Just a Shell

[wilson44512]

found what was left of this guy in the back yard

 

[edouble]

Did you use the pop up flash? Lighting looks harsh. Interesting subject though.

 

[Stormchase]

The police seem to get involved when I come out of my shell, neat shot. Light is a little harsh like mentioned.

 

[wilson44512]

i used a sb400. what do you mean harsh? so maybe i can work on it

 

[Stormchase]

Overpowering I guess. Think this, a clear summer day at 2pm. Stand outside and look at the light from the sun. That would be "harsh". Strong shadows and from a small source, the sun. Just a dot inthe sky. To contrast, go outside at 7am on a cloudy morning. The light source is now less powerful and large. "the whole sky is now the light source". The clouds act as the difuser for the srong sun giving a nice even light with little shadow. do you use a diffuser of any kind. That softens it so Its not so harsh.

 

[wilson44512]

i used a diffuser. does this one look any better?

 

[NateS]

I think the problem comes more from the fact that light is coming straight on instead of from an angle/side...this gives the lighting a pretty flat look. What diffuser do you use? Many diffusers like a stofen aren't really going to do much of anything to help a macro shot.

 

[Stormchase]

New shot looks more even.

 

[wilson44512]

yes thats what i have is a stofen. what kind would be good for micro?

 

[OlyNikonLearner]

A friend from France who often travels to Greece to shoot macro in the countryside uses this simple trick: he rotates the flash head up and then inserts a white plastic card, the size of a credit card, into the slot between the flash head's shell and the front of the body of the flash. Cost? Practically nothing. Result? Beautiful, every time! He never carries any $50 diffusers in his bag. I tried the trick a few times (and I am NOT a macro photographer by even the longest shot) and, guess what, I could even produce some passable extremely "micro" photographs.