liewwk new macro setup (since 27th Nov 2008)

I finally make decision to acquire a MACRO gem len CANON MPE-65... which make me change my system from SONY Alpha to CANON EOS .....it is sad that I can't keep 2 systems but I have to choose or I have no choice to get into EOS world because of the MPE-65mm.

I am happy with my current setup which is

1. CANON EOS 50D
2. Speedlite 580II
3. CANON MPE-65 MACRO
4. SIGMA150mm MACRO
5. Kirk MACRO flash bracket
6. Velbon BallHead
7. Canon Off flash cable
8. customize DIY Diffuser
9. Tamron 1.4 TC

(itemise picture will be share later but overall picture as below)



for more details please refer to my flickr macro rig
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liewwk/sets/72157605664386633/

News - MACRO Collection (started Nov 2008)

I am doing new project started Nov 2008 where

1. start count species that I catch
- different type : number
- same species but different color, sub species

2. and link to my blog where how, when, when to get the species
- what : name (common or scientific)
- how : what need to caution while snap it picture
- when : roughly what is the best time
- where : refer to MALAYSIA and general area that I saw it

1. Fly
1A. Fly
Alpha700, SIGMA180mm, TAMRON 1.4x TC & F56AM Flash with Kirk flash bracket,

1. what : fly
2. where : garden, jungle, housing area
3. when : 8am - 6pm
4. how : - normally can get close to common fly especially mating time
- do not tough the leaf




1B.
Alpha700, SIGMA180mm, TAMRON 1.4x TC & F56AM Flash with Kirk flash bracket,

1. what : fly
2. where : garden, jungle, housing area
3. when : 8am - 6pm
4. how : - normally can get close to common fly especially mating time
- do not tough the leaf

Looking for more MACRO spots

Am looking for places for MACRO as found not much information's for MALAYSIA bug shooter...

this will be only a beginning ... coming weekend 4th/5th Oct 2008 will start get few of spots to share

1. 4th Oct 2008 - Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM)
- went this place many times for natural bugs shooting and portrait shooting
- will share more on the GPS location and what bugs could be find here ....
- pictures can be view from my flickr --> Macro Collection --> 2008 Oct - FRIM (update 7th 10 2008)
- for more information's regard this outing from here

2. 5th Oct 2008 - Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park
- another visitor place
- plan to go with 2 Alphanatics members (shunfa & Kelvinyam)
- pictures can be view from my flickr --> Macro Collection --> 2008 Oct - Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park (update 7th 10 2008)


3. 10th Oct 2008 - Genting Highland

4. 10th Oct 2008 - Hutan Lipur Lentang


5. 11th Oct 2008 - Spring Hill - Port Dickson (coming)

6. 14th Oct 2008 - Kuala Kelawang (coming)


- previous bugs found
i. 2008 Sept - natural pictures @flickr
few best pictures as below


ii. 2008 Jul - natural pictures @flickr

10th Oct 2008 - Hutan Lipur Lentang (Spot 4)

INTRO
Hutan Lipur Lentang or Lentang Recreational Forest (or Lentang Forest Recreational Park) is an ideal getaway, especially for city and town folks, from the hustle and bustle of city life to the calm and serenity of nature and tropical rainforests.

It is a pleasant and cool location for family and company outings, picnics and camping, providing not only recreational enjoyment but educational experience as well.

Hutan Lipur Lentang is accessible from the KL – Karak Highway and is about half an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur. To reach this recreational park, take the highway, and about 15km before reaching Bentong town you will find the signboard for the exit to Lentang.

You can take your car inside, after the entrance, and drive up to the food-stalls area, and park at the designated parking areas. The road follows the stream but to find the source of the waters, you will have to trek and walk further up the forested areas.

I had save the GPS location in my Garmin, anyone really need the actual location. Ping me I will sms you the location.


