Green Tree Python C+C, and macro tips

[Tee_bird]

edit - ahem - really liking this shot by the way

hmm reading your exif off flickr I am impressed:

Aperture f2.8
ISO 400
1/100sec

An aperture that wide is going to give you a very small depth of field to work with - especailly in macro work. In this shot you have shown very good focusing in getting the eye in focus - though looking at it larger I would have liked to see the edge scales around the eye also in the depth of field as well - tricky though certainly.
I also like the lighting that you have in this shot - its clear and soft, with no real highlight problems at all which is really great to see.

As for next time what you need is more light so that you can use a smaller aperture (typically I do my macro at f13) whilst keeping a good low ISO and fast shutter speed. There are several ways to do this - reflectors can be used to direct more lighting onto your subject, that is a cheap and quick way and can work very well if you have the light to redirect.
The other method is flash. If your getting flat flash results from normal flash you will find ringlights give even flatter lighting, though the more expensive ones can have you set the sides so that they put different powers out so that you get some shadow depth.
Out of interest what flash setup do you have - just the popup or a speedlite of some form?

Awesome comment, thanks!

The flash I generally use is the popup on my camera.

 

[Overread15 3]

Juza Nature Photography Forum • View topic - Macro techniques, tips and problem solving

The whole thread there is a great read if your into macro, but scroll a bit down on that page for the flash extender for a popup. It works well - far better than I would have thought.

 

[Big Mike]

I hate using a flash, because it makes everything look flat and/or washed out.

That is mostly due to the direction of the flash. The closer it is to the lens, the flatter it looks. That's why the pop-up flash sucks.
Ring flash can be extremely flat...but sometimes that doesn't matter if the subject is interesting enough. It doesn't work for everything.

 

[Tee_bird]

Juza Nature Photography Forum • View topic - Macro techniques, tips and problem solving

The whole thread there is a great read if your into macro, but scroll a bit down on that page for the flash extender for a popup. It works well - far better than I would have thought.

This thread is amazing. Thanks!

Let's see how good I could make that... >.>

 

[jsoeung]

Good stuff!
the focus is sick!

 

[Tee_bird]

Good stuff!
the focus is sick!

Thank you. :blushing: