In the near future I will explain the whole idea, but for now you will have to do with some teasers, and a working title – Phantoms

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This photo was made with Nicki her own camera,the Vtech Kidizoom, a kids camera which we gave to her a year ago. The Vteck Kidizoom keeps surprising me. Some times the quality is really far fetched, and some times you get a surprisingly good shot.

The most important is the fact that my little girl seems to enjoy photopraphy.

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Click on the monkey photo above to go to the gallery. There you will find more monkey photos.

I especially like the ones with the little baby Squirrel monkeys. The small hands and the one where the mother is feeding her baby. I was able to make these with just a lot of patience and some good luck.

All shot with my Canon 5D mkii and 24-70MM or 70-200MM lenses.

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First impression

The first difference that I noticed was that the product description of the Rodenstock Vario ND was pretty clear on the ‘known’ issues with wide angle lenses. They even marked the filter with ‘max’ which is just next to the +5 marker. Anything beyond this max marker is not guaranteed to give good results. And they were right. If you ignore their warning you will get unexpected results as you will see in my tests. I didn’t really experience any issues with color shifts, so that is way better compared tot the LCW Fader ND mkII. With the lather I experienced color shifts on several occasions.

The test

With the filter from Rodenstock I decided to give it al full test. I tried it on almost every piece of glass that I own. This caused a few problems due to the fact that I got the 82mm version of the Rodenstock Vario ND for my test and most of my lenses have the 77mm thread. So I needed an adapter ring. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem but this time I experienced vignetting on my Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 USM when set to 24mm. And I do not know if the vignetting is caused by the filter itself or by the use of the adapter ring. The 82mm showed some vignetting on my Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 USM II when set to 16mm at f/2.8. I didn’t really experience vignetting when set at f/22.

As you can see on the example below, I took 9 shots (‘no filter’, min, +1,5, +2, +3, +4, +5, max, beyond max) for each lens/aperture/zoom-level combination. (ie. for my 24-70mm I shot on 24mm and 70mm, at f/2.8 and f/22 – so that adds up to 4 x 9 shots for this lens)

The results – The ‘X’ factor

So after 180 shots, with 6 different lenses, I have to say that at first I was

not

impressed by the Rodenstock Vario ND, and especially not due to the high(er) price range of the Rodenstock Vario ND MC. I still experience the cruciform issue (the big black ‘X’) and that occurred in most cases right after the ‘max setting. While with the LCW Fader ND mkII in some cases I able to use a higher setting before I encountered the ‘X’. The filter is officially sold as a variable ND with a range from 1-9 stops, (i.e. 2,8x-400x) In none of the occurrences during my test I was able to use the filter beyond the max setting which is in most cases is equal to +6 stops. So you will not be able to use +7 till +9 stops. If anyone has other (better) results I am more then happy to hear from you. So that makes me wonder why they even bother to sell it as a 1-9 stops range filter. Has to be a commercial decision I guess.

The results – Color shifts

The main difference that I experienced was the lack of color shifts in the +1 till +5 stops range. In some occasions I experience loss in light at the +5 stop setting (ie. darker then expected results) so I think that my light meter got fooled by the use of two polarisation filters. I also experience loss of contrast, but that is of lesser concern to me due tot the fact that this is something which is easy to correct when using RAW.

Final verdict

Overall I think the Rodenstock Vario ND is a better option compared to the LCW. This due to the fact that in the +1 till +5 stops range you get better, clearer, and sharper results.

• Both filters encounter vignetting
• Both filter have the ‘X’ factor (Cruciform/Cross issue)
• The Rodenstock Vario ND has less (close to none) issues with color shifting in the +1 till +5 stops range
• The Rodenstock Vario ND preforms much better on sharpness and clearness

So if you need a variable ND filter the Rodenstock Vario ND MC is a very good option. But if you need more than +5 stops for neutral density or grey filtering – buy a fixed filter and avoid the variable ND’s all together.

Click on the images below to see the test results for each lens combination.

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After shooting we went straight home (to warm up and) to see the result. After a few tweaks in Adobe Lightroom we were both satisfied with the end result.

The whole idea is that you support your subject with something that  distincts from its surroundings, so in my case the green stool. This can be easily removed in an image editing program like Adobe Photoshop. Make sure you place your camera on a tripod and make the shot. Then remove the subject and the stool without altering the rest. So in the above example we needed to be careful not to leave footprints in the snow or bump against the sled. Take a second shot (without the little lady and stool) and in Photoshop you load both photos. Place the one with the subject in it on top of the other.

