My new lens - Late bday present

[eclyps]

So I got my Sigma 105mm 2.8 Macro yesterday as a late bday present.

Here are some shots with it.

I'm not too happy with the ant. Poor lighting conditions. But the leo turned out pretty cool. The shots of him are what fits, and then a 100% crop of the eye.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/godzilla1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/godzilla1_crop.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/godzilla2.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/godzilla2_crop.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/ant2.jpg

[leoftw]

Nice detail on the eye .

[Kilz]

I'm very jealous. Awesome man. I almost bought a rebel XTi and a lense when we got our taxes back this year but I ended up not. Next year for sure.

[hot6]

oooooooooooooo creepy crawlers

[The Penultimate Mohican]

Yeah thanks eclyps. I had just gotten content with my 50 fixed and 75-300, but noooooooooo I had to see this. I got a Rebel XT.

I also got one of those fisheye attachments off ebay for $40. It's about $40 worth of fun. You get what you pay for. After awhile the distortions start to annoy you, but at least you figure out if fisheye is interesting to you or not. It's not $900 interesting to me.

You ever play around with HDR techniques?

And yeah, that eye shot is amazing.

I like the macro, but then you open up the whole macro lighting can of worms. I'm constantly trying to balance my interest level with what I'm willing to spend on photography. I still don't own a flash. At the end of the day all I'm looking for are good vacation shots.

[Enlightened Fool]

Those are great pics, I'm jealous of your fancy cam.

[*dianne*]

forget the camera, thats one healty looking gecko you've got there! :D

[eclyps]

Yeah thanks eclyps. I had just gotten content with my 50 fixed and 75-300, but noooooooooo I had to see this. I got a Rebel XT.

I also got one of those fisheye attachments off ebay for $40. It's about $40 worth of fun. You get what you pay for. After awhile the distortions start to annoy you, but at least you figure out if fisheye is interesting to you or not. It's not $900 interesting to me.

You ever play around with HDR techniques?

And yeah, that eye shot is amazing.

I like the macro, but then you open up the whole macro lighting can of worms. I'm constantly trying to balance my interest level with what I'm willing to spend on photography. I still don't own a flash. At the end of the day all I'm looking for are good vacation shots.
actually I have a 300D, which is pretty much the same as the XT.

thanks for the compliments everyone

[eclyps]

here's some more

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/bug2.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/bug2_crop.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/bughead1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/bughead1_crop.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/bugs1.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/bugs2.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/bugs2_crop.jpg


Next is this tiiiiiny little spider I found. I almost missed him because he looks like a fleck of dirt. Had to have been less than 2mm

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/spiderTiny1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/spiderTiny4.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/spiderTiny2.jpg


http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/wing1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/wing1_crop.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/wing2.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/wing2_crop.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/wing3.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/wing3_crop.jpg

[sloppy]

wow that first picture of the spider is bad ass

[The Penultimate Mohican]

WOW those are amazing. Where are you finding your subjects?

I don't know much about macro photography, but what's up with the depth of fields? I don't understand how you're achieving linear borders of focus like that.

[Miss V. B. Wigglesworth]

As an entomologist I absolutely LOVE those pictures. The spider one is seriously cute. :) I'd love to see anymore insect/arthropod in general pictures you have.

[eclyps]

yes, I was actually thinking of you when taking these because I know you're a bug lover :)

I'll hopefully get some more tomorrow, since it'll be nice and warm out.

@Mohican: the DOF for macro lenses is VERY narrow. If the focus isn't perfect it'll throw the whole pic off

[Miss V. B. Wigglesworth]

I like how I'm being ultra cool and trying to ID what you have posted. Pretty sure that last one is totally a sawfly.

[eclyps]

yup. the last one is a sawfly, the red guy is a boxelder bug, and the spider... well.. i always just call them jumping spiders because they do just that!

[Miss V. B. Wigglesworth]

yup. the last one is a sawfly, the red guy is a boxelder bug, and the spider... well.. i always just call them jumping spiders because they do just that!

Damn sawflies. They always mess me up in identifying ichneumonids. Their wing veination is so insanely similar. They lack that super constricted waist though.. I tend to waste time IDing their wing veination only to see their waist afterward haha. It's lame.

[eclyps]

Damn sawflies. They always mess me up in identifying ichneumonids. Their wing veination is so insanely similar. They lack that super constricted waist though.. I tend to waste time IDing their wing veination only to see their waist afterward haha. It's lame.
yeah... me... too.... huh?

lol I really do need to start studying bugs, now that I've got a macro lens

[Miss V. B. Wigglesworth]

yeah... me... too.... huh?

lol I really do need to start studying bugs, now that I've got a macro lens

Doooo it. You know you wanna.

[eclyps]

Doooo it. You know you wanna.
i DO wanna! but do i have time? probably not :(

[Miss V. B. Wigglesworth]

i DO wanna! but do i have time? probably not :(

There is ALWAYS time for the study of insects! ;D

[shaej]

I just want them all dead. A perfect world is one without any insects. Hate, hate, hate!

Right now it's japanese beetle season. Soon it will be wood tick season. Then it will be mosquito and triangle-shaped-biting-moth season. Hate, hate, hate!

I need to raise an army of hungry bats and let them loose on the world.

[Miss V. B. Wigglesworth]

I just want them all dead. A perfect world is one without any insects. Hate, hate, hate!

Right now it's japanese beetle season. Soon it will be wood tick season. Then it will be mosquito and triangle-shaped-biting-moth season. Hate, hate, hate!

I need to raise an army of hungry bats and let them loose on the world.

