Getting Down

One of my favorite ground covers, vinca minor (aka Periwinkle) –

Both these images were shot using the OM 90mm macro lens and the T10 ring flash.  This time I actually mounted the flash where it belongs – on the end of the lens.  Through trial and error I established a baseline that works pretty well – flash at 1/2 power, f8 and a working distance of about 10 inches.  Using a 125 – 200/sec shutter speed means I can hand hold this rig.  Its size and weight work to advantage and help to steady my hands.  Overall it works pretty well.

I did run into a difficulty though.  It seems a failing of digital camera sensors is their inability to capture and render natural purple or violet.  All the RAW files show these flowers as a pale blue.  Totally off base.  I had to play with the color hue sliders in Lightroom to get them back to their purple selves.  I also noticed some chromatic aberration when a petal fell across a dark green leaf.  Not on every shot, but on many.  I don’t get CA with this lens in any other circumstance.  It must be something with the sensor’s interaction with the lens that gets confused somehow.  I couldn’t correct for all of it, so I had to ditch some otherwise decent shots.  Ah well, at least I got these.

Here’s one from the woods that took me many tries to get right.  It’s a fern frond unfurling (say that 10 times fast).  This is just after fiddlehead state and before it is a recognizable fern.  After a lot of maneuvering and waiting for the breeze to die down (even the slightest breeze looks like a monsoon at this magnification) I finally got what I wanted –