CC: whats causing this blur?

[Tassie_Rohan]

If you look at the second right leg on this little dude (her right that is) you will notice there is a yellow halo surrounding the leg just below the knee. Ditto her third left.

Is this just slow speed blur? If so I would expect it to affect other parts of the photo such as the blade of seaweed in the top right. The body is in focus in an annoyingly soft fuzzy sort of way.

I was using an add on macro lens (on my SP350/PT30) - is there some sort of refraction that could cause this halo? Could condensation blur things out this way?

I was getting slammed by swell big time at the time - however the weed isn't moving. The photo was shot at 1/100 at 4.5 (hence the stuffed DOF).

Any thoughts? -This colour halo has occured in a few of my shots: where bright colors are in front of a dark background.

Any other tips to make my macro look crisp will be appreciated...

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

This is a closer view of what I mean:

Note the yellow halo to the left of the leg.

Shake? Refraction? Condensation?

 

[alcina]

CA perhaps. Chromatic abberation.

Fixable in ACR or Lightroom in some instances.

 

[victor]

I wonder if this is some kind of refraction problem.
Are all your problems when you have a small f stop?

I think I would do a test with a stationary camera, some small, brightly coloured objects against a dark background.
Try various F stops.

If the problem occurs at small f-stops (large apertures) then I think you may be reaching the limits of your lens combination.

Increasing the f-stop reduces the speed so more likely to get motion blur.

Only solution to that is a more powerful flash.

Just my 2c worth

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Hmmm - good point. I have a feeling the macro lens was not fully slotted in when I took this photo - could increasing the distance between camera and macro lens cause CA?

Strange its not on all the legs though.

I don't mind the effect that much - it nicely duplicates the vision effects of drinking the local vodka....

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

I wonder if this is some kind of refraction problem.
Are all your problems when you have a small f stop?

I think I would do a test with a stationary camera, some small, brightly coloured objects against a dark background.
Try various F stops.

If the problem occurs at small f-stops (large apertures) then I think you may be reaching the limits of your lens combination.

Increasing the f-stop reduces the speed so more likely to get motion blur.

Only solution to that is a more powerful flash.

Just my 2c worth

Excellent point Victor - I'll give the experiment a try. This was shot on auto (hence high speed but large aperture). I'll see if going back to full manual (1/60 and F8) with stronger strobe will solve this.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[_Bella_]

That thing is gorgeous! fuzzy or not.

Aside from the surge moving you, was the animal moving? Do you have other images of it? Are there odd blurry spots in those images?
The bluriness on the legs looks like movement of the animal causing ghosting. The blur is only in a very specific spot while there are other spots where the bright yellow stands in front of a the dark background.

 

[Larry C]

Try 1/125@f8 with a stronger strobe focused more on your subject. You'll get a darker background, but crisp detail within your focal range. I think the combo of low f-stop plus the macro lens brought down your DOF to the point where the legs closer to you or outside the focal center got blurred a bit. These settings made a HUGE difference on my shrimp shots.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Thanks for all the advice - time to go back to manual.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[justleesa]

Please check the properties of the photo and share the camera settings with us. I'm betting you had a slow shutter.
I would say that the critter moved the legs that are doubled...they don't move all legs at the same time.