Natural Light Macro with MPE

After seeing sample from http://www.juzaforum.com/forum-en/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=6684 (natural light with MPE + high magnification) .. this is almost impossible without tripod :( ...

I decide have a try so mount MPE on camera body (which it have left out recently where sigma is almost permanent mount on my 5dm2)... to support the long exposure so decide to bring along my monopod. for start it just wouldn't work for those bug which is sensitive till I saw my belove robberfly which it normally stand at same spot even after fly off :D

keep trying for an hour with >30++ shots and these 2 are the only focus pictures

1. @1:1



2. @~3.5:1


and as usual movie for this guy ...

8.3 Dragonfly ... cute little dragon

this little dragon (short and mini dragon which is only 10-12mm) found from stream area where it is dangerous where the wet mud will suck leg down









for HD movie please view by click

http://www.flickr.com/photos/liewwk/3493243237/

Bird Series 10 - Crimson-winged Woodpecker

The Crimson-winged Woodpecker (Picus puniceus) is a species of bird in the Picidae family. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand.

Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

It can grow up to 10 in (25 cm) long. Its main diet is mainly insects and larvae. Its a bright and colorful bird that is hard to be mistaken.they are large members of the picus family. It's status is least concern.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimson-winged_Woodpecker

I am sharing a video of "how it make nest"

MACRO PP - 5 [clone, reflective body]

Beside Ninja Noise (nj), clone is one of the Photoshop (CS3/CS4) function that I use most...

All of my picture use nj to remove the noise because even @iso100 picture consist noise while zoom to 100% ....

another big challenge for macro shooter is sensor dust, so normally we use clone to remove the sensor dust .. ..

And I apply this clone technique to clone away the reflective portion of the object

1. open the file with other necessary PP (curve, crop ..... )



2. duplicate a layer



3. change the opacity of the layer to ~40-60% depend the natural look




4. then use the "clone" tool



5. clone those reflective area with adjacent area color.... and this is the sample outcome

un-clone picture


clone picture (final output)

2.29 Tiger beetle Cicindelephilia ... A Rare catch from me

One of my favor macro bug is Tiger beetle (Cicindelephilia) where i like it texture of head and it mouth .....

1. see it from far


2.


3.
I was in the same jungle looking for this guy many times and finally last week I got it with my sigma150 (still failed with MPE65) ...

I was lucky to get this while I see it across the river/stream... then I move slowly into the river (~2-4 feet deep) and from there i shoot this from far--> close .... this is not closer but just want to share one of it ....

am very happy with this as this bug really shy one ....

Bird Series 9 - Streaked Spiderhunter

The Streaked Spiderhunter (Arachnothera magna) is a species of bird in the Nectariniidae family. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montanes.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaked_Spiderhunter

this bird is quite common on highland in Malaysia which can find from Genting, Cameron, Bukit Tinggi ....

and it will go back and come back to the same place for food...

Bird Series 8 - Silver-breasted Broadbill

Silver-breasted Broadbill
The Silver-breasted Broadbill, Serilophus lunatus, is a species of bird in the Eurylaimidae family. It is monotypic within the genus Serilophus.

It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montanes.

***from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver-breasted_Broadbill

this is a very beautiful bird and it is so friendly while their active season where they could come as close as 0.5M to you :D pictures show below either non crop or minor crop for composition purpose

how beautiful of this bird ???




how it eat
click link below for animation
here


or click on original after this link above