Use your favorite tool to remove (erase) the green stool from the top image. And as if it’s magic you will see it disappear. (In other words the image in the back will show where the stool was. And because you used a tripod it will not differ from the top image.

In my case I was careless and I needed also the remove the pulling rope which was tied to the sled. As you can notice I also had to created (draw) the missing parts of the black pants of Nicki otherwise her legs wouldn’t look natural. To top it off I also extended the scarf, and added shadow on the top of the sled.

Some of the necessary adjustments could have been prevented if I had chosen for a higher viewpoint. But then again, that would have given me a other perspective which I not favored.

That same day we went back outside and tried a few more trick photography shots on street in front of our house. Basically the same trick but just a bit different concept. At the moment I still have the intention to make a whole series of ‘floating’ photos with Nickita. But I still need to figure out which ‘situations’ will work. So suggestions are welcome.

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Above you can hover with your mouse over the image and you will see the before and after versions

My first edit was the one here on the right. After toying with it for a while I can to the conclusion it still needed a few things. So I kept fiddling until I came to the result here above. I especially like the movement that I added to the image.

For this I used Adobe Photoshop and added radial blur to the wheels and motion blur to the background. When done I re-imported the photo into Adobe Lightroom so I could make the last adjustments. (vibrance, clarity, and whitebalance)
As added bonus we also brought the slede. And this became the prop for the next shot, which you can see here on the left. We used the same technique as before. But more about that later on.

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A complete new look & feel.
A new user interface.
A new approach to blogging.
A new gallery backend.

I am hoping that by replacing the gallery backend the whole site will gain in performance (speed) and it will be easier for me to maintain the gallery and export photos from my library software to the website.

Further more I felt like that the design was outdated. I went from a traditional way of presenting blog posts (top to bottom) to a magazine style.

See the images below.

I also added a new way to search. You now can search thru the articles and the photos. Or just the articles or just the photos. Change the mode by clicking the small icons next to the search button. ()

About navigation, there also a few things changed. You now can flip thru the pages with [shift][left arrow] and [shift][right arrow], you can use the same key combination for flipping thru the posts and the gallery pages.

If you open the photos in large format you can flip thru them with just the arrow keys [arrow left], [arrow right].

I also decided to abandon my old ‘bumper’page. And I am sure I am going to miss it. For old times sake, I left it on the server (it can be found here)

Leaves me to thank my ‘nerding’ buddy Jeroen for all the help and the advice whilst building this new template.

I do hope you enjoy the new version, so please let me know your thoughts on the new design via the comments form at the bottom of this post.

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During my last travel to Andalusia (Spain) I made a lot of HDR shots, all of them were shot without tripod. I knew it was a risk, but it worked out fine for me. With the current versions of Photomatix and Adobe Photoshop (and probably many others) you can correct the horizontal and vertical shifts automatically, and you have the option to reduce ghosting artifacts (moving people, tree branches and other objects) So all those hand-shaken images are still useful. And of course some of the HDR’s are ‘single’ HDRi’s.

Click here for the gallery

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I had this visual in my head about a landscape that looked like a patchwork. I had lots of near opportunities but most of the landscapes were ‘poluted’ with industy, highways, or modern farms. Luckily we encountered a few spots that we nice and clean, and ‘colorful as patchwork’.

We visited ‘El Torcal’, a nature reserve with unusual limestone rock formations. A lovely place to hike with your camera. And even our 3 year old daughter was able to do the short route (1,5 km) which took us about 90 minutes (in stead of the 45 minutes which the guide told us) Nice scenery and lots of good spots. I shot a lot of panorama’s and HDR images. And regardless of the extra time it took us we had a beautiful hike. (And junior had her backpack filled with nice rocks she wanted to add to her collection.)

‘El Chorro’ is a small village that is know for the gorge that has been dammed in 1920. Famous for its dangerous walkway which at the moment is only accessible by experienced climbers. The whole area has some nice views and was worth a visit. We also visited the area around Ronda a wonderful medieval ‘white’ city from the Moorish period, and we ‘discovered’ a old castle ruin that was ‘somewhat’ accessible for the public. So click on the Photos to see the whole gallery. (there are two galleries (clicking here for the landscapes or here for the ruins))

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We also went to Selwo Marina, a marine parc with sea lions and dolphins. A beautiful show but for the rest it was just an average parc. Bioparc Fuengirola on the other hand was a wonderful zoo. They had beautiful tigers and many other animals all worth to photograph and the whole parc looked spic ‘n span. The area where they kept the tigers was very nice arranged, and gave ‘the photographer’ nice opportunities for even better shots.

