Morning Jumper

[Ironwood]

Went for a walk in the garden this morning, camera in one hand, coffee mug in the other...

[Grumpy John]

Good to see the jumpers making an appearance again Ironwood . As usual this is another wonderful macro image from you.
As I now have a dedicated macro (Tokina AT-X M100mm PRO D F2.8 Macro) I was wondering if you would mind sharing you techniques for your macro shots. Did you use the better beamar for this shot?

[Ironwood]

Cheers John. That Tokina 100 is a very good lens, it leaves you no excuse not to get good macro shots, you just need to practice.

The Better Beamer is suited for long lenses and subjects at a distance, no good for macro. I use the pop-up flash on my camera, and a simple homemade diffuser shoved on the end of my lens.

I will describe my technique for you, its not the only way, there are probably as many different ways as there are macro photographers, so you might change or tweak things to suit you and your gear.

I put my camera in M for manwell, I generally use 1/200 shutter, f16, iso200, auto WB, pop-up flash on full power. I sometimes have to tweak the settings on an overly bright or very dull day.
I turn the AF off, and focus the lens right out to the closest focus. Put the diffuser on, and go out and find some bugs.
I move the camera in and out slightly to get the focus pane on the eyes of the bug, and click the shutter, if you get the eyes in sharp focus, the rest will take care of itself. Sharp eyes are most important.

You will probably be best to practice this focusing technique on something that doesn't move, or you will get frustrated quickly. Find a dead fly or beetle, put it on a leaf and practice getting the focal pane on the eyes when you click the shutter. I just handhold my camera, I usually try and grip the leaf with my left hand finger tips, and cradle the end of the lens in my palm, I get focus by moving the leaf in and out slightly with my fingers ( Takes lots of practice to get this down pat with live insects, you gotta be quick )

I have heard of others using a length of dowel or broomstick as a makeshift support. Put the dowel in between your thumb and forefinger of your left hand, and grip the end of your lens with the same hand , with one end of the dowel on the ground you can slide up and down to the needed height quickly and easily, the support this gives you could increase your keeper rate if you have trouble keeping the camera steady.

Here are some pics of the diffuser I use, its cut out of a piece of 12mm thick packing foam. I just set a pair of dividers to mark and cut out the hole. Make it a tight fit so it doesn't fall off.
Ignore the tripod, I just used it to hold the camera while I took some photos with my iPad.
You can use a tripod on things that don't move, but for insects and spiders, better to handhold.
This is a very basic and crude diffuser, but it works for me. I know others will say you need a more elaborate rig. I have made another one that goes on the end of my Yongnou flash, it works well, but I find it a bit heavy and cumbersome, and I keep going back to this simple one, that I can set up in seconds.

[Grumpy John]

Thanks for describing you workflow Brad, I will have a good read of it and respond with any questions later.

[Ironwood]

Happy to answer any questions John.

[Grumpy John]

That foam looks to be about 35-40 mm thick.

[Ironwood]

Another Jumper from this mornings walk.

[Grumpy John]

Another great set Brad. From memory these guys are about the size of your thumbnail, correct?

[Ironwood]

The first one is about 15mm long, the 2nd one is about 8mm long.

[Grumpy John]

Cheers John. That Tokina 100 is a very good lens, it leaves you no excuse not to get good macro shots, you just need to practice.

I have been out practicing, Have a look at some of my posts in the Macro thread, the more I shoot the better I become.

The Better Beamer is suited for long lenses and subjects at a distance, no good for macro. I use the pop-up flash on my camera, and a simple homemade diffuser shoved on the end of my lens.

The Tokina lens is quite long when fully extended to achieve 1:1. With the lens hood on it is ~ 250mm from the on camera flash to the end of the hood. Without the hood it is 190mm. The glass is recessed about 30mm from the front of the lens, so I guess when doing macro the hood is not necessary. My concern is that the on board flash would cast a shadow on the subject.

I will describe my technique for you, its not the only way, there are probably as many different ways as there are macro photographers, so you might change or tweak things to suit you and your gear.

