Any ideas on how to shoot snails?

[bostran1]

I could have posted this in the animals thread but I'm looking for some specific feedback and I though this post would be overlooked if it was buried in there. So...

Every time it rains we get dozens of snails on the stoop of my apartment building. Today is the first time I really got a chance to photograph them. My pictures are below. I generally used the widest aperture I could so only the snails would be in sharp focus and could be seen clearly in front of the background. It looks like sometimes this backfired on me with only the shell being in sharp focus.

Anyway, I was wondering what people thought about them and if anyone has any ideas for how to photograph them in the future. Thanks

This one is an HDR, I think it turned out pretty good.










You can find a few more here. Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[DVC Jen]

with a nice garlic butter sauce perhaps????

Sorry - I know - bad joke.

 

[bostran1]

Haha, you're the first to make the joke. As I was taking the pictures, several people came by and joked that they would take them for dinner too!

 

[AndrewWG]

I was gonna say that you shoot snails with a VERY small gun. Another bad joke...

Andy

 

[Furgus]

Ben, Sorry no words of advice other then a nice Macro lens or some Close Up Filters
I think you can pick up a set pretty cheap, ~$30. I had a set in my hands on Sat, then I realized, I don't really have anything to shoot.

On a side note, as I was looking through your flicker pics, I noticed the Sign for Macs Drive in, and the Bus stop. I grew up about 20 min from there Small world huh. Wife and I are going back up in a couple of weeks, and we had our reception at the Ramada in Geneva Oct 2004. Very cool to see other pics of places I grew up near from someone else.

BTW Macs is awesome. I can't wait to get up there and go back. I have not stopped by there in a couple of years.

 

[bostran1]

Furgus, that is wild! I was there for a wedding a few weeks and thought Macs was great, I would love to have something like that in Boston! I ended up staying at the Hampton Inn across from the Ramada, it must have been great to have the reception right on the lake, that hotel has quite the view.

As far as the close-up filters go, that's a good idea. I didn't even know they existed. I'll have to take a look. Thanks.

 

[ukcatfan]

I generally used the widest aperture I could so only the snails would be in sharp focus and could be seen clearly in front of the background. It looks like sometimes this backfired on me with only the shell being in sharp focus.

You are correct. With a subject that close, the DOF is small no matter the aperture, so a smaller one is preferred. Try again at around f/22. If you have a p&s, then go for the smallest one available, which is usu. between f/8 - f/11. I am not positive of your equipment, but the Rebel XT at 55mm f/22 and a subject at 2 feet, the DOF is only 0.32 feet. At f/5.6, it is 0.08 feet. Neither gives much room for error. See http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Kevin

P.S. I don't know if your model has it, but here is where a DOF preview is handy.

 

[bostran1]

Kevin, thanks for the link and the pointers. I'll give that a shot next time it rains.

 

[ukcatfan]

bostran1,

I just noticed on your signature that you will be at WDW five days after I get there. I hope you guys have a great time. We have an eight night trip. It is the longest we have had in over six years. We tend to just do the weekend trips now that we live in FL.

Kevin

 

[manning]

Slowly, very slowly. At a snails pace.

 

[bostran1]

I just noticed on your signature that you will be at WDW five days after I get there. I hope you guys have a great time. We have an eight night trip. It is the longest we have had in over six years. We tend to just do the weekend trips now that we live in FL.

Kevin

Kevin, I'm looking forward to this trip like you can't believe. Its been about 3 years since I was in Disney for more than a day so it will be nice to have a leisurely chance to make my way around. I'm also studying to take the bar exam so this trip is my "Thank God its over an congratulations" trip!
Enjoy your stay!

- Ben

 

[ukcatfan]

Kevin, I'm looking forward to this trip like you can't believe. Its been about 3 years since I was in Disney for more than a day so it will be nice to have a leisurely chance to make my way around. I'm also studying to take the bar exam so this trip is my "Thank God its over an congratulations" trip!
Enjoy your stay!

- Ben

Congratulations on that. I cannot even imagine how much dedication that must take. I plan on eventually taking the CMA (certified managerial accountant) test, but do not have the time to devote to studying right now. It is basically the CPA for the corporate accountant.

Kevin

 

[Groucho]

My first wise-aleck sarcastic response would be "make sure you use a fast shutter speed, you don't want it to get away from you!" and the second has already been used, "with a gun"... oh well!

Something that small probably needs a macro lens. I haven't done a lot of macro, but I know that it's hard to get them perfect without a tripod. Probably the best thing to do is fire off a lot of shots and pick out the sharp ones later.

I think a longer focal length macro lens will give you a larger DoF but I'm not positive about that, off the top of my head. I know my 55mm 1:1 macro lens has an extremely shallow DoF even at small apertures.

 

[WeLubDeeDub]

What could be totally neat, would be to shoot it at max shutter speed or bulb, so the snail appears to be moving quickly.