Click here to see the other photo’s.

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We did the whole tour, so that includes Alcazaba, Nasrid Palaces, Generalife, Palace of Charles V and the Bath of the Mosque. We walked 5 kilometers, and what really surprised me was that our 3 years old daughter Nicki almost did the whole walk on her own, trying to spot princesses and knights in shining armor.

I have to say; “What a wonderful place!” we walked around looking left and right, not knowing what to photograph. I tried to prepare before we left the hotel. And oh man what did I feel like an amateur when I discovered that I misplaced my 24-70mm lens.

By doing so I left it in the hotel safe and brought my 100mm Macro lens instead. What a bummer. So all photos were taken with my DSLR were with the 16-35mm lens. The other photos were shot with my G12 so I was lucky we brought that one as well. But a good lesson for future trips.

With the Canon 5D mark II is shot mostly HDR images, and a few panorama’s (and a few with a little bit of both) For me the Alhambra was the ideal place to use HDR. The warm colors and the many shadows were the perfect setting to experiment with the high dynamic range technic. Just check the gallery and see for yourself.

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Roma, Firenze, Pisa

Vienna, Luzern, Strasbourgh

Cyprus, Curacao, La Palma

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The one you see on the left is a glass butterfly with wonderful transparant wings like glass windows. I do not know the names of the other ones but that will be something to remember for the next visit.

I selected just four photos, because those were the only ones that I think were worth publishing.

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I also bought the GoPro Ride, a mount for on the steer of my bike (and of course on the bike of my daughter. We already had some fun testing the camera. I mounted the camera to her bike helmet with some additional pivot arms and connectors to extend the distance and pointed the cam to her face. With this setup she was running around the house. This gave us some nice footage.

But that is the fun part. So what is my first impression; I did some testing with time-lapse, straight out of the box. As soon as I got back in my car (after leaving the store) I placed the cam to my windscreen with the suction cup and set the camera to time-lapse (without reading the manual). All looked well and I managed to get a very nice time-lapse of my ride back home. The only mistake I made (by not reading the manual) was that I forgot to flip the image, so I recorded everything up-side down. Something which i could easily correct with the software provided by GoPro.

The camera itself is very tiny. Which I think is the whole idea behind it. This makes it very easy to attach it to a helmet or other locations or parts. And the whole beauty of the product is that you can buy literally almost any mount to attach your camera. If not from GoPro itself, you will be able to find a 3rd party product that will fulfill your needs.

Altho the package itself is complete. There are some minor critics that needs to be mentioned. The underwater quality is to cry over. You will nt be able to get a focuses image nor movie when you submerge with your camera. So why does GoPro provide an underwater housing that is able to dive to 200feet (60 meters), with a lens attached to it that messes up your focus?
So if you have plans to shoot underwater, you need to by a 3rd party modification to you GoPro housing with all the risks that come with it. There are rumors that GoPro is working on their own underwater housing it a flat lens. But that was supposed to enter the market last winter. So if you want to div and shoot you need to spend an additional €100,- for a good reliable sollution (external flat lens and additional GoPro housing (If you do not want to mess up the original housing – you need to glue some of these lenses to your housing))

As soon as I get some descent footage of my GoPro HD Hero 2 I will post it here on my site.

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Feel free to let me know what you like best. Color or the old fashion Black and White? Just leave a comment.

Click on the photos to see more (I also included the originals so you see what was changed)

[Canon G12, with flash]

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We also went to see these wonders of nature and I have to say it was a pretty amazing sight. Despite the cold and the crowd I still managed to shoot a few nice decent photos.

See below for an example and click on this link to go to the gallery to see more.

[Canon 5D mk2, 24-70mm, Flash 580ex mk2]

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I rather call it a 3D cutout because I think it is a better description for the end result. Anyhow I like the effect a lot and more will follow.

The post Another experiment – Virtual 3D appeared first on frozentimes.net.

For me this was the first tryout and I still see many hurdles to take before I get the image that I want. But hey practice makes perfect. Just let me know what you think of this one.