You perfect world is one without terrerestrial ecosystems then. With that you can wave goodbye to our species. :P

Fun fact: < 1% of insect species are pests.

[*dianne*]

I want to study ornithology... I'm only 3 semesters away from being a zoologist and environmental scientist. I only took me FOREVER to get there...

P.S. the wolf is for Halfwit ;p

[Miss V. B. Wigglesworth]

I want to study ornithology...

You know, I started out wanting to study birds too. Then I found the wonderful world of invertebrates and never looked back.. :)

[*dianne*]

You know, I started out wanting to study birds too. Then I found the wonderful world of invertebrates and never looked back.. :)

Yea i took invert zoo last semester,i hate bugs. i don't mind their existence, just don't like them on me...

[Miss V. B. Wigglesworth]

Yea i took invert zoo last semester,i hate bugs. i don't mind their existence, just don't like them on me...

Not even mantids??

[*dianne*]

i think they are fun to watch... i might hold em if u swear they dont bite.... lol

[Miss V. B. Wigglesworth]

i think they are fun to watch... i might hold em if u swear they dont bite.... lol

Well.. actually.. Marie would try and eat me on occassion but her mandibles weren't strong enough to actually hurt. I'd just poke her face and tell her to stop. So.. she may as well not be biting. Is that close enough? :)

[*dianne*]

yes... i guess ;p

[shaej]

You perfect world is one without terrerestrial ecosystems then. With that you can wave goodbye to our species. :P

That's OK, it's all been downhill since they canceled Married With Children. We've already hit our high water mark as a species.

[hot6]

thats the cutest spider ive ever seen

[eclyps]

here are some gifts for wigglesworth. Wanna try to ID them all? :)

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/Macro/bee1_big.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/Macro/bee1_small.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/Macro/bee2_big.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/Macro/bee2_small.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/Macro/misc1_small.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/Macro/misc2_small.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/Macro/misc3_crop.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/Macro/strange1_small.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/Macro/fly3_small.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/Eclyps19/Macro/fly2_small.jpg

[Miss V. B. Wigglesworth]

here are some gifts for wigglesworth. Wanna try to ID them all? :)


Oh wow. I have them ID-ed to order.. but then again that's not that hard. I need to see the wing veination on that wasp! haha

[Tippo]

since you do study them


you do know <1% of insects is still an amazingly large number, right? considering we still haven't discovered all the insects in the world and THAT number is enormous. i believe that number would leave like 120,000 species being pests.


ew.

[Miss V. B. Wigglesworth]

since you do study them


you do know <1% of insects is still an amazingly large number, right? considering we still haven't discovered all the insects in the world and THAT number is enormous. i believe that number would leave like 120,000 species being pests.


ew.

Actually estimates of the actual number of species is somewhere between 2 and 30 million.. Probably around 8 million is what I heard.. So actually that's 800 000 pest species.. I'm not making a good case for them am I? Haha.

[The Penultimate Mohican]

What percentage of the stompfest community are pests?

[*dianne*]

well you have the anti lulz variaty, the pravi group, and those that are transitioning on a daily basis to the pre-pest class...... i would say that its about 10% with a mean increase of .5% per week and a standard deviation of .3%

[shaej]

well you have the anti lulz variaty, the pravi group, and those that are transitioning on a daily basis to the pre-pest class...... i would say that its about 10% with a mean increase of .5% per week and a standard deviation of .3%

There is more variance in the population than your .3% standard deviation allows for, unless your model somehow pre-selects among the server 'regulars'.

What is your method of group selection? Are you factoring in all the peeps who only sign on for a quick frag or two, and don't accrue any significant points? Are the ones who are perma-banned considered part of this study?

[The Penultimate Mohican]

Looks like we forgot the shaej group.

[*dianne*]

There is more variance in the population than your .3% standard deviation allows for, unless your model somehow pre-selects among the server 'regulars'.

What is your method of group selection? Are you factoring in all the peeps who only sign on for a quick frag or two, and don't accrue any significant points? Are the ones who are perma-banned considered part of this study?

Study includes active members only

[shaej]

Looks like we forgot the shaej group.

No, smartasses are a different genus than pests. They're morphologically similar, and co-exist in many of the same biomes, but differ significantly in their motivations.

Pests are driven by a need to annoy others, getting the attention of other people is their primary source of sustenance. Smartasses simply like to make silly jokes.

The shaej species is further distinguished by its very poor understanding of social boundaries. While it is superficially similar to a pest, its deep inbred sense of Lutheran guilt makes it ill-suited to causing harm or distress to other people.

[The Penultimate Mohican]

lol it's all good shaej.

Looks like we need to clarity quite a few terms here. Pests in the animal world, pests in the stompfest community, stompfest community sample...

As a side note personally, I like bugs. I've grown to appreciate how vital they are to our ecosystem. I really like the little news bees.

[CodeZero]

You know what... I'm jealous of your lens... HORRIBLY JEALOUS!

Although, your subjects... meh scary lil buggers.

Admittedly though, I'm terrified of spiders, like as arachnophobic as they come, and I still thought that little spider was the cutest thing. It'll stay that way as long as I never have one jump on me... then it's on like Donkey Kong.

[eclyps]

You know what... I'm jealous of your lens... HORRIBLY JEALOUS!

Although, your subjects... meh scary lil buggers.

Admittedly though, I'm terrified of spiders, like as arachnophobic as they come, and I still thought that little spider was the cutest thing. It'll stay that way as long as I never have one jump on me... then it's on like Donkey Kong.
smack your grandma

[CodeZero]

Or that freaky little kid in your Avatar!

Oh I'm a horrible person, Lawlasaurus Rex