More Macro shots.

[pippin88]

Some shots I took this morning with my Sigma 105 macro:














These two are actually different RAW conversions from the same image:





RawShooter Essentials AutoWB made the white petalled image, whereas the pink one is much closer to the original (minor tweaking)

Ignore the dreadfull colour / style of my gallery, I was tired when I set it up and you don't get a preview of the skins in the rather long and involved setup process. Anyone know of a good clean, decent looking skin for Gallery?

Comments appreciated.

[Neeper]

Awesome pics, I love the first one. Excellent. I think you just sold me this lens.

[sirhc55]

Nick - the first shot is a winner - great lens

[MHD]

nice pics...
but...
use a different skin for your gallery!!!!!!!!!

[Manta]

 AAAAAAHHHHH!! MY EYES!!! MY BEAUTIFUL EYES!!!!

That blue is pretty damn vivid!

Back to the photos: Fantastic shots Pippin - interesting compositions too.
Thanks for posting.

[the foto fanatic]

New forum name:
D70users.net (Incorporating Sigma-world)!

[birddog114]

New forum name:
D70users.net (Incorporating Sigma-world)!

So chairman of the Sigma club is Sihrc55
Who's Club's deputy and treasurer?

[pippin88]

New forum name:
D70users.net (Incorporating Sigma-world)!

So chairman of the Sigma club is Sihrc55
Who's Club's deputy and treasurer?

I'll be treasurer if I can embezzle funds to buy more gear.

Thanks for the comments.

Getting my head around gallery now. Should be much less eye destroying now.

[gstark]

WHile we own the domain name, the current visibility of D70Users.net is onlya transient thing, while we're finishing the transfer from there to here.

Or was it from here to there?

[MCWB]

So chairman of the Sigma club is Sihrc55
Who's Club's deputy and treasurer?

Sigma club meeting Midnight-4am, then VR club starts?

Edit: forgot to say, nice shots Pippin88! I particularly like this one: http://images.imagineant.com/gallery/Ma ... 2223JPGweb

[birddog114]

So chairman of the Sigma club is Sihrc55
Who's Club's deputy and treasurer?

Sigma club meeting Midnight-4am, then VR club starts?

Trent,
I have no authority to organize Sigma club meeting (Have to talk to Chairman) but definitely with VR Club, I'm in.

[leek]

Damn... just when I was settled on my next lens... you come along with these photos and make me doubt again

Great shots... I especially like the 4th one...

What sort of frog is that in the 5th & 6th shots? How small / big was it???

[Matt. K]

Nice shots, but suggest you change the blue skin to mid-gray. It will make your colours look more accurate.

[sirhc55]

Chairman of the Sigma Club speaking - there is no way in the world that I would ever get up at 2am to do any macro work, let alone anything else. Hmmm that last statement might be incorrect

[pippin88]

leek: No idea on the sort of frog. Small bugger, those shots are nearing 1:1, but not quite there. There was actually two frogs, the other a whiter shade of grey but the shots that included both of them were too obstructed by OOF stuff and too far away.

Looking a bit better Matt?

Anyone know the hex code for 18% grey (I presume that would net the best perception of colour)

Yeah stuff 2am, we should be after 12PM - well fed and with full sunlight.

[Matt. K]

Looks better. Maybe even a little darker gray would enhance the colours a tad more. The frog fascinates me. I haven't see a frog in years. Where have they all gone?

[KerryPierce]

Chairman of the Sigma Club speaking - there is no way in the world that I would ever get up at 2am to do any macro work, let alone anything else. Hmmm that last statement might be incorrect

Chris, congrats on your Chairmanship!

They have little blue pills to help you with that other problem...

[pippin88]

I've made it a touch darker. But only a touch, if you think it needs more, could you pick one from http://www.december.com/html/spec/color0.html please?

Frogs: Here at my Dad's, we've had a million tadpoles in the pond/lake. And a fair number came out as frogs. Not that many around at the moment though.
Recently Dad chucked a couple of turtles in, but they haven't been seen since.

[KerryPierce]

Nice shots, Nick. I like the frog shots. They could use a little more DOF, though. Time to get out your Sigma approved macro tripod with focus rails....

[pippin88]

Nice shots, Nick. I like the frog shots. They could use a little more DOF, though. Time to get out your Sigma approved macro tripod with focus rails....

In time my friend, much time.

There was just a bit too much wind for my liking, so I was hesitant to go below 1/100s even though I was using a tripod - the little blokes were on leaves that moved a bit.

Current list - and this is not a real "I wish I had that (eg 70-200VR, D2x, totally new computer)" list:
Another 512mb Ram
200gig Hard Drive (Da-amn they have got cheap)
SB800 (Large DOF + High shutter speed for macro = win)

And none of those are going to come soon.

Anyone wanna buy some photos?

[KerryPierce]

There was just a bit too much wind for my liking, so I was hesitant to go below 1/100s even though I was using a tripod - the little blokes were on leaves that moved a bit.

What ISO were you running? FWIW, I don't hesitate to shoot at 1600 with the d70. Usually a spot meter and a +.3EV or a solid 0.0 EV exposure will minimize the noise very nicely, IME. Of course, on the dark colored frog, you'd prolly not want a +EV setting. Pardon if you're already doing that....

Current list - and this is not a real "I wish I had that (eg 70-200VR, D2x, totally new computer)" list:
Another 512mb Ram
200gig Hard Drive (Da-amn they have got cheap)
SB800 (Large DOF + High shutter speed for macro = win)

The sb800 is the cat's meow. Of course, the computer upgrades are needed too. I've got over 300gigs on this machine, with well over 100gigs of photos...

[pippin88]

About EV: I have noticed that pretty much all my shots yesterday were a touch under exposed, and I bumped up EV in Raw by about 0.5 to 1.0.


I shoot ISO 200 99.9% of the time, I suppose I should venture into higher ISO's for some macro stuff.

ISO 400 would = half the amount of light needed right? (So either half the shutter speed or smaller aperture).

I can't wait for the days when ISO 3200 looks like ISO 200 does now.

[KerryPierce]

ISO 400 would = half the amount of light needed right? (So either half the shutter speed or smaller aperture).

I can't wait for the days when ISO 3200 looks like ISO 200 does now.

Going up one step in ISO, from 200 to 400, is one full f/stop ( f/4 to f/5.6 ) or one full shutter speed setting ( 1/250 to 1/500 ), and equals doubling the light.

heh, I'd like to see the ISO 3200 miracle as well, but would go about 5 or 6 stops higher.