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North Sea Jazz Festival, July 10th 2011.
It was five years ago when I went to the North Sea Jazz Festival for the last time. So I was happy when I got invited by my mate. I looked forward to all the good music and the opportunity to take some nice shots

Most of all I loved the fact that Prince was doing a full show. It was many years ago that I saw a live performance by Prince, so just that, was already worth a visit. But also the other artists that we saw were more then just entertaining.

It all started with the preparation of my camera kit. What to bring, and where to put it. This year they only allowed compact camera’s or camera’s with fixed lenses. Personally i do not see the reasoning behind this. If you look at the quality and options of the modern compact camera’s. Some of them can easily compete with some ‘not so old’ DSLR’s. But anyways, I decided to take my Canon 5D Mark I body with a 50mm prime lens. (the smallest configuration), and my Canon G12. I gave my 70-200mm lens to my mate, who putted it in his bag.

The check at the entrance was though but I was terrible lucky that the doorkeepers were paying attention to some visitors that started a discussion. So they let me pass without a real check. So we were inside. We enjoyed Raphael Saadiq, Tea for 3 (with Dave Douglas, Enrico Rava and Avishai Cohen), and of course Snoop Dogg, one of my favorite subjects to photograph. Nowhere we were bothered whilst taking pictures. Below some examples of the shots, I was able to take.

For prince we had to leave the main building and went to the large arena. And again a checkpoint. This time they even warned that no audio or video equipment was allowed inside. So not even a compact camera. This was not how it was stated on the website of NSJ.

Again i was lucky at the checkpoint. We were inside. This time it was a lot harder to take some nice shots. Mostly due to the light that Prince used during his show. I managed to take shots, and for the setting we were in I am more then happy with the result. But all was nothing compared to the show. I loved it, and I was real happy that I was part of it

For more photos, just click here to go to the gallery

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The biggest difference I noticed was the fact that she was more aware of what we were doing. At moments this resulted in her playing a role as she was acting. Another side effect was that it was even harder to keep her attention. There were moments she wanted to walk away to start playing with her toys. So we had to dose the amount of time we were actually shooting.

With a little help of mom we managed to get the required shot (for her birthday card). Below there are a few more shot made during the shoot. If you want to see more just click on one of the photos to go to the gallery.

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Keeps me wondering why I never received instructions with the product……

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[Canon 5D Mark I, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L USM Macro, 2 Speedlight flashes]
Click here the see the complete gallery

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Last autumn my daughter found a branch in the forest with a little mushroom attached to it. We took it home, and I could borrow it from her to take some shots. Again I tried to get the setting right and hoped I could get the picture from my brain to the screen. And I am pretty pleased with the end result.

The light comes from my desk-lamp (halogen light) and the blue background is a blue piece of carton. So no fancy stuff in the actual setup. The photos are shot with my 100mm macro lens and the Canon 5D Mark I.

In Adobe Lightroom is adjusted the saturation and the blacks to get a bit more spice. Again I do like the end result but it is still not the same picture that lives in my head. So I will keep trying and am sure I will get there in the end.

The post Mini models appeared first on frozentimes.net.

We also went to the zoo (Artis in Amsterdam) where we visited the butterfly garden. This is paradise for the close-up fans. Sometimes the butterflies even land on your shoulder, which can be frustrating and wonderful at the same time. (You have a nice close-up view but it is impossible to take a nice shot) We went together with Nicki, my daughter, so it was not really possible to concentrate on the pictures, so this is definitely a place to go back to (when i am alone)

The post Insects 2011 appeared first on frozentimes.net.

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The post Old fashion flowers appeared first on frozentimes.net.

So here it is. I have been busting my head for a long time on how to get around the issue of spending way too much money on an expensive drip installation and an electric trigger system.

And finally I saw the light. I needed a medical drip. So I started my search on the net and it took me a while to realize that it was a quest with no end. III asked around if someone knew somebody that had access to medical supplies. But no luck.

Finally I found a website here in Holland that would sell drips to private an address. But only the drip system and not the bags that you need to fill up with liquid.

I decided that I would figure something out and ordered two sets. When I received the package I opened it as soon as possible and examined the system. Never paid any attention to stuff like this so did not know what to expect. Luckily one end had a thick sharp end, and I figured that I would be able to push this thru the cap of a lemonade bottle. And so I did.

I filled the bottle with water and found out that it was not working. I took a while to realize that I needed an extra hole in the other end of the bottle to let air in. And guess what, I had a system that produced drips that I could regulate.

So still no trigger system. I decided to go with the old fashion system – good luck.

See below for my first umbrella drops. Next phase will be to get the lighting right and the background / color. So still more to discover.

