Linyphia triangularis macro - frontal, Heesch, Netherlands

This is a single shot 5:1 macro. Note the fork-like stripe on the head and leaf-like pattern on the abdomen.

Some technical notes on camera settings may be worthwhile to share, as they are extreme. When you go beyond 1:1 macro, the concept of effective aperture applies:

Effective aperture = Lens Aperture x (1 + Magnification)

This shot uses f/5.6 (ignore EXIF, this lens does not report it), leading to: 5.6 x 6 = f/33.

f/33 in itself means the aperture is so tiny that virtually no light comes into the lens at all. Now look at the fast shutter speed (1/500s) and take 1/500th of almost nothing. With no amplification, as ISO is at 64, can't go lower.

The amount of light to add to give back any meaningful exposure in these extreme settings is to output my flash at near 100% power. Which is a heavy duty speedlight that lights up a forest at night up to about 20m away. Yet is now outputting that amount directly next to my face. Not even looking away with eyes closed helps, you can see the inside of your eyes when it triggers.

So this is close to the edge of what is possible with my gear. Probably I should sacrifice the ISO to come to more reasonable flash output. I can't really sacrifice the shutter speed much, as 5:1 handheld means I move a LOT.

I'm investing in some support systems to combat that though, but it's still to be delivered.