CalevPhoto

Wimberley macro brackets review

For some time, I have made use of a pair of Wimberley macro brackets.  Now that I have used them in a number of different situations, I thought I would share my experiences with them.

I had looked at brackets for several months prior to buying these.  In terms of macro brackets, the two main competitors are Really Right Stuff and Kirk Photo.  After some consideration, I chose the Wimberley macro brackets, but for those interested the following are the reasons I did not buy the other choices.

Really Right Stuff – For awhile, this was my first choice.  Only when I learned about the Wimberley brackets did I change my mind.  In order for the bracket to work with the MT-24EX, I needed to buy another flash mount.  Also, I needed at least one telescoping arm to get the flashes past the lens.  Therefore, the price came out a bit higher than the Wimberley solution.

The main reason I chose the Wimberley was flexibility.  The RRS solution is nice – but the Wimberley brackets can literally bend in almost any direction.  The RRS brackets are limited by the flexibility of the arm – which can be rotated around the bracket and extended.

Kirk Photo – This solution looks a bit more flexible than the RRS, but looks a bit flimsy.  I hesitated whether it would take a 580EX without issue or something heavier.  It is also not as flexible as the Wimberley.

Iguana taken in Mexico’s Riviera Maya.  Canon 180mm macro with two Wimberley lights. 1/125 f/7.1. 

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Playing with drips and drops

While all of the snow we recently got was melting, I took the opportunity to take a number of drop pictures.  I’m happy with this latest attempt.  Sure, there are faults such as the reflection in the drop itself being blurry – but that is mainly because I found these shots in nature rather than setting something up.

In the future I may try different setups and studio water drop pictures, but for now I do like the lighting effects and I think my technique has improved – though there is still a ways to go.

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Critiquing my own ice pictures

This weekend I had the chance to take a few ice pictures during a brief period when the snow was melting.  As an interesting exercise, I thought I would critique some of the better shots from that shoot.  I didn’t get any award winners, but perhaps a critique of why they are not award winners may help me correct this in the future.

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Not your ordinary car exhaust

One of the great things I love about snow is that it has to melt at some time or another.  When in melts, I try to be there.  Unfortunately, the weather was a bit cold today so not much melted, but I did get the chance to find a few drippies.

Today wasn’t a great day as far as drippies go.  Most of the ones I found were either too difficult to get at or weren’t dropping at a quick and predictable rate.  I did find this one in a rather unusual place though.

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Lessons learned on photographing fish tanks

At long last I finally received my 5D Mark II!  I received it literally the day before heading out on a flight to upstate New York to see my parents, so I didn’t get a real chance to play with it until I arrived there.

My father has a 240 gallon reef tank, so I decided to play with it a bit.  I used my 180L combined with my MT-24EX to get these shots.  None of them are spectacular, but I did learn a few things from photographing them.

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The mystery of the white lacewing

Very often as I follow the insects and other small creatures in my backyard, I come across a mystery.  These aren’t truly mysteries, as I’m sure someone knows the answer, but in my research I am unable to find an answer as to why things are.

Take for example, this lacewing that I found recently in my backyard.

This lacewing appears to be dead.  It has grown pale white and has some ‘stuff’ on it.  In cases like this, I do not know truly what has happened but I can comment on what I have observed. Continue Reading…

Two flies in love

While shooting some shots this weekend, I found two flies ‘getting to know’ each other.  The following shots tell a little story.  Please note that these images may be inappropriate for some maggots.

If anyone knows the species for these flies, I would appreciate an ID.

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A successful weekend

This weekend one of my friends was nice enough to let me use his 40D to take pictures during several Halloween parties.  Saturday and Sunday mornings, I decided to get a few macro pictures in, as the current estimates say I won’t have the 5D Mark II until the end of the month.

I took this shot of a very patient fly, though I was a bit heartbroken that it took off just after this and I might have been able to get the shot off.  Still, I don’t think this one is so bad.

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Zen and the art of the MP-E 65

Recently I lent my MP-E 65 macro lens to two colleagues at work.  Both are very good photographers but had never used this lens before.  Interestingly, neither one was able to come up with decent shots from the lens.

Comments that I heard were

“I just don’t have that much patience.”

“I took a number of shots, but they all came out blurry”

I feel like some sort of zen master, when I prognose that the reason that they failed to take good shots had nothing to do with their photography skills (they’re both better than I), but that they were unable to find their inner peace to use the lens correctly.

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Name that moth!

Several weeks ago I found this moth on the side of our shed.

Moths are especially difficult to identify, and I’m not exactly sure that I know what it is.  None of my insect books had it, but that is the case for the majority of moths I come across.

Luckily, I came across this resource on the moths of the Pacific Northwest!  After thumbing through it a bit, I believe I finally know what type of moth it is.  And the drum roll…

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