New Found - A cute weevil

An old picture or capture while I was at Kota Kinabalu Park (KK) , this beetle is ~5-8mm in size and look real cute ...

not really move alot may be due to cool weather ... but still floew off after ~3 shots, may be my diffuser is too close to it



more beetle/weevil collection
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liewwk/sets/72157605373755899/with/5245543500/

Other - it had been long I didn't get a shot that I am happy with

It had been long I didn't get a satisfy MACRO shot ... I shared a post before "How I shoot MACRO - Compo, Angle ..." ... I would not be satisfy just to get a "technically" good picture which with good focus, clarity, BG, DOF but without any action or pose ... I will call those shots as "science book"/record shots...

e.g.


- this shot is technically good in term of light (flash), DOF and think the angle is pretty good to show this bug characteristic in single frame.
even-though these few shots were not easy ... (discuss here before ) but it still call as "science book"/record shots (as it is good to show people how this bug look like)


And I was trying my luck to wait for it for some action shots (mating or flying), and I was lucky it is almost ready to fly and I managed to capture few focus shot with BG.... and I think this could be most satisfy shot up to now for year 2010....

an non crop picture




more beetle from liewwk Nature Collection click here

other - a not so easy closeup

I am shooting for Macro for ~2.5 years now and few bugs I still having problem to shoot their close-up (face in close without cropping) and share in my flickr @ It's always good to look close xx

2 of my wish to shoot their face are Tiger Beetle and Giraffe Weevil

both this bug very shy, not easy to get close and I managed to get close to one the giraffe weevil (wild) and shoot 4:1 without any crop .. one of my happiest capture in 2010 even not a best picture ... but I am happy to have it get close ..



more beetle from liewwk flickr click here

How I shoot MACRO - angle is important

I had share this to most of my MACRO gang, "angle" to shoot the bugs is very important. Angle need to be choose to control
1. better DOF
2. better BG
3. show beauty of the object

and in general I had discuss @previous post How I shoot MACRO - Composition, angle ...

I can't provide too many samples but will keep on to post relevant sample as I got relevant sample pictures ...

as for last week , I got a chance to see a pair of weevil mating on the tree trunk and I know this will be good for this so I decide to make few shots to show the different effect on BG while using different angle

below is a picture show the situation


and as for the sample of common 90 degree to the object and we are easier to get max DOF but the BG will look like


a dark/black BG will be produce as full flash use, so we could try to make leave behind the object as sample (different object but still a beetle on tree but with brown leaf behind as BG - hand make :D )


but then while we shift out angle a bit higher to make the tree body as BG


- this will be better in term of overall picture but then it is not easy to get both Weevil in focus due to the DOF limit. so even we move to upper but we still need to control the angle where both weevil eye can be in focus


some add-on on the weevil, this weevil is small one and I shoot it with coin as comparison before as below



and again we really should thanks MACRO photography to allow us to see something where we normally can't view through human eye

a big magnification of same type of Weevil

special write for my gang .... Philip Wee

a gang of mine, asking for poison (wny am I using mt24) ... so while our last week outing in a reserve jungle we tried to shoot the same beetle (normally I stop shooting the long horned beetle... I just have too many of them) with same gears (canon 5dm2, mpe65...) except the light different.. I am using mt24 setup as below


and he is using my old setup as below


I am sharing this to him with minimum of PP and waiting for his post too to have compare ...

a portrait mode


a landscape mode


just hope he will post his ASAP .. and I will update his picture here



but let share my capture

he is replying this fast with picture

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4321311593_883c642c1a_o.jpg

... it's always good to look close 7 - Long Snout Weevil ...

there is nothing special about this weevil except it look lazy and long snout ... the side view of it's face will be better compare direct face and the DOF will never display it's snout correctly

a weevil move slowly, not shy can handle with hand but take note as it will playing/pretend "dead" after we touch it





a full view

... it's always good to look close 6 - long leg Weevil ...

this was also use for how I shoot macro @http://liewwk-macro.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-i-shoot-macro-composition-angle.html

this is a really cute weevil with really long leg and feel it is good to view from top to see it's long leg


and for get close to weevil this many be good angle but it is good to look close as you can see it's cute face

How I shoot MACRO - Composition, angle ...

think I never share this beside keep telling my gang, how I shoot MACRO (my version of composition shot)

It may different or same with other people view but I am sure I am still shoot based on these rules up to today :D

1. story/actions
every photographer is always look for story for their picture and me too .. but if I only base on this then I may have <5% of my total shot up to today ... as bug/wild life is not just controllable by us and we just don't know when it will eat, fly ... communicate .. stand at right position .

But this is a primary point I look for my pictures

2. beauty of the bug
this applied on majority of my pictures. As I always try to show the beauty of the insect/wild life in best angle that I can approach and again this is not controllable by us. but I am just trying my best

e.g.

angle 1


angle 2


angle 3


for above pictures
- I rarely shoot @angle 1 & 2 except rare bug and the only possible angle
- to shoot this "long-legged" weevil, I will prefer shoot from top as this will show how the leg length compare to the it's body
- but then this is very subjective, some people will feel the beauty of the bugs may in different angle .. so .. Just shoot it, if you think... it is good/best angle for you to see the object .....


3. standard shot
I call this standard shot or science class picture, as this will show the view where help you to recognize of the object. But I will normally shoot this as I want to ID and sick of bug/insects pictures collection :D

e.g.


4. close-up
some people call magnification shot, this is another favor from me as this show something that human eye cannot see

e.g.

face of the little jumping spider


face of the same weevil



- without close-up we may not imagine how it look like
- may look easier, but it is not easy for me as for the magnification 3-5:1. We need really close to the bug and limit but very thin DOF and with difficult control of lighting
- someone will say, just crop it lah, why shoot with closer and difficult lighting ... but then this is different people preference... I am ok with crop :D .. but for me closeup no crop more than 10% for sure else I will go re-shoot

there are few more general thing that I look at which apply for all above
i. green/clean Background
- yeah this is important to have but not a must for me ..
e.g.
a.


b.



the picture "a" meet action/story shot but I just can't control the Background as it may scare the spider to leave the prey away ... and I decide to capture one shot then follow but the other with BG control (how I control the BG had been discuss before @http://liewwk-macro.blogspot.com/2009/02/macro-pp2-how-i-control-background.html ... but then "a" still my preference compare to "b" which have clean and green background

ii. more Depth of Field
It is definitely a main concern of MACRO shooter where the DOF is always not enough (and what DOF macro shooter looking at was discuss @http://liewwk-macro.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-depth-of-field-dof-you-have-while.html

sometime less dof mean OOF for the picture, so we need minimum DOF on the "eye" to consider the focus picture .... but as long as it focus on the important part of the object. then DOF will not be a must archive point for my case