Dear Greg,
Glad you liked it.
I used my usual (for now) out door setup of 50mm f/3.5 + 3rd party converter to
give 1:1. My lens is fitted with a meatl hood to which I have fixed a Brass bar
running back towards the camera, but at about a 30 degree angle to the lens
axis. It's fixed with a circular clamp (home made, but you could use on of
these radiatpr hose clips we call a Jubilee clip). This allows me to rotate the
bracket around the lens axis. The brass bar has a hole which allows me to fit a
T20 auto conector. The flash then sits with its window right along side, and
directed at the focal point of the lens. It's not critically pointed as I can
use a range of distances - enough light gets to them.
The T20 is then connected to the camera using a 0.3m cord to the T32.
Its not quite ideal. I want to experiment with some diffusers over the T20 to
balance its light output to the T32. I just need a little more fill in the
shadows.
The T20 incidentally works very well just directed into the top of a fish tank
with the same lens combination. The multiple reflections (particularly from the
bottom of the tank) soften the lighting nicely. I can use about F/4 to F/5.6
with the OM2n on auto.
You've done very well on your spider photo to avoid burning out the body
detail. I'm still getting used to the OM2 auto flash, and having to compensate
for a black background.
One trick I have used is to set the aperture to give me about a 1/60 exposure
on auto, and then use the TTL flash. I then get a nice filled background
slightly darker than the insect, but essentially a flash shot.
As regards keeping the insect or spider still, there's no simple answer. I've
tried in my indoor days refrigerating the insect, with limited success.
At the end of the day it's down to a combination of luck and patience. The one
factor that I do think is important is knowing your subject. I spend more time
watching my subjects than photographing them. That way I can have some
knowledge of what they are going to do when a giant shoves a 50mm Zuicko in
their faces!
Chris
Malvern
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