My first foray into the world of Macro - and advice needed

[iceman]

I've had the 100mm Canon f/2.8 USM macro lens for a while now, but never had the chance to use it.

But on Saturday afternoon, I found myself with a spare 30 minutes and decided it was time to give it a go - it was a beautiful afternoon after a week of rain so I stepped out into the backyard and looked for something small :)

I'm a newbie with macro so I didn't really know the best settings - I used f/2.8, which of course gives the most paper thin focal plane. I found it really difficult to hold focus on what I wanted when using handheld.

What do you macro guys use?
Do you use a monopod or tripod, or just handheld?
Do you use burst mode to compensate for the wobbly handheld and hope to get one in focus? :)
Do you use Manual Focus or Auto Focus? Single post focus (right in the middle)?
What f/ratio and shutter speed, or do you use AV or ??

It'll take some time to figure out what type of macro photography I like - insects, flowers, arty type stuff, abstract whatever. But I did enjoy it and I love the possibilities.

The flower/buds are from our water lily. The fly is some small flying critter :)

Anyway feedback, critique, suggestions, advice please!

[iceman]

Last 2.. flower bud from our dwarf magnolia tree.

[troypiggo]

G'day Mike :) Great start there. Nice exposure and colours.

I'm no expert, but here's what I do.



As you've discovered, DoF is razor thin shooting so close to the subject. Even at f/11 your DoF can be less than 1mm at 1:1 or higher. My "go to" aperture is f/11. That gives a reasonable balance between DoF, allowing enough light in, and avoiding diffraction softening that becomes noticeable at f/16 and smaller apertures.

At f/11, it's still a fairly small aperture, so you might (probably will) struggle for light. Up the ISO (400-800) and drop shutter speed as slow as you dare (say 1/100s, 1/60s if you've got steady hands maybe). That's if you don't have flash. If you have flash, you can keep ISO 400 or so and increase shutter speed to 1/200s or so.



Lens you mean? I've had the lens you have now, literally. :) I currently have Sigma 105, Sigma 150, Canon 180L, and Canon MP-E65. My current favourite is the Sigma 150 - great balance of working distance and ease of use. This with 68mm Kenko extension tubes gives heaps of keepers up to 2:1 lifesize.



All handheld. I have a Benro monopod (as mentioned in your monopod thread) that I sometimes use if I'm shooting higher than 2:1 magnification with the MP-E65. Very hard to handhold at that high a mag unless you're in a prone position with elbows on ground etc. I don't actually connect the camera to the monopod, but have the monopod extended and kind of grip the camera and monopod with the same hand. Like Brian "LordV" Valentine's beanpole technique. That's why I got the light CF monopod. Quick to adjust height, just slide hand and camera up or down.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/75900442/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/2712774517/

If you're shooting stationary subjects like your flowers, tripod ok. Unless it's really windy, you can close the aperture down and slow the shutter speed down too.



No. Take your time, practise, and be sure. Breathe. It's just technique.



Always MF. The AF on macro lenses is pretty ordinary (ie slow). Too slow IMO for chasing bugs. Maybe OK for flowers if you're using a tripod.

What I do is set the magnification or focus point that I want first. Then slowly move in to the subject so the eyes or whatever are in focus then move just out of focus, the slightly rock backward until the eyes come into focus again and then snap. That way you maximise your DoF with eyes in focus plus as much of the body etc. Hope that makes sense?



Think I covered that above. Always full Manual exposure on camera as per above. I'm using full manual on flash too, but you can use ETTL reliably as well.

I manually expose to 1-2 stops under with the camera settings, and then just use enough flash to light the subject. Like fill flash. Reason is to get some colour in the backgrounds, ie not black. But also hard to fully expose with the sort of apertures/speeds/ISO I'm using, so the flash helps just lift it a bit.

[Dennis]

Hi Mike

Here is a link to a photo of my macro rig (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment_browse.php?a=77191).

Manual exposure.
I shoot at 1/250 sec, F11, ISO100.
Autofocus, using the centre AF point.
Low speed drive at approx 3 frames per second.

Flash set to ETTL II
FEC set to -1/3 stop although this can change depending upon tones of the subject and background.

At the moment I work mostly freestyle; that is, hand held.

Sometimes I will use a monopod as a “stick” with the monopod and ADM ring on my rig clamped in my left hand to steady the rig. This technique really improves the comfort of shooting and tends to give me more keepers, as it keeps the subject matter reasonably centred without all the swaying of just unsupported handholding.

Cheers

Dennis

[iceman]

Thanks for the advice, Troy and Dennis. Much appreciated.

Slightly different techniques but both producing wonderful results. Goes to show there's no "set" way. Whatever works :)

I'm not using a flash at the moment because I don't have an external one. Will have to look into that. And will also need to start using F/11 I think. Damn dust motes show up at f/11 :)

[troypiggo]

Oh yeah. Every spec on sensor. You should see what it's like at higher mags like 3x to 5x !

[Dennis]

Hi Mike

Troy and Andrew are more like snipers in their approach whereas I go in with finger on trigger blazing away and hope that I grab one that is nicely composed and in focus!:lol:

Cheers

Dennis

[iceman]

That's more like my style :)

[troypiggo]

Dennis is being far too humble. I'm sure he gets more keepers than I do.

I was going to add that our approaches aren't vastly different. Based on Dennis' settings, I'd say he's using more of a full flash type setup, ie most of the light is coming from his flash. My approach is just to bring in a bit more ambient light and less flash.

And if I was using ETTL flash instead of manual, I'd use similar settings to him and adjust as he recommends.

And sniper versus machinegun approach, I will often click quick succession manually too. Don't trust myself that much to only do a single take. More like an auto shotgun than a machinegun. :)

[bloodhound31]

Manual focus. Move the camera body forward and back to get focus. I use flash, so for me it's f/9 to f/11, ISO 100 and 1/200th of a second.

Depending on the ambient light available, I will adjust the power of my flash to suit. More light means more flash. Less light, less flash.