Macro Photography.

[brightn'ove]

There is a whole book that can be written about it. The short version is that the main effect is to change the magnification in a non-linear manner as you focus. Nearly all lenses have this effect (the lack of it is one of the things that make really expensive lenses cost several £k), and the effect is particularly noticeable in macro photography because framing is fundamental. What you'll see is that as you focus, the image will "jump" to a different size suddenly - irritating.

Many casual photographers claim not to be able to see the effect in normal usage, but if you do macro, it's pretty hard not to see it - something that was very nearly in focus and filling the frame, will suddenly be pin point sharp, but no longer precisely framed. In the worst case, it can lop off 10% of the previously framed subject.

To summarise further, it's when a lens unintentionally 'zooms' in and out as you focus.

 

[Jack Straw]

Lovely pic Jack, did you have to glue the fly to the flower?

How do you get on with the 'focus breathing' on the 105?

No. All my photos are aux naturel. Nothing staged. Apparently, that's cheating in the Macro world! I've done loads of reading about Macro photography and I use manual focus as mainly recommended. Perhaps this is why I haven't experienced "focus breathing"?
Cheating can be good fun by catching your subject and placing it in a little home made studio, like a felt-lined cardboard box. You can make your own stage and wait for the subject to take up the position you like and then take photos through a hole in the side of the box. You then put the creature back where you found it, unharmed. Perhaps I'll try it one day, but at the moment, I enjoy going on safari, sometimes shooting a good'un and sometimes coming home with nothing worthwhile. A bit like fishing, without the cumbersome equipment.
Another photo while I'm at it. Small Copper butterfly.

 

[Titanic]

Jack... that's a beauty.

Thanks for the advice... I think I will go with the 105 (because I can't find a 70-180 for love nor money) and the manual option seems ideal - and it will add a useful fast'ish mid-tele option for me as well.

 

[perseus]

No. All my photos are aux naturel. Nothing staged. Apparently, that's cheating in the Macro world! I've done loads of reading about Macro photography and I use manual focus as mainly recommended. Perhaps this is why I haven't experienced "focus breathing"?
Cheating can be good fun by catching your subject and placing it in a little home made studio, like a felt-lined cardboard box. You can make your own stage and wait for the subject to take up the position you like and then take photos through a hole in the side of the box. You then put the creature back where you found it, unharmed. Perhaps I'll try it one day, but at the moment, I enjoy going on safari, sometimes shooting a good'un and sometimes coming home with nothing worthwhile. A bit like fishing, without the cumbersome equipment.
Another photo while I'm at it. Small Copper butterfly.

Superb of the titchy butterfly on Red Bartsia. I find holding the camera steady quite tricky at these magnifications. But the main problem I have with my Nikon D3200 is the fill-in flash overexposes.

I put some pics on flickr which can show the EXIF details.

 

[perseus]

Jack... that's a beauty.

Thanks for the advice... I think I will go with the 105 (because I can't find a 70-180 for love nor money) and the manual option seems ideal - and it will add a useful fast'ish mid-tele option for me as well.

I would try out one first. I borrowed a 90mm Tamron Macro and did not like it for close-ups. Too inflexible, too large. And the results weren't very good either.

 

[Barry Izbak]

Extension tubes and ring flashes ?? Off down Dukes mound tonight Mr Straw ?

That would explain the macro lens

 

[perseus]

No. All my photos are aux naturel. Nothing staged. Apparently, that's cheating in the Macro world! I've done loads of reading about Macro photography and I use manual focus as mainly recommended. Perhaps this is why I haven't experienced "focus breathing"?
Cheating can be good fun by catching your subject and placing it in a little home made studio, like a felt-lined cardboard box. You can make your own stage and wait for the subject to take up the position you like and then take photos through a hole in the side of the box. You then put the creature back where you found it, unharmed. Perhaps I'll try it one day, but at the moment, I enjoy going on safari, sometimes shooting a good'un and sometimes coming home with nothing worthwhile. A bit like fishing, without the cumbersome equipment.
Another photo while I'm at it. Small Copper butterfly.

What equipment was this taken with? I know the subject matter and it is better than the ordinary.




This is best I could do with my basic equipment. The flower is Devil's Bit Scabious, the same as the flower with the Burnet Moth. This was done with a bridge camera that would cost less than a £100 nowadays.