VERY Interesting outing
where this place is full of bug where, my 1st step down from car a leech already welcome me. I only able to spent 2-3 hours raining outing :(

but many of interesting bugs found (i missed some of it)

but definitely another place I will be revisit

WHY MACRO
Sharing some pictures from this outing

i. very cute spider which pose to me nicely


ii. white color fiery skipper ...


iii. robberfly ...anywhere


iv. stick insect ....


v. frog any where ... sound anywhere

10th Oct 2008 - Genting Highland (Spot 3)

INTRO
went to this 6000 feet famous "City of Entertainment" for half day MACRO outing @2 places.
me & ahli went Gohtong Jaya for breakfast and toward our 1st stop near Awana Staff training camp site which is alaso jogging path too. after the Awana Staff training camp (bugs anywhere), we toward the peak to a hill where army security tower area (no too much bug)

I had save the GPS location in my Garmin, anyone really need the actual location. Ping me I will sms you the location.

here are some pictures from this outing
Interesting outing
where this place is a cold place compare other spots

WHY MACRO
Sharing some pictures from this outing

i. what a nice catch ... i found this guy @ near a stream from 6000 feet above sea level


ii. this caterpillar really look great


iii. 1st time see this color of cricket nymph


iv. it stand at difficult position and only able to shoot few shots of it


v. another rare bug found ..

2008 Oct 5 - Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park (SPOT 2)

INTRO
The Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park houses more than 6,000 butterflies from 120 exotic species. The park is an imitation of the butterfly’s natural habitat. It includes more than 15,000 plants from 100 species that has been painstakingly landscaped to resemble a Malaysia rainforest atmosphere.The details are as below

Open: 9am - 6pm (Daily)
Admission: RM5 (Adults), RM1 (Children) + RM for camera (and advice for 4 hours inside)

went to this park KL Butterfly Park with 2 Alphanatics members (Shunfa & KelvinYam), where they show their interest on MACRO .....by using their tele (SONY 55-200 + Raynox250) and Tokina 100mm MACRO len.

I had save the GPS location in my Garmin, anyone really need the actual location. Ping me I will sms you the location.

here are few best pictures from this outing





more pictures can be view from My Flickr - > 2008 Oct - Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park

Very Interesting Outing
my 1st ever outing have such number butterflies catch

WHY MACRO/Natural
beside location, I will try to do this session for every macro outing to share with people... what u can see with macro photography but not with your's eye

While u shoot macro, u will see some object u will never see with eye without any glass. here was sample...

i. 3:1 beetle which is ~3-5mm in size


ii. you only can see this weird looking fly by MACRO .. which i thought this is an ant for the st place


more MACRO/Natural SPOT will be coming ...................................

How I Shoot MACRO - What Depth of Field (DOF) you have while shooting MACRO

INTRO
Depth of field (DOF) is the portion of a scene that appears sharp in the image.

[source from From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

Precise focus is possible at only one distance; at that distance, a point object will produce a point image.^[1] At any other distance, a point object is defocused, and will produce a blur spot shaped like the aperture, which for the purpose of analysis is usually assumed to be circular. When this circular spot is sufficiently small, it is indistinguishable from a point, and appears to be in focus; it is rendered as “acceptably sharp”. The diameter of the circle increases with distance from the point of focus; the largest circle that is indistinguishable from a point is known as the acceptable circle of confusion, or informally, simply as the circle of confusion. The acceptable circle of confusion is influenced by visual acuity, viewing conditions, and the amount by which the image is enlarged. The increase of the circle diameter with defocus is gradual, so the limits of depth of field are not hard boundaries between sharp and unsharp.

