Macro photography 101

[GMT]

Thats interesting, I have noticed that the 400s can appear a little grainy especialy when cropped, I figured I was messing something else up. But the colour tones are much warmer, and I started to use ISO as a colour capture tool more than anything.

F numbers, why do peeps talk about them going down when the number is getting bigger? And why does capturing a deeper image (sure you know what I mean there), cut out so much light. I can only go from 2.8 to 8 but the difference is amazing on the light available. To photo a flower in the garden in the middle of the day on f8 I had to use the flash to get a decent pic. And then the background was almost black.

 

[Che Bleu]

i wouldn't sign this...i'm working with a sigma 50mm (x1.6 - eos350d) f2.8 macro lens (1:1), for macros from plants and objects that don't move and i'm quite happy with it imho a shorter lens has the advantage that you can work more easily with artificial light (e.g. macro ring flash/ ring light)

high…
that's the exact same lens i bought and still use. It's an excellent lens btw but i can't refrain from finding the working distance to short and plan to get a 90 or 105 soon ... I have no ring flash, sure would help but i'm not too much into frontal lighting, i use a deported SB 600 remotely trigered by the built in flash and in that case again, the working distance is a limiting factor with that short focal.
That MPE has always been mouth watering to say the least :tup: too bad i stand in "opposite camp"

 

[Guest]

high…
that's the exact same lens i bought and still use. It's an excellent lens btw but i can't refrain from finding the working distance to short and plan to get a 90 or 105 soon ... I have no ring flash, sure would help but i'm not too much into frontal lighting, i use a deported SB 600 remotely trigered by the built in flash and in that case again, the working distance is a limiting factor with that short focal.
That MPE has always been mouth watering to say the least :tup: too bad i stand in "opposite camp"

hi che bleu

Yeah i know what you mean, it's really hard sometimes with the short distance...but i'm using a soligor ring light, which isn't powerfull enough at further distance anyway the next macro lens i'm goingt to buy is the mpe, but i'm afraid this will take a little longer first i need a good tele lens (70-200 f4 is )...

greetz

 

[Verite]

I miss the old digicams that had decent macro features like the Nikon Coolpix. Nothing new compares but for the SLR stuff. I'll upgrade when my coolpix dies since its not likely too easy to replace the 2cm minimum focus distance.

Heres some old coolpix macro shots.

 

[D Rock]

Man thats awesome photography.

 

[Che Bleu]

anyway the next macro lens i'm goingt to buy is the mpe, but i'm afraid this will take a little longer first i need a good tele lens (70-200 f4 is )...

greetz

high
You could use that tele combined with the 50mm reversed to get quite high magnifications, sometimes with a bit vignetting but worth the try though.
The maths are something like this : 200mm/50mm = 4/1 life size of course focusing will be manual and you'd better use a remote trigger All you need is some reversing rings (check enjoyyourcamera dot com) and a shorter focal (an old 20 mm-whatever brand or mount) would give up to 10/1 reversed on a 200 mm for only a tiny fraction of the MPE"s price…

Awesome pics verite, the good ole 99 995 4500 series was a blast for sure…
They're still selling at a high price on ebay…

 

[EddieShoestring]

thanks for taking the time to do this tutorial, Monkey,
i'm learning good stuff from every post

cheers
eddie

 

[J-Roc]

****ing eh!
that flys red eyes are freakin cool!
i wanna get a super camera so i can take pics of bugs humping too!

 

[M0nkey]

Hi Monkey, trying to follow along, but I have a question now.

just wondering what advantage that has over say a 400 ISO(my biggest setting) which I find lets in more light than the 100 or 64(which is the smallest I can get). So far the only diff I find with ISO settings is the smaller the number the slower the shutter speed I have to use and the picture comes out bluer than with higher settings.

iso 100 will be the clearest shot..yes its not got as much light but this is where a macro flash is so important..with a macro flash u can control 100% of the light so u can set the iso to as low as it will go..shutter speed to 200 which is best for hand held shots and fstop 16 for max min depth..any more that 16 u get softening and the pic doesn't look at sharp..and lower that f13 u risk chance of the shot not being in focus..fstops u can play around with but iso and shutter speed always stays the same in macro.nornall macro settings on camera are about fstop 8 shutter speed 125..but dont use the macro mode..always go manual~!..

in macro 200 shutter speed - iso 100 is best all tho with a tripod shutter speed 125 is good enough..u need a good flash bro..ring flash or a flash mounted on bracket...fstop 16 and high shutter speeds with cause u to have black backgrounds..if u have a good flash u can stop the black background from happening.

