Some New Macros

[coffee]

Been away for a while for some family stuff, but never stopped taking pictures. Here are a few recently processed macro's. Feel free to CC, thanks.

[coffee]

And a few more.

[jayne]

Darn, there's not a worthy smilie here. ;)

No CC, they are pure brilliance, WOW!!

[treetop]

Coffee, as ever they are brill. Some of them made me itch a little though.

[Kaye]

Joseph, these are so great, like so many of your others.
I am so keen on macro shots, I want to learn more, but mine are still taken with a small camera. (I feel ashamed to say what I use, but I do the best I can do). BUT, I am learning slowly.

Beautiful shots.

[verikos]

Great shots, amazing colours! Hope to get to this stage one day! I'm probably asking a really obvious question here folks (sorry) - did you use your macro lens (100/2.8) for these shots Joseph?

[coffee]

Darn, there's not a worthy smilie here. ;)

No CC, they are pure brilliance, WOW!!


Coffee, as ever they are brill. Some of them made me itch a little though.


Joseph, these are so great, like so many of your others.
I am so keen on macro shots, I want to learn more, but mine are still taken with a small camera. (I feel ashamed to say what I use, but I do the best I can do). BUT, I am learning slowly.

Beautiful shots.


Great shots, amazing colours! Hope to get to this stage one day! I'm probably asking a really obvious question here folks (sorry) - did you use your macro lens (100/2.8) for these shots Joseph?

Thanks for the great comments everyone. Really appreciate the feedback. To answer a few questions: Yes verikos, my 100/2.8 was used for all of these.

Also for Kaye, I've looked at you portfolio, and you camera specs. You have a nice series of images there, and like them all. Macro photography is a struggle under the best of conditions. Probably made a little more challenging with a P&S. But I have a few suggestions that might help.

First I was a little unclear if you have full manual capabilities on your camera. I see you have program mode, so I'm assuming you can set your aperture and shutter manually. I also looked at the EXIF data on some of your macros.

If you can go manual, I would try and shoot in manual. I noticed that your min aperture is 5.6. Is this right? In any case, I would shoot with the smallest aperture you can. On macros such as this, I usually go with f/13-16. You will notice that all of these shots are taken in bright sun, but since I go with a very small AP, flash is required. Lots of people approach me and ask why I'm using flash in bright sun. It's because with such a small AP, without flash, even in bright sun it would come out very underexposed. I in fact, usually have to go to +1/2 or 1 with the flash compensation to get more than a normal flash.

So why do I use such a small AP? It's to get the best DOF I can because the macro lens I use, at such a close distance to the subject, most of these shots would only get part of the eye in focus, and the rest of the dragonfly for instance, would not be in focus. So I would use the smallest AP you can Kaye, turn your flash on, and make sure your shutter speed is equal to, or greater than you focal length to minimize camera shake.

Also, I notice that most of your shots ISO's are 100. If you have to up that to 200 or 400 to give you more light, you can. You may notice more noise if you do, but that can be taken out if you PP you images.

One more thing. With a built-in-flash, you may see more harsh shadows if the background is close to the subject. But it may be a good compromise to getting sharper images.

Hope this helps and feel free to ask if you have any other question I can help with. I find macro photography very rewarding too, but it's very challenging for everyone because it's so different that just "normal" photography.

[jaydi]

Joseph,

As always your macro shots are excellent and your explanations are point perfect.

I would like to pick your brains....I have inherited a form of macro lense, It is made up of 4 different lense which can be used seperate of screw them together, on the side of the lenses is 50mm macro/50mm+1/50mm+2/50mm+4. Can you please tell me how and in which order to use these.
When I try to take shots with these my camera will not focus closely.....Eek I need help.:eek:

[coffee]

Hey Cathy. I don't know a lot about that type of macro lens. I do know of them and can say this; The quality with that type of lens will not equaly a true prime macro lens. You might do a search with the name of your lens and see what you come up with for any help. Maybe others will chime in and lend you a hand.

[jaydi]

Thanks Joseph will do.

