Flashes of Inspiration

Of late I have pondered the perrenial problem of insolvency, a problem that's as old as photography itself. Light. There's never the right quantity is there? Overexposure, underexposure, a lack of detail, a lack of contrast. This, when coupled to my innate capacity to misjudge things, means that most of my photos are imperfect in some small but regrettably important aspect, and this is no more evident than in my macro work.

Some may not have seen my macro rig (I think most people would be in that category. Poor them!), but I can try and describe it. Basically, its an 18-55mm kit lens bolted to somewhere between 12mm and 100mm of extender tubes with my increasingly indispensible 50D on the back. This is, for what I paid for it, the best combo for macro. Don't get me wrong, i'm not moaning (did that last post!), but there isn't a lot of light down with so much crap between the lens and body. This is even more pronounced when looking into the sun. I needed a solution to this problem that ideally didn't involve shelling out on a special macro flash, something simple.

 But I actually have a pop-up-built-in flash on the 50D, its not a question of have and have not, its just having it in the wrong place. After some experimentation I added 2 pieces of milk bottle to the rig, one next to the flash (to diffuse it), and another at the end of the lens. This second one was angled downward, so as the already diffused flash hit it the light would be directed downward to the subject in front of the lens. With the addition of bluetak this rig was shipshape and ready for a field test. The location would be Dunham Massey: the subjects Dragonflies.

I've found (with help!) a log where the animals landed regularly to sun themselves. They're predominantly Common Darter, though i've had both Brown Hawker and Emeralds here too. This biased was evident in my photography, where I only got the Commons, but hey ho the flash worked. Not so sure about the hues, bit unnatural, but a good start...!

...as the sun comes out the wings go up...

...and a little closer...

...portrait...

 

 

...and the female, drabber (and for me prettier!)...

 



...Up close and rather too personal...!

...a nice couple hours, slightly marred by being stung to buggery by nettles but as they say, we all 'suffer for our art'. But rarely in such a physical way.