Tip: the large macro lens can be hard to keep steady. I borrowed a Canon + Tamron 90 mm lens and got poor results.

This page does not go into enough detail: http://www.techradar.com/news/photo...s/best-macro-lens-for-nikons-8-tested-1079616

 

[Jack Straw]

Nikon D7100 camera and

NIKON AF-S VR MICRO-NIKKOR 105MM f/2.8G IF-ED lens.
I use manual focus and shoot in Aperture mode from 7.1 to 16. This is because I'm still experimenting.
Here's a bee, but the flower's knackered so spoils the photo. Also, you can't see the bee's face. All in all, not one of my best!

 

[perseus]

Nikon D7100 camera and

NIKON AF-S VR MICRO-NIKKOR 105MM f/2.8G IF-ED lens.
I use manual focus and shoot in Aperture mode from 7.1 to 16. This is because I'm still experimenting.
Here's a bee, but the flower's knackered so spoils the photo. Also, you can't see the bee's face. All in all, not one of my best!

I am intrigued by your results as I have a Nikon D3200 (new to me) and I am experimenting (triAl and error and more error and mistakes) before getting a micro lens. That's what I did before (borrowed Canon 500D and 90mm macro), smaller aperture and difficulty in holding the lens steady or the flash overexposed. Not enough viewfinder information by default on the D3200.

 

[Jack Straw]

I am intrigued by your results as I have a Nikon D3200 (new to me) and I am experimenting (triAl and error and more error and mistakes) before getting a micro lens. That's what I did before (borrowed Canon 500D and 90mm macro), smaller aperture and difficulty in holding the lens steady or the flash overexposed. Not enough viewfinder information by default on the D3200.

I've only got in to this type of photography recently, but this is what I've learned so far for what it's worth:
Get as close to the subject as possible to fill the viewfinder. Cropping wastes pixels.
Keep the camera absolutely still. All the photos I've posted were taken whilst hand-held, but I'm going to invest in a monopod or try out my tripod.
Don't bother if it's windy.
Make sure your camera is at the same angle as your subject, in other words, take your subject flat-on to get as much in focus as possible.
Use manual focus.
For insects, aim for the eyes.
Adjust your camera to take as many photos as possible whilst leaving your finger on the trigger. This improves your chances of a good one. It doesn't cost any more to take 100 snaps than 1!
Delete all but the best.
Prepare to be disappointed with a lot of your efforts.
You'll know when you've got a winner.
Plants are a lot easier than insects. They don't fly off!
Insects don't move about much in the morning. They don't keep still in the afternoon. They slow down again in the evening. Go shooting at each end of the day when the natural light is low.
Crop the crap out.

Here's a grasshopper. I didn't know they were buck-toothed!

 

[Algernon]

Although not strictly Macro I took this earlier this year or maybe last year in the garden with my phone on its "macro" setting:
View attachment 59198
I've since bought a Canon 100d DSLR and have been taking sports and airshow pics with it mainly. I'm getting there but it's taking some time.
Love that grasshopper's other wordly appearance.

 

[Jack Straw]

View attachment 59199Although not strictly Macro I took this earlier this year or maybe last year in the garden with my phone on its "macro" setting:
View attachment 59198
I've since bought a Canon 100d DSLR and have been taking sports and airshow pics with it mainly. I'm getting there but it's taking some time.
Love that grasshopper's other wordly appearance.

Love your beetle's metallic finish! Fascinating this type of photography I think.

 

[perseus]

Some of the lens cost as much as a season ticket.



This one was classed as a failure. Some of the cheaper cameras are pretty good for close-ups. Even the latest i-phones can take pictures better than the above one.

 

[perseus]

I've seen a better picture than mine with a Nokia N8 phone. Small cameras and phones are easier to keep steady. I've done better with my Canon SX40 bridge camera (itself is over-priced).

 

[burnee54]

Macro Photography

I've gone for the time honoured option when giving this one a sense of proportion...

 

[brightn'ove]

[MENTION=259]Jack Straw[/MENTION] what shutter speeds are you getting? It looks to me like there is a little bit of motion blur creeping in in that grasshopper shot.

Im guessing because you're so close up you're using a pretty small aperture (f8+), meaning you'll get relatively slow shutter speeds. If you haven't already, try bumping your ISO up to 800/1600/3200 if you can, while you'll get a bit more noise, it will allow you to use much faster shutter speeds.

