NikonGear'23
Images => Nature, Flora, Fauna & Landscapes => Topic started by: Frank Fremerey on June 20, 2015, 17:38:26
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In short words:
1) I shoot bee portraits for honey pot labels since 2007 (I have the labels printed and delivered to the bee-keepers), I get money and honey for the work & it is a lot of fun
2) Now by sheer chance I discovered that sometimes I can track down the bee in flight, also capture some landing operations and the like.
3) Now that I found it can be done accidentally I want to do it more and more intentionally. The Physics limits of the task:
(http://ZENTRALKRAFT.COM/nearfield_d600_60mm_f11.jpg)
plus of course I need a short time because bees tend to move fast erratically and sometimes unintentionally with the wind. Not a big thing given enough light and cranking up the ISO which is no problem with modern FF-Cameras
4) What I currently do is employ 3D-tracking, then saving the setting and trying to move with the bee in parallel. Not a very high yield though.
5) What I do not want is to intervene with the bees life to push her of the track she is on. I want to picture genuine bee's life, to learn about the little animals by watching how they behave relatively undisturbed.
Any suggestion to improve my shooting "bees in flight" is greatly appreciated...
(some examples posted later, visitors in the door)
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Have you looked at IR releases. I mean those devices that trigger a camera when a reflected IR beam is interrupted. To make it even more reliable, connect two in series with their beams crossed. Focus the camera onto the intersection point. Then, just hook up your camera to an AC/DC power source, activate the camera and go away to enjoy coffee or friend's company.
You can return hours later and hopefully have a lot of well exposed, sharp images.
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typical scene, two halfway sharp images in the set, all SOOC JPEGs for demo purpose only:
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Bjørn: Where should I put the IR-Auto-Release? for a scene like this?
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Anywhere you want for the pictorial outcome, but probably just slightly in front of a given flower. If the bees arrive in random directions sooner or later they will trigger the release. Do set up with a flash (preferably, run off the mains) so you can get the bee sharp not only the flowers.
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OK, this will make for a single perfect frame of the flight, but not for the "flight operation" or landing operation. I have tracked bees through unsharp series which perform unusual things like sucking from a flower and the performing a backwards start operation.
Is there an autofocus system with a touch screen that allows to mark an object to be tracked?
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You could just let the camera rip at max. speed? Or initiate a video capture?
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I haven't any expertise in this ... but, while it is definitely unwieldy, a frame/box extending out from the lens with zone focus or even the IR trigger hooked up ... may have potential. When the bee is in the frame/box, it is in the focus plane.
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Video capture with focus tracking a DOF of 0.8mm and an object that is roughly 1.5cm long and moving at 7cm/s????
For relief I dig into the archives for some real goodies.
Currently the only recipe seems to be "waste more film"
If we break down the problem rationally we have the following:
1) extremely shallow depth of field, less than one mm
2) small target zone, hopefully the "face" of the bee not the "ass"
3) speed of movement about two orders of magnitude above the DOF size (0.7 vs. 70)
4) wind moving background objects too
5) possible camera shake too
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http://www.noldus.com/innovationworks/products/track3d/track3d-how-it-works
A little googleing brought a pro solution possible not usable in the wild life garden
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Apparently that setup catered more for recording the movements of the animal rather than its appearance.
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http://ZENTRALKRAFT.COM/landing_OP.jpg
here is a nice series in which I nearly nailed it (~35MB) all in a time frame of half a second
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http://fotokontext.de/ZENTRALKRAFT/starting_OP.jpg
And a starting OP with "timecode"
off for family
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Cognisys Stopshot
https://www.cognisys-inc.com/products/stopshot/stopshot.php
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Sounds great
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Hi Frank,
Have you already found fotoopa on the web?
