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Hoverfly on Flower
© 2006 cgarrard

This flower is only 3/4" inch in diameter, the hoverfly about 3/8th on wingspan. Sony 50mm macro prime lens. Critiques welcome!

Photo Details

Photo by: cgarrard
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Date: Sun Aug 6, 2006
Views: 3,885
Keywords: hoverfly on flower
Camera: Sony Alpha A100 DSLR

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Lens: Another Lens

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Other Equipment: Lens/Sony 50mm prime Macro
Shutter Speed and Aperture: 1/125ththsec @ f 8
ISO: 100

Additional Info

Photo-John

Captain of the Ship

Carl-
This is a really beautiful image. It's got a soft, ethereal feeling to it - almost ghostly. But I'm wondering if it's all the lens or maybe you did some blurring in post-processing? Composition is great. I might have added a bit of saturation. But that's a matter of interpretation, I think. The delicacy of your image is great, as-is.

Photo-John

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#1 Tue Aug 8, 2006 7:00pm

cgarrard

Senior Member

John,

This would be the lens, very little post processing actually. I cropped the image and did a tad of noise removal and very little sharpening via Neat Image, and a slight adjustment in shadow highlight detail, to bring out some dark in the Fly. I think the DOF has everything to do with the softness, also had DRO set to maximum. The images from the Alpha are almost indescribable in tone range and distribution John. I am very impressed. I found my intital reaction to the softness of my images had to do with my transition into a DSLR and an optical viewfinder. I made a dioptric adjustment and now im finding my images to be sharper and more detailed. Im also just more used to the camera now and finding "sweet spots" within my exposure settings etc. Do you find a certain likeable quality to the A100's images too? Hope im not the only one. In a way it reminds me of the R-1 and the images that came from it and how they first impacted the public. Yet they are different than the R-1's images, less I say better. I like the way the pixels line up vs. the R-1's, they seem softer and well, better blended for lack of a better word. Do you see that yet? Or maybe your reviewer will. Thanks for the high rating, and your comments, hope I answered your questions.

Carl

My 'new' signature:

Stay focused.
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My old signature:

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#2 Tue Aug 8, 2006 8:05pm

Photo-John

Captain of the Ship

Maybe it's the DRO setting. I think maybe it needs a bit more contrast. But again, it's somewhat a matter of taste. I need to play with the DRO.

Decided I'm going to do the review. I've already shot over 700 exposures with the camera and want to make sure it gets done quickly and to spec.

Photo-John

Your reviews are the foundation of this site - Write A Review!

#3 Tue Aug 8, 2006 10:17pm

cgarrard

Senior Member

Excellent, glad to hear you are doing the review. I will check out the contrast settings John before im finished with this one, thanks for the advice/tip. Ill let you know which I prefer after doing that. Fyi, my camera settings are are as follows: Standard Color, Contrast +1, sat. 0, sharpness +2. For now

. I think the incamera sharpness on the A100 is good even at its highest level, unlike the R-1 where it seems to degrade picture quality, and the sharpness seems to be subtle as far as the adjustment range, but when you do your review you can see for yourself.

C

My 'new' signature:

Stay focused.
www.photographic-central.blogspot.com

My old signature:

"Experience, is the reward worth living for"
www.AlphaMountWorld.com

#4 Tue Aug 8, 2006 10:49pm

starriderrick

photo gallery Mod.

Hi Carl,
Great image. I have been looking at alot of DSLR cameras in this performance/price range .

Alot of choices.I finally decided after much debate.

I pre-ordered my new rig today.
I'm getting a Nikon D80. with the 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX zoom Nikkor

I have been saving for a long time.

I was so torn between the sony dscR-1 and the Alpha. I almost got the Canon EOS 30D. :thumbsup:

So Expect to see the new rig sometime in September..{I can hardly wait}

Once again fantastic capture.Great colors,detail.
With regards,
Rick

#5 Sat Aug 12, 2006 11:37am

cgarrard

Senior Member

D-80 should be a great camera Rick, great choice! I was torn between this camera and the Nikon D200x yet, went with the Sony system for all it's leading edge features. The D80 has a lot going for it for the buck, and I really really like Nikon right now. Nikon's biggest deficit is thier lack of I.S., truely the standard in future DSLR's in my opinion, yet, you can't go wrong with a truly classic rig from them like that. Plus the zillion lens options you have, etc.

Thanks for the Kudos Rick, good to see you here again! Can't wait to see your shots with the DSLR.

C

My 'new' signature:

Stay focused.
www.photographic-central.blogspot.com

My old signature:

"Experience, is the reward worth living for"
www.AlphaMountWorld.com

#6 Sat Aug 12, 2006 1:14pm

jack9019

Senior Member

Great shot Carl. How close were you with that lens when you made the shot? Beautiful.

Jack

Jack Cunningham http://www.photoartbycunningham.com

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs. Ansel Adams

#7 Thu Feb 22, 2007 3:54pm

cgarrard

Senior Member

Thank you Jack, I was about 1' away. I used a 50mm macro lens.

Carl

My 'new' signature:

Stay focused.
www.photographic-central.blogspot.com

My old signature:

"Experience, is the reward worth living for"
www.AlphaMountWorld.com

#8 Thu Feb 22, 2007 11:05pm

cgarrard

Senior Member

Um, I'm not complaining, but this is the second time this photo of mine has recieved photo of the week. I think one honor is plenty, and im sure there are several other photographs that could use the recognition for a week. I don't know if this was a mistake or not. I hope this is read and removed from photo of the week, just to give others a spot they deserve.

Carl

My 'new' signature:

Stay focused.
www.photographic-central.blogspot.com

My old signature:

"Experience, is the reward worth living for"
www.AlphaMountWorld.com

#9 Thu Mar 1, 2007 10:03pm

starriderrick

photo gallery Mod.

I think it's just that good....

Fascinating effect with the lense you spoke of.
Impressive Carl.:thumbsup:

#10 Thu Mar 1, 2007 10:14pm

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