Several other factors, such as subject matter, movement, and the distance of the subject from the camera, also influence when a given defocus becomes noticeable.

some basic formula which related to MACRO/Close-up
Decreasing the focal length f increases the second term in the denominator, decreasing the denominator and increasing the value of the right-hand side, so that a shorter focal length gives greater DOF. The effect of focal length is greatest near the hyperfocal distance, and decreases as subject distance is decreased. However, the near/far perspective will differ for different focal lengths, so the difference in DOF may not be readily apparent. When the subject distance is small in comparison with the hyperfocal distance, the effect of focal length is negligible, and, as noted above, the DOF essentially is independent of focal length.

where N= Aperture number use
c = Circle of Confusion (based on table below for APS-C c=0.018
m = magnification

Circle of confusion diameter limit based on d/1500

Film format	Frame size[1]	CoC
Small Format
Four Thirds System	18 mm × 13.5 mm	0.015 mm
APS-C[2]	22.5 mm × 15.0 mm	0.018 mm
35 mm	36 mm × 24 mm	0.029 mm

e.g. which we normally use
1. 1:1 @ F8
DOF = 2 *8*0.0.18*{2/1}
= 0.576mm

2. 1:1 @ F13
DOF = 2 *13*0.0.18*{2/1}
= 0.936mm

3. 1:1 @ F16
DOF = 2 *16*0.0.18*{2/1}
=1.152mm

4. 1.7:1 @ F13
DOF = 2 *13*0.0.18*{2.7/2.89}
= 0.43mm

5. 1.7:1 @ F16
DOF = 2 *16*0.0.18*{2.7/2.89}
= 0.73mm


4. 2:1 @ F16
DOF = 2*16*0.018*{3/4}
= 0.432mm

5. 2:1 @ F22
DOF = 2*22*0.018*{3/4}
=0.594mm

6. 3:1 @F16
DOF = 2*16*0.018*{4/9}
= 0.256

7. 3:1 @F22
DOF = 2*22*0.018*{4/9}
= 0.352

lOl.. now you know what u have :D


How we Increase MACRO/Closeup DOF

base on the formula above, definitely we can increase the DOF by
1. smaller magnification
- then this could end up you are not doing macro...hmmmm
2. bigger aperture number
- but this could cause Diffraction (loss of sharpness or resolution caused by photographing with small f/stops)

- e.g as below (source from http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/50-comparison/f-stops.htm)

Guide Image.

1.4 AI at f/1.4	1.4 AI at f/2	1.4 AI at f/5.6	1.4 AI at f/16	55 AI-s at f/32

3. picture stacking which I should talk more @ How do I PP MACRO Pictures
- e.g. where I try to stack 2 picture with front focus and back focus while shoot @ KL Butterfly Park with 3:1 where

the DOF should be only

DOF = 2*(11*1.4)*0.018*{4/9}
= 0.2464

i. shot with front focus



ii. shot with back focus



iii. picture stack both together to get the DOF

2008 Oct 4 - FRIM MACRO Outing (SPOT 1)

INTRO
went to this reserve jungle FRIM where locate @Kepong - Selangor - MALAYSIA with 2 Alphanatics members (Shunfa & DannyKhoo), where they show their interest on MACRO .....by using their tele (SONY 55-200 & SIGMA 70300) with my Raynox CM3500.

I had save the GPS location in my Garmin, anyone really need the actual location. Ping me I will sms you the location.

here are some pictures from this outing






QUITE a bore outing
as not much rare bugs found ........ so decide to make some impact or poison call

WHY MACRO
beside location, I will try to do this session for every macro outing to share with people... what u can see with macro photography but not with your's eye

While u shoot macro, u will see some object u will never see with eye without any glass. here was sample...

i. show how small is the spider/objext


ii. this is shooting using MACRO 3:1

Sg Congkak - Ulu Langat - MALAYSIA

9th Sept 2008
- Gear use Alpha700, Minolta 100mm Macro F2.8, Raynox CM3500 or refer My Gears
or as below except len use is Minolta instead SP90



went reserved jungle Sungai Congkak with my MACRO gang (Lordmint, Fariz, OM & NEL) and portrait sifu (ZAM)

but most of them doing landscape except me & NEL did MACRO .....

Pictures can be view here [2008 Sept 9 - Sg Congkak]

or samples shots as below