The post Waterdrops, new setup appeared first on frozentimes.net.

So basically you have two ways to approach this. (In this example I used a single shot HDR.)

1) Make a HDR of the original and then edit that to black and white
2) Make a black and white edit of the original(s) and turn that to HDR.

In this example I went for option one. Just because that way I only had to produce one black and white edit instead of three. To be honest I can’t tell the differences in result between the two options but that is for a later moment to try out.

See below for the results. (click on the images for the larger versions)

I love the way how you get the detail back when you use HDR. Just compare the trees from the original edits with the HDR edit (both B&W and color version).

Make sure you get your transformation to B&W correct. I personally am a lazy bastard and have a preset that I use in Silver Efex Pro from NikSoft. (one of my favorite tools) It also gives you the old fashion look by adding the original film grain (based on type of film).

I also like to add extra drama to the image during the B&W transformation. Just play with contrast , levels, etc…

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Don’t expect too much of this mini test. Basically what I did was the following, I opened the original photo with the appropriate program or plug-in (within Adobe Photoshop CS4). If the program or plug-in had an automatic setting I used that. If not I only used the most basic adjustments/settings to get a decent result. Maybe I am just lazy, but hey I don’t want to spend my precious time with reducing noise.

So the image on the top left is a crop of the original HDR file. (the un-cropped image can be found in the following article Curacao misty water HDR). The other images are the results of one of the following tools:

• Noise Ninja 2.2.1 (Stand Alone)
• Noise Ware 2.6 (Stand Alone)
• Noise Ware 4.2 (Photoshop plug-in)
• Photoshop CS4 (Stand Alone)
• Lightroom 3 (Stand Alone)
• NikSoft Dfine 2 (Photoshop plug-in)
• Neat Image Pro 6.0 (Stand Alone)
• Topaz Denoise 4(Photoshop plug-in)

The most important thing for me is that I don’t loose any important details in the photo, so that is one of the things I based my conclusion on. The other important one is of course the reduction of noise. So I used the images below to pick the best tool (for my use)

Conclusion
The build in functionality in Photoshop and Lightroom affect the details too much, so does Dfine from NikSoft and Topaz Denoise. Noise Ninja and Noiseware (the standalone versions) do a good job. For me the Plug-in version of Noiseware disturbs the details a wee bit too much. (which is strange in my opinion because you would think it would give the same result as the standalone). Neat Image was a disappointment to me. I read some good reviews on the net but in my test-case it doesn’t reduce much noise but does affect the details.

So I need to choose between Noise Ninja and Noiseware. Based on the images below I would say Noiseware 2.6 (standalone). Maybe I need to do some more testing with different photos.

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The results I get are alright but that is where it ends. I have been reading many tutorials and this has improved the results but I am still not satisfied. There is always something (little) that prevents me of getting the result that I want.

For example, when you look at the pictures in this gallery you will see little white spots in the water. These are little air bubbles that were sticking to the bottom of my glass bowl. And I couldn’t find a way to get rid of them. I do realize, after reading a few more tuts, that I need to use the duration of the flash as exposure time and not the actual exposure time from the camera. So this will be something to play with. I also know now that you don’t need to light the actual water drop but that you need to use the reflection of the light. All little things that you need to be aware of…

Will be continued….

The post Water drops appeared first on frozentimes.net.

When I bought my first macro lens (Canon 100mm f/2.8) I started with photographing flowers, and now with the Canon MP-E 65mm in my possession it is even more intriguing to see the wonders of mother nature. In this article just a few examples. Most of the time I am looking for the tiny flowers opposite to the larges species. Just because it is more of a challenge for me to work with these.

What I do know for sure is that there will follow more flower photographs in the future, due to the fact it is so much fun to do. Just click on the photo’s to see the larger versions.

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Don’t ask me why but I love to play with this concept. For starters it is fun to do, and I can learn a lot while trying to beat the problems that I will encounter.

It gives me the opportunity too play with several aspects of photography, think about; Close-up shooting, light setup , composition, and color. So in a very tiny space I can work with all these different factors. Just see it as my mini studio on the dinner table in the kitchen. The only thing that you need to remember is to keep your flowers fresh…

• Close-up shooting: Static objects, so no moving bugs and other influences from mother nature
• Light setup: You can use small flashed and little pieces of paper, so no big studio lights and soft boxes.
• Composition: It is very important to set the right position, (otherwise the water drop will not show the image of the flowers in the background) So I need to think about composition which is a nice challenge. But also possible because of the small setting
• Color: Most flowers are very colorful, which gives me the opportunity to play with these colors, and the small setting gives me the freedom to easily change backgrounds.

