Since the inaugural BIMBO* outing at Roma St Gardens a couple of weeks ago, I have been practicing my macro technique on any insect that happened to cross my optical axis.
Today, I got lucky! I found a reasonably cooperative dragon fly in our neighbour’s hedge, although its position wasn’t ideal, forcing me to lean heavily into the shrubs, leaving me teetering in balance, but this seems to have been nullified by the high speed flash that froze the exposures. The series of 3 shots spans approx 60 secs as the insect changed its perch due to my approaching more closely for each shot.
Canon 40D with EF-S 60mm F2.8 macro lens and ringlite MR-14EX.
Manual exposure of 1/250 at F11, ISO100 with -2/3 stop compensation for the flash. Flash ratio was set to A=1:B=1/4
The ring flash really illuminated the neck/head cavity due to it being on-axis with the lens. The Canon EF-S 60mm F2.8 is one sharp lens!
My meeting with the BIMBO’s certainly put me on the right track with macro photography. Prior to watching the boys at work, I used to “chase” the insects, dashing from bloom to bloom, shrub to shrub, (not quite park to park!) and had a very low success rate, despite my technically excellent rig.
After seeing how the guys got down and dirty, working a single stem or shrub at a time and waiting for the insect to drift in, I adopted this approach and my keeper rate has sky rocketed.
I’m still experimenting with the ring flash. Sometimes 2/3 stop under is still too bright and I get blown highlights dotted around the frame. I may experiment with the metering mode – maybe set it to spot metering although I figured if the insect was too dark this may blow the highlights even more?
Thanks to the BIMBO’s for showing me their techniques, approach and camera settings – you’ve changed the hobby from a bit of an ordeal to an obsession!
Good one mate. I was going to comment on the highlights from the flash, but didn't. Not sure if you've played with the exposures at all in post-processing. Assuming you haven't, I thought you handled the background exposure very well. It's always nice to see macro photos with some colour in the BG. Quite often, because of the use of flash in ETTL mode, macro shots tend to have bright subjects and black BGs. Sometimes that's intentional and effective, but more often than not I find lit BG more appealing.
I think you're not far off the mark with your -2/3 under. ETTL flash is a bit finicky and random, and agree the metering mode may have something to do with it. Don't think spot metering is the right way to go, though. The area is covers is quite small, and given how much variability there is with moving subjects I think it would be difficult to get consistent exposures. I'd stick with, and experiment with, evaluative and average metering.
As you probably know, the closer you get the exposure right without the flash, the less the flash has to work. What we want is fill flash effect.
The other factor is that both the MT-24EX that I have, and your MR-14EX, are known for giving pretty harsh light if they're not diffused. The flash heads are very close to the subjects. Don't know if you noticed what I was using for diffusers - I have Lumiquest Ultrabounces on each flash head and like the results I'm getting even though they're a little big for my liking. Might try cutting them down somehow.
I'd do a google search, or maybe have a look through POTN's macro discussion section, to get ideas of what other guys are doing to diffuse them. Might be a little difficult on your ringlight given the shape of it.
I did try “Partial Metering” and ran into problems with light tones on butterflies and dark tones on native bees, so went back to “Evaluative”.
I am now using ACR in CS4 and use the “Recover” for highlights and provided not all 3 channels are blown, I can usually rescue some texture in the whites. I also find that Shadow/Highlight can be helpful too, although it would be nice to get it right in-camera.
The MR-14EX does have “built-in” diffusers as the two crescents are not clear – they have that opaque, ground glass look. However, I do find changing the over/under exposure setting on the MR-14EX a bit awkward;
Take eye off subject
Look at rear LCD panel on flash
Press Sel
Press + or –
But I think that I should be able to do the same from inside the Canon 40D view finder; that is, select flash exposure compensation – I’ll read the manual!
Evaluative is the way to go imho. Half ping pong balls can make good diffusers, although I'd be careful of melting etc.
Flash lighting in macro is very hard to get right, and I quite admit that I suck @ lighting. I much prefer natural light. I'm looking forward to the Mark IV @ ISO 6400 and natural macro shots @ f8. I'll probably get a Canon 100mm macro lens to replace my Sigma 150mm, only because it's smaller and lighter and I can get away with slower shutter speeds to avoid camera shake issues.
Dennis - no need to change the settings on the flash itself. As you say, you can do it all while still looking through camera viewfinder. There's a FEC button on top of the 40D, you can hit that with your right index finger, turn the dial and see the result in the viewfinder's meter, then hit the FEC button again or half-press the shutter button to go back to shooting mode. All without looking away from the viewfinder.
I know the MR-14 has built-in diffusers, but believe they're too close to flash lamp or something and result in fairly harsh light still.
Don't fix anything direct to the front of the flash, only the black parts around the side. As Dave intimated, flashes get hot really quick and will melt stuff.
May I suggest altering the flash metering from evaluative to average, if the 40D allows you to set that? It might help you with harsh lighting conditions. I can't remember off the top of my head, but it should be in the custom functions for flash settings, or, may just be in the main menu under flash settings. I do it with the 5D Mark II when doing portraiture, and it helps. Having said that, with human photography, I avoid the flash when possible, preferring natural lighting.
May I suggest altering the flash metering from evaluative to average, if the 40D allows you to set that? It might help you with harsh lighting conditions. I can't remember off the top of my head, ..............>snip
Regards,
Humayun
Thanks for the suggestions H – much appreciated.
On a general note, I think that at the core of my dilemma, my Manual settings of 1/250 at F11 grossly under exposes the daylight scene. When I set the Mode to P for Program AE, the 40D chooses something like 1/60 at F4. This is all at ISO 100.
This suggests that I’m under exposing the overall scene by some 4-5 stops and so the flash output attempts to compensate giving the unnatural look, despite my efforts to claw this back in CS4.
I selected 1/250 sec as this is my max flash sync speed and minimizes camera shake and F11 was chosen to provide optimum depth of focus.
I ran a series of ISO tests comparing ISO 100 and ISO 400 using a Rates Bill as a target and I noticed a faint background “texture” on the higher ISO shots when blinked with those at ISO 100. This was only noticeable when pixel peeping and only when blinking the 2 frames. It is unlikely that I would have been able to pick the ISO 400 shot just by itself.
I’m going to have to re-think this approach through further experimentation and researching what settings the macro experts use to achieve a better balance between daylight and flash.
The attached screen copies show the 4 metering modes of the 40D and the Flash settings.
Cracking photo's Dennis.
The Dragonfly can be a real toughie to capture as I have found around my dam.
Cheers
Thanks Ric – this chap was particularly cooperative! Despite flying off between each shot, he then re-alighted nearby so I was able to sneak a little closer each time.
