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Fun with the new 180L + MT-24EX and stink bugs

Green stink bugs are one of my favorite subjects due to their bright green color.  For more information about stink bugs, see the previous blog I wrote about them.  In particular I often enjoy photographing them against the strong red of the Japanese maple bushes in our front yard, which works out well because that is where I usually find them.

The leaf in this shot is from me.  In a previous shot some commented that the red of the Japanese maple was too strong against the green of the stink bug.  Also, in this case the stink bug wasn’t in a very good spot to photograph so I used the leaf to move it.  One thing I have noticed is that the MT-24EX on the 180L can tend to be a bit too strong.  In this case the front of the stink bug is a bit too strongly lit.  Continue on for a comparison with a similar shot on the MP-E 65 and more stink bug experiments.

Here’s a very similar shot taken last year with the MP-E 65 and the MT-24EX.

This is the shot that others generally reviewed as having too strong of a contrast.  Contrast aside, note that the lighting on the stink bug is much softer here.  In both cases I used the exact same flash – MT-24EX – and in both cases the MT-24EX had Sto-fen diffusers.  I remember reading some time ago that in macro as the light gets further from the subject it actually becomes harsher.  This still doesn’t make sense to me but these shots seem to suggest that is true.  The fix, I hope, is a Wimberley macro flash bracket that will arrive at the end of this week.  I did try adjusting the position of the heads and the angles but I was unable to soften the light as much as the shot with the MP-E 65.

Getting back to my experiment, I then decided to try photographing the stink bug on my car.  The first one is from the top.

The blue of the car is a bit dark here, but I don’t think that’s too much of an issue as in previous shots it has the tendency to overpower things.  One thing to note is that pictures with my MP-E 65 brought out the blue much stronger, further indicating that I am currently not lighting the entire shot but just the bug.  Here’s a shot I took several weeks ago with the MP-E 65.

If this is the case, the Wimberley will probably not be the only solution but I should look into also firing a 580EX to light the background when taking macro shots with the 180L and MT-24EX.  In the past I have had problems firing the 580EX from the MT-24EX but I can probably now solve the problem with Pocketwizards.  Finally, I took advantage of the lighting from the combination to get the stink bug and its shadow.

So the moral is from this experiment that I need to work more with lighting when using this combo.  Things are a bit easier with the MP-E 65, but with the 180L more thought needs to be given to the background and to preventing harsh light on the subject.

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Tags: 180L, bug, Canon 180mm, insect, macro, mp-e 65, mt-24ex, photography, stink bug