liewwk Nature Photography Blog
a new collection for me, the night frogging trip was fun … we spent 2-3 hours to have few interesting found ….
[thanks Andy Paul for the invite and ID]
[thanks Hurnain, Khatijah from MNS for the guide]
[thanks Maureen for always a good eye to find something for us]
this frog is interesting … it try very hard to leave us one of the do) by crawling instead jumping 😀 it is so funny … and it is simply beautiful
the orange/reddish eye attract me most beside the
how spotted Litter Frgo crawling…
I witness a ant-mimic male guide or seem protect the female .. I was observe it (~10-15min) hope for something interesting happen among the male A (with tag) and female
but suddenly another male (Male B) turn up and try to fight with the male (it happen so fast (<1-2s) and they end up at this position …
after the Male A got kill, male B look at the female for a while outside the web … but the female just run away …. (even before I can try to give her a close up shot)
some of my Ant-mimic spider collection
http://liewwkphoto.com/blog/?p=326
and was with my update lighting setup
I was there (drive ~20km) for a robberfly which I met one day before (and I don;t have my macro gears with me)…
but accidentally found this Ant-mimic for me .. never see this type … and not only new found but I witness an amazing moment … the both male fight for something !!!!!… (will share the other picture to show what it fight for later … need to little stack work on that)
and the moment they fight …
not a most beautiful ant-mimic that I saw before but this is a beautiful one too …
few types of Ant-mimic collection
1. An ant mimic spider of the genus myrmarachne that mimic Tetraponera rufonigra ant
2. … Ant-mimic crab | Amyciaea lineatipes having prey …
3. Ant-mimic jumping spider | 蟻蛛 (male)
4. very common black myrmarachne
Spider collection by liewwk
I am not sure how could I missed out this topic in my old and new blog …let me add this back to my share…
#### from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extension_tube
An extension tube is an accessory for cameras with interchangeable lenses, used primarily for macro photography. The tube contains no optical elements; its sole purpose is to move the lens farther from the image plane. The farther away the lens is, the closer the focus, the greater the magnification, and also the greater the loss of light (requiring a longer exposure time). Lenses classically focus closer than infinity by moving all optical elements farther from the film or sensor; an extension tube simply imposes this movement.
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other word, it allow us to shoot object closer (so it is bigger) but it do lost infinity focus (mean cannot shoot far) and some light lost ….
the magnification again simple can get by shooting the ruler to see what magnification you have e.g.
if you have crop body 40d, which mean yours sensor size should be 35mm/1.6=21.8mm
at 1:1 your wide of single frame short should occupy by 21.8mm object ……. so add on with ET if your shot is 10.9mm mean u get
21.8/10.9 = 2x magnification 😀
or we can use formula
X/focal length = magnification
Y = X + ET (in mm added)
e.g.
100mm L
X/100 = 1
so X=100
if we add on 12mm + 20mm Kenko ET s0 we will get Y=X + ET = 100+32=132mm
so new magnification should be 132/100 = 1.32x
… there is another thing we may concern is the MFD (minimum focus distance)
1) M = b/a
2) 1/a + 1/b = 1/f
3) MFD = a + b
where
M: Magnification
a: lens-to-subject distance
b: lens-to-film/sensor distance
f: focal length
I am happy that invited by Andy, Paul , Hurnain, Khatijah for this night outing for reptiles … we were happy with 1 snake, 3 frogs, 1 tortise few macro model for ~2 hours walk in the jungle …
among all find, I am impress with this beautiful forest Gecko (Marbled Slender-toed Gecko or cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus) .. it is so beautiful but too bad it leave us after few captures by me and Andy … sorry Hurnain 😀
not really have many reptiles and Gecko in my collection .. but I would love to do more in future …
weather look good now (most of the night are clear) .. so I would like to go for quick stars chase & macro
Genting Highland – Bukit Tinggi
24 March
~1130pm – should be meet up in the mid night ~11pm
25 March
~ 2am – start look for star
~ 6am – change location for sunrise
~ 8-9am – breakfast near Gohtong Jaya
~ 10am-3pm – MACRO @Bukit Tinggi
so if you want to learn shoot star and MACRO, I am there to sharing some of my experiences to you all
1. stars
2. sunrise
3. MACRO
while I first see this bee .. I was amaze how fast it flying around, it is like impossible see what’s the fly or bee flying so fast with blue “thing” so I use few hours sit there and wait .. and trying to observe what’s the “object” flying around
Finally, I managed to “pause” and capture my very 1st “blue bee”
and few weeks later while I do my usual night MACRO, I found the Blue bee sleeping !!!!!!
since then, I love to see this bee sleep … and start love to find it as … it never move after sleep … it use it tooth clamp on the any stick, no matter how u shake, move it around. It will never woke us easily
This Bee , it is almost impossible to shoot day time where it fly real fast … you need a lot of patient to shoot it …. and it is good to capture while it sleep , it never move even we move it around, flash it …
and I even able to shoot 10x
since then I never stop shooting it … even I have >100 pictures how this bee sleeping … even I brought some of my close friend to this spots to find it and shoot it for many times …
I have some video show how this bee woke up and flew off just within seconds ….