 

[M0nkey]

great shots Verite.

hey does any one know how i can post large pics 800x600 from the ic gallery with out it being small pics on the threads..?

 

[M0nkey]

MPE-65(best macro lens on the market)

MPE-65(best macro lens on the market)

What is the Canon MP-E 65mm Macro Lens?

It's the most advanced macro lens in Canon's lineup, and perhaps the most advanced macro lens available.It can produce up to 5 times life size magnification, or a magnification ratio of 5:1. It is an exceptionally sturdy, firm, and well-constructed lens. Using an optical formula that features 8 groups, 10 elements, and ultra-low dispersion glass. With all that glass this lens is no lightweight, weighing in just shy of two pounds. A tripod collar is included, and will come in very handy for stationary subjects.

Being a dedicated macro lens, it cannot be used like a "normal" 65mm lens because it cannot focus more than a few centimeters away from the front element. A mounting ring on the front of the lens is used to attach Canon's macro flashes, the MR-14EX and the MT-24EX.





Working Distance

Since the MP-E is a 65mm lens you'll have to get very close to your subject which will often present difficulties.Closest focusing distance: 0.243m at 5X life size.

 

[GMT]

Hey Monkey, when you click on your image and the link appears in the text, find the last part of the link that says thumb, delete that and either type med or just leave nothing in its place if you want really big pics.

 

[DoobieDuck]

MOnkey thanks for posting this very informative thread...we'll see some new great images come from this...Dr. Duck.

 

[M0nkey]

Hey Monkey, when you click on your image and the link appears in the text, find the last part of the link that says thumb, delete that and either type med or just leave nothing in its place if you want really big pics.

testing pic size.thanks buddie...heres a 1 leg criket.

 

[trichome]

Thanks for starting this thread, it is exactly what I am looking for .... excellent work!

 

[M0nkey]

full zoom 5:1 life size..i saved this guys form drowning.

now various shots form mpe-65

 

[M0nkey]

Using Natural Light

When I’m out shooting there is one basic question that governs how I’m going to set up the camera: "Is there enough natural light for the shot?". If the answer is yes then I set my camera to shutter priority -I know, most would use aperture priority instead. But here’s my logic (you get to decide if it makes sense): I normally shoot insects that don’t sit still for long, and I’m going to use the flash as a fill light. Since I’m hand holding the camera and the subject isn’t going to give me enough time to set up a tripod, I need to shoot at the fastest possible speed to avoid camera shake and still get the shutter to synchronize with the flash. With my current camera that’s 1/200 of a second.

The down side to being in shutter priority mode is that the camera is going to adjust the exposure by shifting the aperture, and if the available light is low that means taking a photo with a narrow depth of field. But you can use a narrow depth of field to draw the viewer’s attention to an area where you want them to look, and as long as the insect’s eyes are in sharp focus the image as a whole will work. Another benefit that I noticed about shooting in shutter priority mode is that my images all have a different look and feel to them -shoot at F11 all the time and you’ll start to think that every image looks the same. It’s also easier to isolate the subject with a large aperture (small Fstop) because there will be little or no detail in the background. If the aperture becomes too large to give you enough depth of field for the photo you can always increase the ISO -but you’ll also increase the noise in the final image.

Along with setting the camera to shutter priority I also set the exposure compensation from -1/3 to -2/3. The sensor in a digital camera reacts to under exposure in that same way as color positive slide film -colors saturate in post processing when you bring the exposure up. You’ll also get an increase in Fstop (a smaller aperture) with the camera in shutter priority mode (or an increase in shutter speed if you are shooting in aperture priority). The only "gotcha" is the ISO speed: at higher ISO settings under exposing can increase the amount of noise (or grain) in the final image. So be careful under exposing above ISO 200.

heres shot i took with no flash..50mm macro lens..fstop 7.6 shutter speed 125.

 

[Guest]

damn... i want this lens!!!

 

[GMT]

incredible pic that last one monkey.

 

[M0nkey]

yer i like that one to..one of my favs..