What Fstop would you have used ??
I fiddled with some of them trying to improve them, but it would be better to get it right in the camera first next time. Also I was stuck with the stock zoom lens that came with the camera, will get a macro lens soon. Now about the Fstop ??
The first 3 photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/16949082@N0... You can blow them up Sigma gold band is the "EX" series, have some they are great.
I would use F16 - f11 if i could, and to confuse you more, flash and a macro flash ring are great for macro work. - cheap on trademe and ebay - old minolta ones do it.
Now I will go look at the images.
Theres usually many ways of getting the same shot, heres a 300mm on a sony 1.5 crop @f8 using the standard on camera flash : http://www.flickr.com/photos/martini2005...
dont know if you see or not but theres more depth to the focus. Made using the on camera flash (GN12) and f8 from 1.5 meters, 125th shutter, shoot in pitch black at night,
Flash is handy for macro work as one can use a small aperture and a fast shutter. the on camera flash on the A350 is GN12 i think.
So at iso100, f12 you get 1 meter cover -- gn12/f12=1meter
or at iso100, F24 you get 1/2 meter - gn12/24=1/2 meter
Flash and a shutter of 125th will freeze the critters for you, and allow a smaller aperture hence better depth of field and DOfocus.
Hope that helps some.
EDIT: flash will allow hand holding also as the flash will freeze any camera shake......
a I would use the lowest f/stop possible. (i am guessing on a kit zoom is around f/3.5-4).
This will limit your depth of field and help the background fade away in blurriness.
Here is a link to a great depth of field chart
http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html
And you're right a Macro lens would helpyou get CLOSE!
BTW - those are good pics! Interesting bugs.
Li,
Stop worrying about mechanics; F/Stop, ISO. Shutter speed, etc. Think like an artist....light. color, and composition.
Excellent photography is mostly an art not science.
Great shots. Thanks for sharing!!
- J Nevermind the bells and whistles Lidy
....you have a good eye for composition. I would hate to see what you can do macros and what not.
Beautiful takes!!! I like these.
You might see some increase in DOF at f8 or f11 but it wouldn't be dramatic since you were so close to your subject.
Keep practicing. :) they look good to me...i assume an assassin bug is a bad bug with a bad bite or a bad sting... AAAHHH I DONT LIKE IT ITS SCARY!! That's an Assassin Bug, so be careful when handling 'cause that guy can really stab you bad with that proboscis of his.
I've been shooting macro of insects almost all of my life, so I can most definitely help you. The two most important things in wildlife macro photography are the lens you're using and the lighting source. For the BEST results, you need the following:
A good Macro lens, or, a fixed focal length lens of at least 100mm, or 200mm "and" extension tubes or a bellows to go with it.
"ALWAYS" use the "smallest" f-stop on the lens (f22 or f32) if possible. This is so you have the maximum depth of field, which is extremely important when shooting in Macro, because the closer you get to something, the shallower is your depth of field and depth of focus.
Use fast "strobes" for lighting. Two is good, three is better. (one for key, one for fill, and one for backlight). Strobes are fast and will stop the action of the living insect AND any camera movement. They are also very bright and will enable you to use the smaller f-stops as I suggested.
Your shutter speed should be as fast as the camera will allow when using the strobes.
If you have compatible equipment, you can "try" continuous focus on automatic, but I doubt it will work. So manual focus is what you'll have to learn to do as the insect moves to and away from you. Takes lots of practice.
You're very lucky in this day and age with digital equipment, because you can shoot away as the insect moves, etc, without worrying about running out of film. The most important thing is patience, lots and lots of patience to get that "one" shot that really counts.
Have fun. JD's got a point about artistic merit as opposed to the machanics of the thing, but I understand where you are coming from at this point in your "career" with the new camera.
With your lens at 70mm, you must have been as close as possible to the little bugger - I mean bug. This would be about 40cm. At such a close distance on a telephoto lens, you will find very little depth of field. You may have wanted a little bit more than you got on this image. Perhaps f/8 or f/11 would have given you want you wanted. The object in the background is very close to the subject, so it's not going to be out of focus by much - if at all. If that's what you are going for, then okay. Since f/5.6 is "wide open" at 70mm and you are not using the flash, now do you close the aperture a bit? You are already at 1/15, so going to f/8 would put you at 1/8 and f/11 would require 1/4. Even if your camera is sitting on the desktop, image blur is going to be a risk at those low, low speeds.
Don't forget how easy it is to vary the third component of exposure control with digital - the ISO. You could have held the shutter speed at 1/15 and gone to f/8 by increasing the ISO to 400. Similarly, you could have gone to f/11 by increasing the ISO to 800. I don't know how well the a350 image quality holds up with increased ISO, but anything ought to still be satisfactory at ISO 800 these days. You'd have to try this and see.
An alternate approach that is SOMETIMES available to you would be to have most of the main subject in the same plane relative to your camera. If he is parallel to the focal plane, more of him would be in the focal trough than you find if he is perpendicular to the focal plane. This would affect your composition, though, so you don't always want to use this approach.
If your macro adventures will be mostly bugs like this guy, look for about a 100mm macro lens.
Sony has an apparently nice 100mm f/2.8 macro lens, but it's almost as costly as your camera: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/43...
I am quite happy with my 60mm macro, but I guess I don't spend so much time looking at bug. Sony has one for under $500 here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/43...
The Sigma "Gold Band" lenses are supposed to be pro grade, so that might worth looking into, as it is nearly half the cost: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/34... |