it is not a dream, we able to shoot the Milky way at not really too dark area … it was my dream to chase it 2010 but some how I failed to make it … but 2011 me and my few close friends (shunfa, Lio, Jason … SP …. Mingkai) have start our crazy chasing project where we travel ~400km (return) 3 times in a week …. even we try to make it coming weekend but due to the some security issue at the location so we decided to cancel our trip there ….
one of the failure Milky chase
My friend – Shunfa was so happy while he 1st got it with him 30mm F1.4 … and too bad what I have much obvious compare to what he has, not matter what setting I use (high ISO, long exposure, ISO NR, LE NR … ) but my F2.8 lenses still cannot get any clearer Milky as compare that 30mm F1.4 got … hmmmm so the conclusion is under not so dark place. it is always good to use bigger aperture lenses to have more stars, brighter stars (so thicker star trail) and more objects (Milky way) …
let’s me share my setting and some PP done on this
Canon 5dm2 + Canon 15mm F2.8 + tripod for sure
# Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 43/1 second ===> 43 second
# Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 28/10 ===> ƒ/2.8
# ISO Speed Ratings = 500
– no Manipulation done ..
– crop both site to make square look (no crop on top and bottom)
– some dodge and burn on the sky
and previous share How I shoot Stars..
a surprise found while my last year trip to Terenggnu for Monsoon season shooting (a beautiful place for landscape)
Terengganu series
In the hotel room, we found some interesting Mayflies (very tiny ~2-4mm), beetle and soldierflies …but I was too tired to capture all but can’t stop to try my best to capture these Mayflies ….
and found nearby another good looking type … and not sure are both related
and also found the very interesting view in the Mayfly stomach ..
better view @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/liewwk/5490665262/
more Mayflies pictures
it is not easy to make this without the right tool but I think with handhold + some basic tripod we still able to shoot this … I am using Panaroma head , previously I was using Manfrotto 303SPH but very soon I make decision to change to Nodal Ninja due to the flexibility(dissemble to smaller part) & the weight (it is ~4 times lighter)
|
Compare the competition and avoid falling into the red.
Below are some full spherical panoramic tripod heads that achieve very similar functions. (below prices may not reflect current pricing) |
|||
| Model | Approx. Weight |
Approx. Size Closed |
Approx. Retail Price |
| Nodal Ninja 3 MKII | 1lb 1oz. | 7″x2″x2″ | $209.95 |
| Nodal Ninja 5Lx | 1lb 14oz. | 8″x3″x2″ | $294.95 |
| Manfrotto 303SPH | 4lbs 4oz | 11x7x6 | $517.95 |
| MK Panohead-II | 2lbs 4oz | 10″x4″ | $780.00 |
| Really Right Stuff (no click stops) | 2lbs 9oz | 12″x6″x4″ | $800.00 |
| Kaidan QuickPan Pro (OUT OF BUSINESS) |
4lbs 12oz | 12″x5.5″x3″ | $849.95 |
| 360Precision Adjuste | 2lbs 4oz | 8.2″x4″x2.2″ | $1,175.00 |
source from http://www.nodalninja.com/
My original plan for this head is to shoot Panorama shot using UWA wide so I can get higher resolution and wider view of my Landscape shots e.g.
http://www.liewwkphoto.com/gallery4.htm
But I know it can create spherical pano and 360×180 pano still so I had tried few times to make some shots …as below
and it also can create still rotational view @
http://www.liewwkphoto.com/still/PD/whereweshoot/PD2011Feb.htm
But then, how do I shoot this ?
1. we need the tool , and for me Nodal Ninja, DSLR and lenses
2. then the only difficult part is to find the entrance pupil/nodal point , a point where it should maintain the center no matter how we rotate our camera
if you are lucky then yours’ setup should listed @ http://www.nodalninja.com/support/camerasettings.html.. else you need to find one
2i. the bottom axis is fix by camera (refer as A on link above)
the other should depend lenses and focal length (refer as B on link above)
2ii. use a close value base on the web site above put 2 stick together
2iii. rotate yours pano head
how I rotate my pano head to get Entrance Pupil
2iv. no matter how we rotate, the 2 stick should maintain at same position
at center
left from center
right from center
try to adjust as much as possible to get better result so we can can accurate entrance pupil so all the frame of the picture can stack without any distortion
3. with the correct reading and shoot the series (make sure every pictures have overlap area)
3i. with the software Photoshop or PTGui (pano software) all pictures can be stack together as below
here is the result …
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with the reading above then we have the specify len Entrance Pupil which can use to create panorama or 360×180 pano with the setting just shoot with both A & B reading set on the pano head ….
I will keep this update, which mean I will do more pano using this head in near further .. so stay tune ………
and if you use Canon 5dm2
i. SIGMA24mmF1.8
ii. Canon 24105F4L
iii. Canon 1635L m2
iv. Canon 15mm F2.8
and need the entrance pupils … then drop me a message so I can share my reading to you