memory and mechanics and anyone can do it. You're not special...

the thing is john as your not using the same system as me other wise you would be sharing it and i haven't seen anything to show you are.

Don

Why would I want to use the same system as you? People have been recognizing my images, without seeing my name next to them, for over a decade.

If you want to know what I use, how I use it, etc. the links are in my signature. Plus I post technique, gear, and settings with every image in my gallery . I'm not afraid to share what I know...

 

[Donald B]

you need to think out side the square how other people take their extreme macro shots without killing them, Im certainly not going to tell how i do it, just like my pro dance shoots. some set ups take months of practice and hundreds of hours to perfect im not going to share that in a 5 sec post. no pain no gain

Don

Take a look at my gallery Don, links in my signature, and tell me if you really think you have any macro related secrets that I don't know... Plenty of people out there shooting active to hyperactive subjects, some of them doing it hand held (some of them focus stacking). Not that tough, it's just muscle memory and mechanics and anyone can do it. You're not special...

the thing is john as your not using the same system as me other wise you would be sharing it and i haven't seen anything to show you are.

Don

Why would I want to use the same system as you? People have been recognizing my images, without seeing my name next to them, for over a decade.

If you want to know what I use, how I use it, etc. the links are in my signature. Plus I post technique, gear, and settings with every image in my gallery . I'm not afraid to share what I know...

I use a micro studio glass cube 40mm square and I screw a high quality non reflective lens filter on 1 side and shoot through that. I also move the micro studio not the camera and shoot 20 images with complex lighting in 10 secs some times I get slight movement from the subject but it adds to the image. I shoot at 1/40sec and still the subject with 1/2000 sec flash speeds when im finished my friendly geckos get lunch I also collect subjects and breed them on fruit trees in front of my house . but sometimes the wasps get to them before me :-(

Don

--,EM1mk2
http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/9412035244
past toys. k100d, k10d,k7,fz5,fz150,500uz,canon G9, Olympus xz1 em5mk1

 

[John K]

I use a micro studio glass cube 40mm square and I screw a high quality non reflective lens filter on 1 side and shoot through that. I also move the micro studio not the camera and shoot 20 images with complex lighting in 10 secs some times I get slight movement from the subject but it adds to the image. I shoot at 1/40sec and still the subject with 1/2000 sec flash speeds when im finished my friendly geckos get lunch I also collect subjects and breed them on fruit trees in front of my house . but sometimes the wasps get to them before me :-(

Don

Sounds like a cool setup!

The wasps have been robbing me of lethargic subjects -Mrs. found a nest in one of our trees this morning and yes, I'm gonna remove it. Too close to the house. Won't be shooting the aftermath though

Video of my current rig and lighting setup -nothing fancy. I keep the gear to a minimum and let the subject dictate how I'm going to photograph it. Allows me to shoot under a wide range of conditions.

 

[gardenersassistant]

I use a micro studio glass cube 40mm square and I screw a high quality non reflective lens filter on 1 side and shoot through that. I also move the micro studio not the camera and shoot 20 images with complex lighting in 10 secs some times I get slight movement from the subject but it adds to the image. I shoot at 1/40sec and still the subject with 1/2000 sec flash speeds when im finished my friendly geckos get lunch I also collect subjects and breed them on fruit trees in front of my house . but sometimes the wasps get to them before me :-(

Don

Sounds like a cool setup!

The wasps have been robbing me of lethargic subjects -Mrs. found a nest in one of our trees this morning and yes, I'm gonna remove it. Too close to the house. Won't be shooting the aftermath though

Video of my current rig and lighting setup -nothing fancy. I keep the gear to a minimum and let the subject dictate how I'm going to photograph it. Allows me to shoot under a wide range of conditions.

Very informative video John. Thanks for posting that.

Interesting about multiple thin layers; that's the conclusion I came to too. To cool down the centre I have some extra diffusion in the centre as the bottom layer nearest to the flash head. That layer is expanded polystyrene. The other layers are some sort of "plastic paper" that came out best in my tests of various options (vellum paper, tracing paper, rigid plastic sheet, bubble wrap etc) in terms of diffusion to light loss ratio. The local store I got it from (now shut down unfortunately) were a bit vague as to exactly what it was and I never did manage to identify it. After lots of experimentation over the years I've settled down to using this setup for three years now.













--
Nick
Summary of photo activity and output since 2007 https://fliesandflowers.blogspot.com/2019/01/when-i-retired-in-2006-i-had-it-in-mind.html
Flickr image collections http://www.flickr.com/photos/gardenersassistant/collections/