Its not a Daddy longlegs - promise!

[Overread]

Well its getting harder to find insects for me now - even though it was a bright sunny day and the was just right - there was nothing much I could find barring daddy longlegs -- loads of them, but not much else! Part of the problem is I just don't know where stuff is round here (uni) plus our garden at home attracted a lot of different bugs 0 well will be fun times hunting them

Taken with Canon 400D, Sigma 150mm macro, 1.4 Teleconverter, flash
f13, ISO 100, 1/160sec, manual mode, handheld, flash used
link to larger: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/234/3264221328_ede4b2eccc_o.jpg
100% crop:

I used a different sharpening method this time - I used the sharpening controls in my RAW editer (photoshop elements) and I think this came out sharper than I usually achive - I will experiment more with this!

Any comments/crits welcome - thank you

 

[DRATOM]

Those are nice and crisp. Real good shooting! do you loose anything by using the teleconverter?

 

[EricD]

Nice macro work!!

Dratom...I believe you loose 1 fstop with a 1.4 tc

 

[Overread]

Thanks both

Yes you lose one stop of light for a 1.4 teleconverter as well as a very tiny amout of image quality. But you gain in working distance and magnification factor - hence why you can just see the segments of the eye at fulllsize.
For smaller bugs I really like having the 1.4 attached and the loss of light is marginal since I am already working with smaller apertures and a flash for macro work anyway. Larger bugs (like butterflies) if I am working from getting a full body and wing shot I prefer not to have the TC attached, but for closeup headshots its great to have.

Working distance also reduces a fraction as well, but its managable for the 1.4 teleconverter - now the 2* teleconverter is a whole other story of focusing pains

 

[TrickyRic]

Wow, nice shot! I'm not usually a fan of flash photography but in this case I can't even tell the lighting isn't natural, even with the shine.