First Real try at Macro PHotography

[Jaszek]

So I went to the American Museum of Natural History and went to the Butterfly Exhibit. Here are a couple shots I took. Yes I know my sensor is very dirty, waiting for the cleaning kit which is on its way to me. C&C appreciated.
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6.

7.

8.

 

[Jaszek]

anyone?

 

[Mgw189]

6 is probably the best of all the images. The lighting is off in most of them however. It looks as though you are using on the cameras built in flash for lighting. If you really want to get into macro photography you should look into investing in or making a ring flash.

 

[Jaszek]

I used my external flash for these. Not really into investing in macro equipment yet. I took these with my Sigma 70-300 with the "not so great" macro focusing option. You can only use it when you are between 20 and 300mm.

 

[ShutterSpeed]

you've got some real nice shots, i'm just not much of a butterfly guy.

sorry.

 

[Jaszek]

you've got some real nice shots, i'm just not much of a butterfly guy.

sorry.

Thanks and me neither. I hate butterflies actually. But since its winter and its too cold for them (even though its hard to find one in the summer here in NYC b/c of the pollution lol) AMoNH was the only place I can practice my in January.

 

[ShutterSpeed]

Thanks and me neither. I hate butterflies actually. But since its winter and its too cold for them (even though its hard to find one in the summer here in NYC b/c of the pollution lol) AMoNH was the only place I can practice my in January.

You know. Butterflies are uglier than I imagined up close.

 

[Jaszek]

lol yea they have weird eyes

 

[Jaszek]

bump

 

[Jaszek]

bump X2

 

[a1157814a]

not bad

 

[xtort-]

Pretty good for not having actual macro equipment yet. Some of the crops are kinda iffy, but I suspect you might not have had a lot of edge room in some of the shots.

 

[Overread]

hmm my experiences of the sigma 70-300mm are that its macro feature is where the lens really shines (well it does its best at least ). I would guess that you shot these handheld and that I think is where you are getting some problems.
I would advise getting a monopod if possible (since I think you might not be allowed to use a tripod in the exhibition - though you could ask) to give you more support under the lens and lessen the chances of image shake.
From there I would set the lens to the macro settings and then turn the AF off - yep turn it off - and focus manually. That will allow you to put the point of focus where you want it to be (mostly on the eyes with such shots) rather than have to let the AF choose or just be on centre mode. When I shoot macro I tend to move my body very slightly rather than adjust the focus - that way I can stay at max magnification and still get shots.

Lighting - as said - is a key factor though you can invest in a something like a speedlite 430 or 580M2 and a diffuser and get some very good results. The flash will also be a good solid investment allround for photography as flash has a lot of applications.

As for settings (yours seem to waver quite a bit - experimentation is agood thing though so keep it up) you could try the following:
Aperture f13
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/200sec

I use those settings most when doing macro with my flash and it gets good results. Boosting ISO can help with lower light and I would try to avoid using wider apertures since you lose out on the depth of field - which means that you have to be more creative in how you position the camera to make best of the little depth that you have.

You have made a good start with macro work - keep it up

 

[Jaszek]

I actually used a 430EX in these and were hand held and on some I used manual focus. It was just hard because there were a lot of people there bumping into me and really really hot since I was wearing a sweater and a north face jacket in a fake tropical enviroment. I was dripping with sweat lol.

 

[Overread]

ahh that can be tricky! Worst is that the sigma has something like a 0.5m min focusing distance! So plent of space for people to get in the way. I have often found that such places are best visited on weekdays (is possible) when the traffic is a little lighter - Mondays are best!
Thing is though to be relaxed as you shoot since that helps you be more stable when shooting.