[Kaye]

Thanks for the great comments everyone. Really appreciate the feedback. To answer a few questions: Yes verikos, my 100/2.8 was used for all of these.

Also for Kaye, I've looked at you portfolio, and you camera specs. You have a nice series of images there, and like them all. Macro photography is a struggle under the best of conditions. Probably made a little more challenging with a P&S. But I have a few suggestions that might help.

First I was a little unclear if you have full manual capabilities on your camera. I see you have program mode, so I'm assuming you can set your aperture and shutter manually. I also looked at the EXIF data on some of your macros.

If you can go manual, I would try and shoot in manual. I noticed that your min aperture is 5.6. Is this right? In any case, I would shoot with the smallest aperture you can. On macros such as this, I usually go with f/13-16. You will notice that all of these shots are taken in bright sun, but since I go with a very small AP, flash is required. Lots of people approach me and ask why I'm using flash in bright sun. It's because with such a small AP, without flash, even in bright sun it would come out very underexposed. I in fact, usually have to go to +1/2 or 1 with the flash compensation to get more than a normal flash.

So why do I use such a small AP? It's to get the best DOF I can because the macro lens I use, at such a close distance to the subject, most of these shots would only get part of the eye in focus, and the rest of the dragonfly for instance, would not be in focus. So I would use the smallest AP you can Kaye, turn your flash on, and make sure your shutter speed is equal to, or greater than you focal length to minimize camera shake.

Also, I notice that most of your shots ISO's are 100. If you have to up that to 200 or 400 to give you more light, you can. You may notice more noise if you do, but that can be taken out if you PP you images.

One more thing. With a built-in-flash, you may see more harsh shadows if the background is close to the subject. But it may be a good compromise to getting sharper images.

Hope this helps and feel free to ask if you have any other question I can help with. I find macro photography very rewarding too, but it's very challenging for everyone because it's so different that just "normal" photography.

Thanks you so much Joseph for your nice comments and the time you have put in to help me.
Since reading your post, I have looked up sites to learn more about the "technology" side, or moreso, to get things in perspective in my brain!
As you say, a P&S is limited, but I will try to upgrade slowly when possible, looking for more manual settings each time.

My FE-370 is always set to Program mode so that I can manually change a few things. I can manually change ISO (which I have experimented with, but do seem to get excessive noise on a higher setting).
I find to edit out noise in Photoshop - CS2, it takes away the sharpness of the image...

The f/stop range is f3.5 to f5.6 as you said. It is not great, but will do for now. I CANNOT manually change f/stop settings, which I confirmed with Olympus today whilst taking my camera in for repair - it has a DEAD PIXEL. I will use my sons if I need one, which I will!

I do have a manual "exposure" setting which I have tried, which seems as far as I know, to have the same effect (giving more light in a dark area) as changing ISO but with less noise.

Thanks again Joseph, you have prompted me to again learn more. Please critique any of my photos as you see fit.

..... Just one question - if I manually change ISO to say 400 for example, will this automatically alter the f/stop setting? or will it make no difference?
Thanks a million.

[coffee]

Hi Kaye and you are most welcome. I don't use P or Auto modes on my 40d, but I can only assume that in auto if you change the ISO, your camera will auto adjust the other settings to try and get a correct exposure. Program mode may be different though. The easiest way to find out would be to tripod you camera or stabilize it in some way, take a shot at ISO 100, then another at 200 or so without moving the camera and see if the other setting change in the EXIF.

[Kaye]

Joseph, what a brilliant idea.
BUT, Auto on this camera will not allow any manual changes - not even macro or zoom, let alone ISO, so I must try it out on P mode.
(At least I am pretty sure it will not let me change ISO on Auto, as I never have it on AUTO. Can't check now as camera at the doctors.)

I have a tripod, but normally I am trecking thru bushland, and don't want to carry it. I just rest camera on whatever I find.

When I get camera back (3 weeks), I will use my tripod and do the test at home in P mode. Will let you know what happens if I can remember that far ahead.
Thanks again,

[jonrayner]

As always Joseph, fantastic stuff, always a pleasure viewing your shots.