Experimenting - _TNY_6387
Here is a bit of an experimental shot from back in 2015 when I was using a ring flash.
Ring flashes light up the subject very well, but the problem with them is that since the light source is so close to the subject, it is *very* difficult to diffuse the light properly.
Here I am trying out something which initially showed nice potential - cross-polarized light.
The idea is to add a normal circular polarizing filter (CPL) on the lens, but also a layer of polarizing film in front of the flash heads. Since the film will only let through light of one polarization, that light will bounce off the subject and by adjust the rotation of the CPL on the lens that polarizng layer would be able to cancel out any unwanted reflections.
Cool idea, but ultimately a way too slow process with inects who tend to move before you had the time to adjust the CPL (which also darkened the viewfinder).
This subject was quite sationary though. It's (technically there are two) first instar of the green shieldbug (Palomena prasina) which were very shiny. Here, just the Raynox DCR-250 on a 100mm macro lens wasn't enough so I coupled that with a couple of extension tubes to get even closer.
Experimenting - _TNY_6387
Here is a bit of an experimental shot from back in 2015 when I was using a ring flash.
Ring flashes light up the subject very well, but the problem with them is that since the light source is so close to the subject, it is *very* difficult to diffuse the light properly.
Here I am trying out something which initially showed nice potential - cross-polarized light.
The idea is to add a normal circular polarizing filter (CPL) on the lens, but also a layer of polarizing film in front of the flash heads. Since the film will only let through light of one polarization, that light will bounce off the subject and by adjust the rotation of the CPL on the lens that polarizng layer would be able to cancel out any unwanted reflections.
Cool idea, but ultimately a way too slow process with inects who tend to move before you had the time to adjust the CPL (which also darkened the viewfinder).
This subject was quite sationary though. It's (technically there are two) first instar of the green shieldbug (Palomena prasina) which were very shiny. Here, just the Raynox DCR-250 on a 100mm macro lens wasn't enough so I coupled that with a couple of extension tubes to get even closer.