Thanks, Tom
Good to hear that the ants cause the problem rather than the type of
flash. I couldn't afford a ring-flash enablement right now
anyway...:-)
IIRC, John Shaw also recomments the kitchen bowl accessory in
"closeups in nature". It seems more and more like a good thing to try.
Thanks for nudging me in that direction.
I suspect that I will need a fairly small bowl, though. I measured the
working distances of various lens combinations, and found this:
FA100/2.8 macro + reversed FA50/1.4 : 16-39mm
A*200/4 macro + reversed FA50/1.4: 31-40mm
The intervals come from the focus setting on the primary lens.
So for a reasonably flexible solution, I think I will look for a bowl
that protrudes about 30mm from the lens.
Jostein
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Reese" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <pentax-discuss@pdml.net>
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 2:05 AM
Subject: Re: PESO - Herding Livestock
Jostein wrote:
http://www.oksne.net/paw/herdingants.html
Those little critters are hard to keep in focus when working hand
held. It's pretty much hit and miss, and this is the best I've
managed so far.
One particular problem with ants is that their hide is hard and
shiny. With a bare flash, the highlights become specular and burned
out. Using a miniature softbox lessen the problem, but it's not all
gone. Does anyone know a good way to handle this without resorting
to ring flashes?
I can tell you for a fact that a ring flash won't solve your problem
with highlights. I once found a bunch of ants dragging a caterpillar
across the yard and shot the action using a ring flash. Every
spherical surface on the ants had a circular highlight.
Your shot has much better lighting than mine did with the ringlight.
I'm guessing that you were pretty close since you were using that
stacked lens set-up. I have a suggestion that I haven't tried myself
(yet) but I've heard works well and it's cheap. Get a white plastic
kitchen bowl and cut a hole in the bottom of it just big enough to
poke your lens through. Mount the bowl on the lens and fire your
flash into the side of the bowl. The bowl supposedly gives you
really nice diffused lighting.
The bowl can also be used for close to the ground macro work. Put
the bowl over the subject, poke your lens through the hole and fire
the flash through the side of the bowl.
I can't guarantee this will work but it's something to try.
Tom Reese
