Help me With Macro

[smoke665]

I will definitely try using a tripod in those situations where it is possible.

Not to belabor the point, but frankly I've never found a situation where I couldn't use a monopod or tripod. It's kinda essential if you want to do macro. Here's a quick close up comparison of your blossom and a similar flower shot I took.

Notice the detail comparison on the anther? Your aperture was f/16. mine was f/3.5. It's about stability and managing your DOF.

 

[William Baroo]

Not to belabor the point, but frankly I've never found a situation where I couldn't use a monopod or tripod. It's kinda essential if you want to do macro. Here's a quick close up comparison of your blossom and a similar flower shot I took.
View attachment 291883
Notice the detail comparison on the anther? Your aperture was f/16. mine was f/3.5. It's about stability and managing your DOF.

The problem is that small animals move.

 

[ACS64]

Just a general comment but ignore anybody that gives advice like "try 1/200 of a second, ISO 200, magnification 1:1. He said to use a diffuser and set the flash to 1/16. He also said to set my camera to 5500 K. He said to use focus peaking instead of auto focus. He said to use f8." unless you are using exactly the same equipment and exactly the same subject. The controls on your camera are for you to adjust as your equipment and subject require. The ignore rule applies whether the topic is macros, portraits, landscapes or whatever. He doesn't know your equipment, environment, or subject.
Final comment, aperture is a tradeoff. After about two stops down you are losing resolution even as you are gaining DOF. You will need to experiment. The exact stop where the crossover occurs will depend on the format you are using, m4/3, APS-C, full frame, medium format. The way around, as a number of folks have suggested, is focus stacking.

 

[JBPhotog2]

Final comment, aperture is a tradeoff. After about two stops down you are losing resolution even as you are gaining DOF. You will need to experiment. The exact stop where the crossover occurs will depend on the format you are using, m4/3, APS-C, full frame, medium format. The way around, as a number of folks have suggested, is focus stacking.

For a full frame MILC or DSLR diffraction starts to show up @f10 and smaller, so with an f2.8 lens that is 4 2/3 stops from wide open. On a m4/3 it is @f5.6 and smaller, APS-C is @f8. All of which are greater than 2 stops from wide open.

As a tip for macro, set the focus to your desired magnification move the camera closer or farther from your subject until it is focus.

 

[smoke665]

The problem is that small animals move.

Critters skitter, birds fly, bees buzz and the more you move around the more they do their thing. Anticipate and wait. Doesn't hurt to try a little bait either

 

[William Baroo]

I saw somebody recommending a K&F tripod for macro. The big problem using the cheesy tripods I have is that they are useless near the ground, where there are a lot of things to shoot. The K&F job will put you right down there.

 

[smoke665]

@William Baroo I've accumulated an assortment of tripods over the years. Check out Gorilla Pods and the reversible, flexible models at Vangard. Also look at something ad simple as sand bags.

Just out of curiosity, try turning off Focus Peaking, go to auto focus/spot, and try a few shots at 12-14" away from the subject to see if your sharpness improves.

 

[William Baroo]

I have a Gorillapod somewhere. I used it on trips (not macro), but then I got a tiny Smallrig with a remote built into the handle, and it worked out well for me. The Gorillapod must be buried among my junk.

While I was checking out the K&F, I saw people pushing the Vanguard Alta Pro 2+.

 

[smoke665]

@William Baroo an old friend's favorite saying is How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Time to start narrowing down the possible problems, one at a time.

 

[William Baroo]

Today I tried using a tripod I actually have instead of a better one I don't have, and things did not go well. I photographed stationary flowers. The head could not deal with the weight of the camera, lens, and flash. Sometimes it stayed in place, and sometimes it gradually swung toward mother Earth. I was using an a6400 and a pretty light lens, so my 2004 $20 tripod is not going to be the answer to my macro problems. I have not tried my 2020 $25 tripod yet. Still shopping.

Focusing was much easier, of course. The depth of field is still very shallow. I wouldn't say the results were any better than the ones I got before, but at least I am fighting the equipment less and getting exposures that seem more reasonable.

Focus peaking is apparently a lot of BS with this lens. Things that lit up were still blurry.

I have not tried focus stacking yet. I have been playing around with free Affinity, and the help section says it will do it. Maybe I can manage to get some suitable shots tomorrow. It depends on whether my luxury $25 tripod will hold still.

 

[William Baroo]

I have to wait for the tripod to get here, so today I fooled around with the simple suggestion of backing up off the subject to get more DOF.

I only had a few minutes, and I could not find my diffuser, but I thought it was still worth it to try in order to learn something. I don't need a keeper photo in order to test a suggestion.

I shot at f16, ISO 500, 1/160 with the flash at 1/32.

The depth of field is better. The flower is less colorful than the others, so the exposure didn't cause that. I assume focus will improve with the arrival of the tripod.

Looking into rails.

 

[William Baroo]

It looks like turning the focus peaking setting down to "mid" improves the focus. Google AI gave me that advice. It said low was most accurate, but on that tiny screen, I can't see the color when it's set to low.

 

[smoke665]

It looks like turning the focus peaking setting down to "mid" improves the focus. Google AI gave me that advice. It said low was most accurate, but on that tiny screen, I can't see the color when it's set to low.

Try using an enlarged image on the back screen.
ILCE-6400 | Help Guide | Focus Magnifier Personally I rely more on my eyes than focus peaking when doing macro by manually focusing using the enlarge function. That way I know exactly what is in focus

 

[William Baroo]

The problem is that if I'm holding the camera, and I use focus magnification, I no longer have any idea where the image is on the monitor. I could be taking a photo of my shoe for all I know. I plan to try it for tripod shots.

 

[smoke665]

The problem is that if I'm holding the camera, and I use focus magnification, I no longer have any idea where the image is on the monitor. I could be taking a photo of my shoe for all I know. I plan to try it for tripod shots.

Start off lower magnification use the arrows to move your point to center then enlarge more.

FYI the last image is better, its about a half stop underexposed, but sharper.