White Mill revisited & flash diffusion experimentation

Pete May 5, 2012June 25, 2012 1 Comment Fuji Velvia 50, Green Nettle Weevil, Insect, Macro, Olympus OM T28 Flash, Thick-headed fly, White Mill, Zuiko Olympus 38mm F2.8 Macro Lens, Zuiko Olympus OM 80mm F4 Macro lens

Due to the poor weather there has not been many sightings of butterflies or damselflies, so revisted White Mill to take some more macro shots of bugs. I also took the opportunity to try out some different flash lighting set ups on my Olympus T28 twin macro flash system, in an attempt to diffuse the amount of light hitting the subject and avoid creating flash spot reflections.

First of all tried out the Olympus ND4 filters in conjunction with the Olympus 38mm F2.8 macro lens, which turned out to be too strong a filter with a flash sync of 1/60. The shots at this level of magnification (3x plus) turned out too dark. I did keep one which I liked of this close up of a Thick-headed fly.

Olympus OM 38mm F2.8 lens at F11 on Fuji Velvia 50 slide film.

When the ND4 filters are used with the Olympus 80mm F4 lens, the result is better than with the 38mm as more light is put down. However in my opinion it goes too far the other way in that it puts too much light down making the image too bright & harsh, as shown by this shot of the same thick-headed fly.

Olympus OM 80mm F4 lens at F8 on Fuji Velvia 50 slide film.

My next flash set up is a rough copy from this macro photo web site, and early experimentation is producing pleasing results as these shots of an unknown critter & Green Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus) show. The light is not as harsh & there is litte or no flash hot spots on the subjects when used with the Olympus 38mm F2.8 macro lens.

I still need to do a bit of tweaking with the set up as it proved a bit clumsy out in the field.

The unknown critter