I put my camera in M for manwell, I generally use 1/200 shutter, f16, iso200, auto WB, pop-up flash on full power. I sometimes have to tweak the settings on an overly bright or very dull day.
I turn the AF off, and focus the lens right out to the closest focus. Put the diffuser on, and go out and find some bugs.
I move the camera in and out slightly to get the focus pane on the eyes of the bug, and click the shutter, if you get the eyes in sharp focus, the rest will take care of itself. Sharp eyes are most important.

I find it very difficult to hold the camera steady enough. I have been using pretty fast shutter speeds to obtain a sharp image. At the moment I am using auto focus, the lens hunts quite a bit, but that is to be expected with such a narrow DOF. I hope to be able to use manual focus in the not to distant future. Practice, practice, practice.

You will probably be best to practice this focusing technique on something that doesn't move, or you will get frustrated quickly. Find a dead fly or beetle, put it on a leaf and practice getting the focal pane on the eyes when you click the shutter. I just handhold my camera, I usually try and grip the leaf with my left hand finger tips, and cradle the end of the lens in my palm, I get focus by moving the leaf in and out slightly with my fingers ( Takes lots of practice to get this down pat with live insects, you gotta be quick )

Thanks for the tip.

I have heard of others using a length of dowel or broomstick as a makeshift support. Put the dowel in between your thumb and forefinger of your left hand, and grip the end of your lens with the same hand , with one end of the dowel on the ground you can slide up and down to the needed height quickly and easily, the support this gives you could increase your keeper rate if you have trouble keeping the camera steady.

A makeshift monopod, cool idea.

Here are some pics of the diffuser I use, its cut out of a piece of 12mm thick packing foam. I just set a pair of dividers to mark and cut out the hole. Make it a tight fit so it doesn't fall off.
Ignore the tripod, I just used it to hold the camera while I took some photos with my iPad.
You can use a tripod on things that don't move, but for insects and spiders, better to handhold.
This is a very basic and crude diffuser, but it works for me. I know others will say you need a more elaborate rig. I have made another one that goes on the end of my Yongnou flash, it works well, but I find it a bit heavy and cumbersome, and I keep going back to this simple one, that I can set up in seconds.

I'll have to raid the bins out the back of JB HIFI to find some packing foam

I probably should have had the flash up so you would get a better idea if the lens would cast a shadow.
With hood.


Without hood.

[Ironwood]

Go with 1/200th in conjunction with your flash as a starting point. The flash will freeze the action, on your part or the bugs. As I said, using flash is a gamechanger.

[Grumpy John]

Of course, much like freezing water splash's.

[Ironwood]

Yep, probably not as quick a action as the drops, but yeah same deal.

[Isac]

Thanks for your well covered response to John's question Ironwood, very much appreciated by all. Your images are high quality and presented extremely well. Would it be the same to have a small diffuser on the flash itself rather than on the lens?

[Ironwood]

No problems Isac. I hope I can help anyone that wants to give it a go.
You need the diffuser out at the end of the lens, to prevent a shadow being casted by the lens.
You could use one of those storebought diffusers, if it is long enough to put the front material out at the end of the lens. I tried one, but it’s a cumbersome affair, and it’s square shaped front is not as good as one that wraps around the end of the lens, it’s better at directing the light onto your subject.

[Grumpy John]

Do you use Spot Metering Ironwood ?

[Ironwood]

No. I don't meter at all. I have found those settings I quoted work for most situations, so I start with them every time I go out.
I will check the images on the back screen as I am going to make sure I am in the ballpark, if its overly bright or dark, I may have to adjust something to suit.
If the pics are coming out too bright, I usually bump the aperture to f18 or f20, if too dark I might raise the iso slightly, but I rarely have to do this.
Using the flash, most ambient light is blocked out, so changes from my standard settings are not usually needed. PP can usually take care of it.

[Grumpy John]

Having been to your garden, I'm guessing that most of your shots are in a shaded location.

[Ironwood]

Correct. If I do get the rare occasion where I am shooting in full sun, I would stop down to f18 or f20 first, if still too bright, turn iso back towards 100, and/or reduce flash power. I rarely change shutter speed from 1/200.