Macro - DoF much too shallow

[kundalini]

Damn, this is hard stuff............



http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa199/kundalini2737/Ant.jpg



http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa199/kundalini2737/Fly.jpg


Practice, practice, practice...........

These were shot with a 105mm with 1.7 TC attached at f/13. Suggestions appreciated to reduce the failure rate.

[Antarctican]

Phenomenal detail! Once you get the dof worked out to include more area, you're off to the races. [Hopefully doenoe or others who can give you advice will weigh in.]

[doenoe]

I never worked with a TC, but i think thats the problem. I shoot at F13 alot and the DOF is good then.A TC messes with alot of stuff, so i think it messes with the DOF too. You can try it without the TC and see what happens, cause you can get close enough without one......you just have to crop a bit more :)

[Overread]

The more you increase magnification the smaller your depth of field (at a fixed aperture) gets and the smaller your plain of focus gets - your viewfinder image also gets darker as well (though this is dependant party on what you use - macro filters don't darken as much as teleconverters in general).
I would say cut back to a 1.4TC - that should still let you get close enough to get eye details on things like flies and its not too harsh on the depth of field either. I have used a 2* teleconverter for some great results in the past, but it certainly was a much harder task and one has to get the plain of focus perfect otherwise you mess up what you get (and luck is certainly a big part of things ;)).

As to the two shots above its a shame that the plant got in the way of the first - but you did nail the focus on the ant well. The fly has also come out well - though your getting a lot of harsh reflections off him - what sort of lighting are you using for these shots and how diffused is it? A polarizer can help, but it makes things a lot darker to focus though (and that can make getting focus in the right place very tricky)

[MissMia]

Pretty cool shot of the ant, K! I'm finding that there is quite a learning curve with that 105mm too!