The subject beetle is probably 3-4mm in length. Camera is a Canon EOS 700D with a standard 200mm zoom lens and a 40mm lens spacer
Consulted my big book of insects and the closest is Myrrha octodecimguttata, the 18-spot ladybird. “Maroon-brown with 18 cream spots and fusions.” It’s the only one with fusions as far as I can see.
So, if you want to go deeper… I think canon does have some focus bracketing with their macro lenses. But those are crazy pricey and you don’t necessarily need them. I use lenses from laowa that on canon mirrorless bodies are fully manual but give me 2x magnification and much lighter weight. The other thing you need as mentioned is light. An on-body flash with a fast recycle time and well placed diffusion will give you great shots (check out the AK diffuser).
You can even get good hand-held focus stacking results with a fast flash and a bit of practice.
Good luck! It’s an addicting and rewarding hobby.
Great shot. If you want to start working in more macro and improve your game, look into if your canon has focus bracketing. I don’t work with canons, but if you need any help entering the macro world more, hit me up and I’ll help if I can.
I’ve heard of focus stacking but haven’t tried it yet. I suppose I’d need a way to jog the focus in steps or something while taking a series of shots from the same distance? All my pictures are free hand, not on a tripod, and outside where the wind blows things around so I don’t know how I’d get a steady stepped series of shots, if that’s required.
Yes, that’s the general idea. There are different techniques, but the traditional method is physically moving the camera in small steps to create a larger “artificial DoF” than your shot settings produced in a single frame. Fuji and Nikon have “in-camera” focus bracketing that moves your focus from minimum focus distance to infinity, with Fuji offering a better, more robust option. I wouldn’t be surprised if canon had a similar feature by now. This allows the camera to remain in place and move the DoF with optics. Regardless, yeah, free-handing won’t cut it without tons of light so you could stop down for a larger DoF and use a very rapid shutter speed. You could likely get some decent results if you’re sure-handed, but you’d probably want at least a monopod. Then there’s the software side of blending them together to produce the “single” image. So it just depends on if/how much you want to continue exploring the macro world. But it is some fun stuff, so have fun with it and feel free to ask anything any time.
No spots? Not seen a ladybird like that
🤷 I forgot to ask her what she was wearing, but here’s another one, but with yellow pattern instead of burnt orange. Pattern looks the same on both (they are not in North America if that matters)
*ladybug. Not a bird.
Awesome shot! I’ve never really done much with focus bracketing like the other user suggested (I really should), but I’d recommend getting a lens reverser if you enjoy macro shooting. I got one for like $15 on Amazon and thew it on my shitty kit lens and love it. It requires a lot more patience and focus to use, since you don’t get any autofocus or aperture control, but it’s a super cheap way to get some great macro shots!
I have one of these too! I bought it with the other things in my macro attachments. Very compact and cheap bit of kit. It produces an ultra short DOF so it’s only good if I’m capturing something on a flat plane using a tripod or if I end up doing focus stacking like I’ve been discussing with another commenter
