Invertebrates in Taiwan

[Ganoderma]

I have been using these pictures on my site to show soem species. from a photograph point of veiw what is your opinion? honestly. i see many problems, namely refelction, DOF and focus. i am working on correcting them but am having a heck of a time with reflection (especially in teh feild). my main problems are invertebrates with shells, and amphibians (wet). please excuse the water marks of some, these are teh exact pictures used on the site.

Any suggestions to get a better depth of feild when doing macros? some of my pictures are only 1-2 cm away, perhaps i am asking to much?

My camera: Nikon CP5400, no extras.

Dorcus titanus, feild-bright cloudy/sunny

P. orentalis, preserved specimen

Have not ID'd this specie yet. indoors flouro lighting.

Argiope aemula, feild. cloudy day.

Dorcus titans lava. feild.

any feed back would be great! thanks for looking!

 

[Mindii]

Actually they are great macro shots...you wont get better DOF than what you have unless you upgrade your equipment...or do as the pros do and take a series of shots with your camera mounted on a tripod of the subject with the DOF altered slightly for each one..then merge them in photoshop...but this is difficult to do and I wouldnt recommend it.
If you are only using the shots for web and not print you may get away with taking the pic from further away and cropping in to put on web...that would ensure a better DOF.
In relation to the reflections are you using flash? If yes then you could try bouncing the flash off the ceiling to stop the light hitting the sheels directly. For outside shots try to have the subject in the shade to prevent the sun from reflecting on the shell..the same applies for ceiling lights.
But overall they are good shots and you should be proud of them!

 

[mentos_007]

well... I hate bugs... but as macros - they are nice. But I suggest lighting them up... maybe some kind of reflectors around... then you'll be able to close the appertur so you'll get better DOF - and the whole bugs will be in focus. What's more the colours might be better because of more light

 

[Ganoderma]

excellent thanks for the feedback! sorry i didnt mention it very well. none of those used a flash. they were all either indoor lighting (taken at night), or outdoors. do you guys know a good site or a relatvily reasonably priced book on the subject of lighting/reflecting. beleive it or not i tried reflecting light in the 2nd and 3rd picture but i clearly did not do it right.

thanks again!