Butterfly...C&C please

Jess11 · Jun 21, 2011

Hi I am a newbie to macro, and I am wondering why most of my macro pictures don't have the vibrant color and sharpness like others : (
Please advice.. Thanks!!!

Canon Eos 30D
Canon Macro EF100mm
ISO 800
f2.8
1/640 sec
cropped

http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k500/Jes2468/_MG_8325.jpg

dxqcanada · Jun 21, 2011

ISO too high.
Aperture too wide.
Need to work on focusing.

Overread · Jun 21, 2011

Two quick questions - do you own a flash and if so which one (and also did you use it in this shot)
secondly by how much is this cropped - can we see (even a small version) of the original if its a fairly big crop.

In addition if you put image tags
[ img ] paste link here [ /img ]
around your link it will become an embedded image in the thread (photobucket has this image tag thing auto generated somewhere on its interface to copy/paste)

Jess11 · Jun 21, 2011

I did own a flash, Canon speedlite430EXII, but I didnt use it on this shot. This picture was taken around 1130am.

Here is the original. Thanks : )

Overread · Jun 21, 2011

Your key weakness isn't so much the focus or the settings, but the light that you have to work with (which directly affects your settings and makes your focusing a lot harder by forcing a wide aperture). You can fix this with two basic approaches (which can of course be combined if you so desire:

1) Tripod - here you are reliant on allowing for a still subject and scene as well as a still camera in order to let your shutter speed be slower, whilst keeping ISO low and your aperture as desired. This method works well early morning and after rainfall events and any other time that the temperature is cool - when insects are naturally very lethargic. Early mornings also has the bonus that wind is often very light in most areas - and you need pretty much no wind at all if your shutter speed is slow.

2) Flash - this lets you put out more light that you need so that your shutter speeds can be a lot faster, without having to work with both a high ISO and an ultra wide aperture. Of course good flash light requires a few things:
a) off camera flash cord (the short coiled kind)
b) flash bracket -- RAM-Mount as shown there is about the cheapest and most effective there is. Cheaper all in one brackets (off ebay and the like) are typically not suitable for macro work
c) diffuser for the flash -- either head over and get something like this lumiquest softbox regular or you can make your own out of various home items, such as a coke can version (photos of the can taking shape and the overall diffuser are in that set along with additional gear ideas and approaches.

This lets you position the flash light and the diffuser lets it you have a nice, soft light to work with. From there you can use the flash for two main types of lighting:

Fill - here your using highspeed sync modes (if your flash has it, I think the 430 does this mode) so that your shutter speed remains fast (eg 1/400sec) and the flash is giving a boost to local lighting only, whilst ambient is making up for the majority of the exposure.

Main (the more common use in macro insect work) - here the flash light isn't just adding, it is the light needed for making the exposure. Shutter speed is capped out around 1/200sec (typical sync speed for most cameras) whilst ISO is generally low (100)* and your aperture is small, f8-f13 range.

For insect work during the height of the day flash is what I would reach to without a pause - letting me hit f13, ISO 100 and 1/200sec without any worries at all. That gives me a nice deep depth of field to work with (though of course you can be creative and work with less for a different overall effect - remembering that the wider the aperture goes, the smaller your depth of field, and the more critical your focus) along with the low ISO and fast shutter speed. The flash dominates the lighting (as said) and my exposures come up with that sharper, crisper look. Vibrancy is also improved, though this is one area where, with a solid exposure, one can improve upon in editing.

* higher ISO are sometimes used to allow for ambient light to slip in more dominantly to allow background areas to stand out a little more

Jess11 · Jun 22, 2011

Thanks for the useful advice. : )

leixialong · Jun 22, 2011

Overread said:
Your key weakness isn't so much the focus or the settings, but the light that you have to work with (which directly affects your settings and makes your focusing a lot harder by forcing a wide aperture). You can fix this with two basic approaches (which can of course be combined if you so desire:

1) Tripod - here you are reliant on allowing for a still subject and scene as well as a still camera in order to let your shutter speed be slower, whilst keeping ISO low and your aperture as desired. This method works well early morning and after rainfall events and any other time that the temperature is cool - when insects are naturally very lethargic. Early mornings also has the bonus that wind is often very light in most areas - and you need pretty much no wind at all if your shutter speed is slow.

2) Flash - this lets you put out more light that you need so that your shutter speeds can be a lot faster, without having to work with both a high ISO and an ultra wide aperture. Of course good flash light requires a few things:
a) off camera flash cord (the short coiled kind)
b) flash bracket -- RAM-Mount as shown there is about the cheapest and most effective there is. Cheaper all in one brackets (off ebay and the like) are typically not suitable for macro work
c) diffuser for the flash -- either head over and get something like this lumiquest softbox regular or you can make your own out of various home items, such as a coke can version (photos of the can taking shape and the overall diffuser are in that set along with additional gear ideas and approaches.

This lets you position the flash light and the diffuser lets it you have a nice, soft light to work with. From there you can use the flash for two main types of lighting:

Fill - here your using highspeed sync modes (if your flash has it, I think the 430 does this mode) so that your shutter speed remains fast (eg 1/400sec) and the flash is giving a boost to local lighting only, whilst ambient is making up for the majority of the exposure.

Main (the more common use in macro insect work) - here the flash light isn't just adding, it is the light needed for making the exposure. Shutter speed is capped out around 1/200sec (typical sync speed for most cameras) whilst ISO is generally low (100)* and your aperture is small, f8-f13 range.

For insect work during the height of the day flash is what I would reach to without a pause - letting me hit f13, ISO 100 and 1/200sec without any worries at all. That gives me a nice deep depth of field to work with (though of course you can be creative and work with less for a different overall effect - remembering that the wider the aperture goes, the smaller your depth of field, and the more critical your focus) along with the low ISO and fast shutter speed. The flash dominates the lighting (as said) and my exposures come up with that sharper, crisper look. Vibrancy is also improved, though this is one area where, with a solid exposure, one can improve upon in editing.

* higher ISO are sometimes used to allow for ambient light to slip in more dominantly to allow background areas to stand out a little more