mk power

At my request Ron sent me some of the pdf files - WoW going by their quality, the tutorial is something to look forward to! Great effort Ron. regards Keith

Warning this is a long rant!...Thanks all for the encouraging comments! Severn and LumenLux- I’ll try and outline the equipment and methods I use, firstly I’m no expert! Secondly I’m an old “fogie” retired, with plenty of time to indulge my “insect macro” passion. The rural town I live in is sandwiched between a large tract of native bush and broad acre farming, providing a diversity of insect life. My equipment: Canon 300d, Tamron 90mm Di macro lens & SP Af x2 teleconverter. A pair of “old” Sunpak 383 manual flashes, finally a very heavy Manfrotto tripod & head. Flash mounting arrangements is in constant flux. I try to have one flash positioned above and level with front of the lens. The second flash is “light” triggered & placed to one side “as situation dictates”. All pretty awkward I must admit. After locating the subject & cautiously setting up the camera – I set “manual everything”, Be warned the TC gives more shooting versatility, but is a real “light bandit”! I close the aperture well down, I rarely use it opened below f22 & generally in the f25 to f32.range. The flashes have manual power output level controls, which experience has taught me to set fairly accurately (it doesn’t vary much). I always shoot in RAW & rely on the “review screen” histogram for exposure. I use the “rock back & forth” focus technique - see article by my macro hero Mark Plonsky http://www.mplonsky.com/photo/article.htm - With this amount of “flash” you most likely only get one shot (thankfully. not always!) … Make sure it’s what you want! Be prepared for failures but when you get “that” shot WoW! Post processing is carried out in Photoshop CS2, when converting the RAW image I leave it in 16 bit. For sharpening I use the add on “Focus Magic” on the “L” channel after converting to LAB mode – depending on the image some times I tweak the image in LAB mode (for an intro) see: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp...essage=16250385 . While typing this I saw the Mark Plonsky posts come in (I wish! I wish! ) … Mark once commented on one of my images to the effect I was “on the right track” … I was walking on air for a week. Actually, I generally get called Keith – The MikeP thing on this forum is an aberration which would take too long to clarify! BTW my pBase gallery is at http://www.pbase.com/mkpower/canon_300d (please note the “mk” bit!). Sorry for the length of this post! Hope it may be of assistance to someone. regards... Keith

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed this presentation --- Some great effects and different. Good stuff! Mike

I have just uploaded my first AV "Another world Vol 1" to Beechbrook Cottage, it features mostly insect macro photography - Cconstructive critism most welcome. TIA