 

[Jack Straw]

[MENTION=259]Jack Straw[/MENTION] what shutter speeds are you getting? It looks to me like there is a little bit of motion blur creeping in in that grasshopper shot.

Im guessing because you're so close up you're using a pretty small aperture (f8+), meaning you'll get relatively slow shutter speeds. If you haven't already, try bumping your ISO up to 800/1600/3200 if you can, while you'll get a bit more noise, it will allow you to use much faster shutter speeds.

This hobby is quite new to me, and I'm slowly trying to teach myself. As widely recommended, I use the aperture setting on the camera averaging as you suggest, around f8, so the shutter speed is determined for me, but it's usually around 1/250. The grasshopper shot is nowhere near my usual standard, but his buck-teeth amused me! I find that I physically shake (old age?) as I hold my breath and focus on the subject. To that end, I'm going to use a mono or tripod in the future when possible. Next time I'm on insect safari, I'll experiment with the ISO settings you suggest, and post the results here. I'm currently using the Nikon UK website tuturial for my D7100. I find it very good.
Here's an orchid called Autumn Lady's Tresses (Spiranthes spiralis). These flower in August / September as the name suggests. The scientific name tells us that the flowers are aranged in a sprial which you can just make out from my photo. They are only a few inches tall so not easy to spot in longish grass.

 

[perseus]

Sigma 50 mm + Flash



Unedited test shot using a 50 mm Sigma macro. I would not recommend this lens. I would want a short macro lens with focusing so the lens does not get larger so flash can be used. I don't know if these are made or not? I am getting almost as good shots with the standard zoom lens. Blue fringing seems always to occur with purple flowers.

I did not want the larger macro lens 105 mm because they are too big for me to hold steady. The trouble with the shorter macro lens is my shadow and the shadow of the camera.

Attachment did not show. Click on:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/shoreham/15347250849/ for another picture.

Don't buy a Sigma new if MFB Photographic have a secondhand one for sale. They do for Nikon.

 

[perseus]

This hobby is quite new to me, and I'm slowly trying to teach myself. As widely recommended, I use the aperture setting on the camera averaging as you suggest, around f8, so the shutter speed is determined for me, but it's usually around 1/250. The grasshopper shot is nowhere near my usual standard, but his buck-teeth amused me! I find that I physically shake (old age?) as I hold my breath and focus on the subject. To that end, I'm going to use a mono or tripod in the future when possible. Next time I'm on insect safari, I'll experiment with the ISO settings you suggest, and post the results here. I'm currently using the Nikon UK website tuturial for my D7100. I find it very good.
Here's an orchid called Autumn Lady's Tresses (Spiranthes spiralis). These flower in August / September as the name suggests. The scientific name tells us that the flowers are aranged in a sprial which you can just make out from my photo. They are only a few inches tall so not easy to spot in longish grass.

I think I up the contrast a bit and call it a success. The orchid does not favour sunny days. This means it is difficult to hold the camera steady enough.

It is not easy to find at the best of times.

Sigma (not ideal)

 

[brightn'ove]

This hobby is quite new to me, and I'm slowly trying to teach myself. As widely recommended, I use the aperture setting on the camera averaging as you suggest, around f8, so the shutter speed is determined for me, but it's usually around 1/250. The grasshopper shot is nowhere near my usual standard, but his buck-teeth amused me! I find that I physically shake (old age?) as I hold my breath and focus on the subject. To that end, I'm going to use a mono or tripod in the future when possible. Next time I'm on insect safari, I'll experiment with the ISO settings you suggest, and post the results here. I'm currently using the Nikon UK website tuturial for my D7100. I find it very good.
Here's an orchid called Autumn Lady's Tresses (Spiranthes spiralis). These flower in August / September as the name suggests. The scientific name tells us that the flowers are aranged in a sprial which you can just make out from my photo. They are only a few inches tall so not easy to spot in longish grass.

Great shot! Yeah leaving it on Aperture mode is fine, if you increase the ISO as i suggested the shutter speed the camera will suggest will be much higher, and will freeze those little critters still and will cancel out any camera shake. I'd suggest an ISO of 1600 if you want a good balance between noise and camera shake, if the camera is good enough (the 7100 should be!) it should be able to handle 3200 just fine as well.