If you keep the above in mind you will be able to create nice pictures. For me it is looking for that little bit extra. And I do realize that I still have many roads in front of me.

The post Flowerdrops continued … appeared first on frozentimes.net.

Before we left I have been thinking about buying a variable ND filter, but after reading many reviews on the internet, and learning that the Fader ND from Light Craft Workshop wouldn’t work with most of my Canon lenses and the Singh-Ray was way above my budget, I decided that I should be able to do without.

I have to say that I wished I had more cash to buy the Singh-Ray filter, because I did miss it. An on the other hand, the people a Light Craft were telling me that they were working on a new version of their filter, but I didn’t know if that would fix my problems (showing a black cross on wide angle Canon lenses) and it would not ship before our departure date so that was no option.

So I had my tripod set on the beach and tried to block some light with my Cokin ND filters. Unfortunately they have a purple color cast so I didn’t try to combine two of these (which will intensify the color cast). You can adjust the white balance to minimize the color cast but you can only do so much. So I ended up with only one Cokin ND8 filter and at the end I achieved 30 seconds for the +2 stop shot on the smallest aperture.

But only 2,5 seconds for the -2 stop shots. And 2,5 seconds is just too short for the nice misty (long exposure) effect.
So all I could do was hope that combining the the 30 sec. exposure with the 2,5 sec. and the 15 sec. exposure during the HDR process would solve my problem. And at the end it dis, but I am still convinced that I would achieve better results if I can extend the exposure times. So maybe I need to save more money, or set my hopes on the new Mark II filter form the guys at Light Craft. So more reviews to read.

The post Curacao misty water HDR appeared first on frozentimes.net.

I love the way how the color of the light is effected when the HDR technique is used, especially the shot on the left is a good example of what i am talking about. All shots are three shots (-2, 0, +2 stops) combined in Photomatix. I know it is not standard to have such huge color shift but when you play a bit in Photomatix it is an option at least. In in some situation I just love the effect.

I used a tripod for all the indoor shots. Most shots taken without tripod failed miserably, just because of the simple fact that it is almost impossible to combine a good HDR is you don’t use a steady base.

Also outside where is enough light to achieve a faster shutter speed it is recommended to use your tripod. Personally I always mess it up and keep thinking that I will survive without. Dumb thought!. I hope I will learn eventually (LOL).

I always try to get the best result from Photomatix without the need to do more adjustments in Photoshop or Lightroom. Some of the photos in this series needed small corrections because I used a width angle lens and I don’t like the curved lines. But that was basically it. Want to see more? Just click on one of the photos and you will be taken to the gallery where you will find more from this serries.

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Unfortunately it was very hard to use the flash on the glass background, and too dark to work with the MP-E 65mm without flash. So I had to improvise. I disconnected the flash from the lens and used it handheld, this gave me the opportunity to move the flash to the back and control the light that way.

Personally I am very pleased with the result. Just click on the image to go to the gallery to see more.

Later that day, still my gear on the kitchen table, I noticed a few bugs in the garden. All I want to say is I just love to phoograph bugs in their natrual habitat, but that it is hell to do so especially with the Canon MP-E 65mm. For me it is like a bug-hunt and it give me extra credits if I succeed without any animal unfriendly tricks.

After reading a very good tutorial (I won’t share the link here) about how to control bugs for macro shots I have to say that I agree in the comments that were placed on this tutorial. You just do not control bugs, if you don’t have to. And if you have enough experience and skill there is no need for this.

The guy wrote about freezing insects, using vinegar, using sticky tape and more. I think that the pictures in this article prove that there is no need for bug control. And that it is more then possible to shoot bugs in their natural environment.

[Canon 5d, MP-E 65mm, Sigma Macro flash]

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What did I do? First of all I got my exposure on the correct setting in Lightroom, then I opened it in Photoshop. Played with contrast and brightness.

When I was satisfied I copied the main layer and set the layer mode of the copied layer to “Soft Light’. What this does in a B&W photo is make you edges more vivid, and this will give you the idea that you have sharpened your photo. That’s all I did to all but one.

The one on the left was actually a single HDR (HDR made from one single shot) that was tonemapped and then set to B&W. From there I did the same actions as I did on the other photo’s

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