Macro mania for breakfast

[robar]

kind of like a praying mantis??

[mtngal]

Love your pictures - all of them are good, but the dragonfly is my favorite. That lens might be heavy, but the results are worth it!

What type of spider is that? I'm sure it's very common - same spider, same lens, separated by something like 2,000 miles.

P.S. - I think I like the rose bud best, though it's not a clear-cut choice.

[robar]

i knew you and dawg just got this lens and thats why i posted these. you're going to love this lens. i'm not sure about dawg tho. he may expire before he has the chance to use it. actually the damsel is my fav as it's the best i've ever captured of one of them. the rose?? close 1st

roy
edit: on camera flash with the sigma 500 with a stofen difusser. i need to ck out the flash using the difusser with my bounce card.

[robar]

that is the same spider. no idea what kind but defintely in the orb spinner(?) class.

roy

[mtngal]

Playing with this lens has got me thinking about flashes - the on-board one is hard to control. I was lucky the spider was so unphased by it because it took me several tries to get this one - the first two were totally blown out. At one point I used a piece of vellum to put over it - I need to dig it out and tape it into a cone so it would fit. I've learned that whenever I compromise due to price (rather than concentrating on feature set), I always regret it. However the more expensive Pentax flash looks so huge and weight is a real issue with me.

[robar]

with the 105 you'll find the onboard flash will not work at 1:1. retract the hood and set the lens at 1:2 and it'll work as long as you have the lense set using the A setting on the lens. even then you may need to dial in some neg EV value.

roy