Sugar Water

[sidd finch]

What do you get when you combine your camera with a couple of Macro lenses and a couple of drops of sugar water...... ?



Sidd

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

[Francesco Carzedda]

DSRL quality, very beautiful bokeh and reflections.

[Dave McElderry]

You've outdone yourself! How were they breaking the surface tension to feed? Or were they treating it more like a solid? I loved the scene where the droplet was rolling downhill and threatening the ant ahead of it. Looked like a scene from The Blob.

[Peru]

What can I add? That was wonderful, Sidd.

[sidd finch]

Thank you.

How were they breaking the surface tension to feed?

I noticed that they were biting like they could not break the surface tension. But then I noticed some just pushed their mouths into the liquid. It was if the surface tension was stronger than the ants. My favorite was the shot when they were all gathered around like it was a table and they were eating at a buffet.

Sidd

[momoffduty]

Impressive macro work Sidd! Shots looked steady. Tripod? Love the trip-hop music!

[Chuck Engels]

WOW

[sidd finch]

Shots looked steady. Tripod?

No Tripod it was handheld but I tried to brace the camera against the tree for support. It was difficult to try and keep things steady. I need to try and figure out a way to use some sort of mount to keep things steady.

Sidd

[_Paz_]

So cool, Sidd!!!

I love the bands of color reflections on the surface of the water drop! And thought of Harrison Ford running before a giant rolling rock!

I also like the way your background is so nicely out of focus and has movement. If you were using a tripod the background might not be as interesting. I've done a little 'ant-age' with a Joby GoPro tripod. It helps to be able to sit the tripod down and to have the ability to flex the legs to position the camera. I've read this tripod is now discontinued. I bought two of them. One for the camera and one for my field monitor. Now I can sit either of them down if I need to.

http://www.amazon.com/Joby-JB01300-BWW-GorillaPod-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B00GTZJA7Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1428505294&sr=8-2&keywords=joby+gopro+tripod

The quick release head is nice. I usually leave the connection on the field monitor all the time. I take the three legs and crimp them together closely at the top so I can hold it with one hand there and spread the legs with a convex arch so I can still sit it down. Only real problem, the HDMI cable between them sometimes gets hung up on a limb while moving around and it can scare a bee away if you happen to be focusing on one.

Oh, I'm sure it would be possible to use a regular Joby type flexible tripod with adapters to work with the GoPro. I bought mine because they were on closeout discount at my local Best Buy.

[Francesco Carzedda]

Handheld ?
It looks as if the branch was moving ...

[sidd finch]

It looks as if the branch was moving

The branch was moving as well as my camera. The Joby looks interesting. What is difficult is trying to maintain the camera inches from the subject matter. While the background is out of focus, the DOF is very tight. So even my slightest movement then the subject matter is out of focus. That for me is the fun part of working to try and keep the subject matter in focus.

Sidd

[Ron Hunter]

That was just amazing! Loved the colors, loved the details and sharpness, music was energetic and matched the ants' activity, mixture of angles was great and so was the timing of the edits. Outstanding!!

I noticed the very shallow DOF, I bet it is very challenging to keep the camera at the proper distance for focusing. I probably missed this in an earlier post, but how do you monitor focus in real-time? Are you using an external monitor with focus peaking?

You said you were shooting handheld. Would a monopod have helped in that situation?

Did you stack macro lenses or just use a single lens?

Your videos are so awesome, sometimes I think I should just sell all my stuff, get a new GoPro, and just work with that.

[Chuck Engels]

Your videos are so awesome, sometimes I think I should just sell all my stuff, get a new GoPro, and just work with that.

Isn't that the truth

[sidd finch]

Thank you Ron & Chuck.

I do use an external monitor. I mounted the monitor to a board with a strap so I can hang it around my neck. I sure look goofy but it gets the job accomplished. The DOF is really tricky. The macro lens I used is 37mm and stacked together so the focus area is pretty small. Because the ants are on a tree branch, positioning the camera makes a monopod difficult to use. I almost need something like a long joby stand so that I could attach it to a branch above and let the camera hang down.

Sidd