He built his own very sophisticated rig which is certainly not easy to replicate but I remember having read detailed descriptions of the problems he encountered when trying to shoot insects in flight and why he chose to do his set up this way. The shutter lag discussion was what convinced me that wasting shutter clicks is, for me, the only way to go :)
http://gizmodo.com/5464119/make-your-own-rig-for-ultra-high-speed-photography
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fotoopa_hs/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fotoopa_hs/collections/72157616371829502/
http://nikonrumors.com/2011/05/24/fotoopas-unbelievable-custom-rig-for-capturing-insects-in-flight.aspx/ for an ld version of his rig
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This is really really a way way cool setup! Thank you.
But this is nothing for me also. The results have such a "textbook feel"
I do not want to use flash and I do not want to freeze the insects. I want to keep the light situation as natural as possible and I want to create a feel to be "in the scene" to live and fly with the insects. Wait, I get a shot that explains the emotional quality I want to achieve. It is somewhere in the archive.
I want to track her flying though the bush.
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Hi Frank, just found you from your other bee thread. Ok I'm starting to understand more (info is spread between the two threads!)
No more advice, but I wanted to echo and support your signature.
Here in the UK the Govt has applied the EU restriction on neonicotnoids and some farmers are complaining. I'm in favour, based what I believe to be important researching linking these pesticides with loss of bees. Maybe we'll keep this discussion on a separate thread.
Good luck with your search and I'm glad that part of your reward comes back to you in honey :)
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I find it highly difficult to follow these bees in the different threads that keeps popping up... :o Maybe one thread is enough...
So again:
Depth of field with these sharp lenses is not what counts, depth of focus is much more important and as stated the eyes as always...
Your way to low in shutter speed IMHO so I would go into various kinds of illumination, LED panels large softbox I suggest again, they simply can't know if there is one or two suns...
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Hi Frank,
Have you already found fotoopa on the web?
He built his own very sophisticated rig which is certainly not easy to replicate but I remember having read detailed descriptions of the problems he encountered when trying to shoot insects in flight and why he chose to do his set up this way. The shutter lag discussion was what convinced me that wasting shutter clicks is, for me, the only way to go :)
http://gizmodo.com/5464119/make-your-own-rig-for-ultra-high-speed-photography
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fotoopa_hs/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fotoopa_hs/collections/72157616371829502/
http://nikonrumors.com/2011/05/24/fotoopas-unbelievable-custom-rig-for-capturing-insects-in-flight.aspx/ for an ld version of his rig
I was looking for this, I remembered it only vaguely, Thanks for posting!
This is how it's done! Some outstanding captures!
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I am afraid that I am just old-fashioned when it comes to flying insects. I use a tripod, sometimes a gimbal. I use auto-focus and usually (since I have very few auto-focus lenses) the Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR f/2.8G IF-ED lens. I waste frames and I try to get as much DOF as the situation can bear, which means higher apertures.
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Michael: This is really helpful and the result is just what I am aiming at. I just like to have less crop and less noise and less sharpening artifacts.
Do you add artificial light in the process?
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Nikon 105mm Macro, ISO 400, f/11, 500 sec
I don’t use flash. Sometimes, indoors, in winter I use LED panels or fiber optics for highlights.
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F=11 is what I use too. So I need to practice more and waste more film and probably add a LED panel to my system
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F=11 is what I use too. So I need to practice more and waste more film and probably add a LED panel to my system
I said I may use a small LED panel indoors, in winter, for still life. No bees flying around in there. Outside, where the bees are, I use no light except sunshine.
Nikon 105mm Macro, ISO 400, f/11, 800 sec
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Michael. Funny sucker animal down there! Do you know its name?
Seeing you pics I dared to add a little sharpening to this one (1/4 the original size):
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Michael. Funny sucker animal down there! Do you know its name?
One of the "bee flies" Nice shot, yours.
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One of the "bee flies" Nice shot, yours.
You sure it is a fly and not a "bug" (German "Wanze"): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteroptera
I love it if the gradients are smooth. That is what I love about your pictures in general: There is no "doctored" or "artificial" feel to them although your process of preparation includes lots of software steps.