Macro for your thoughts

[pecco22]

yes I know my DOF is a little shallow. love the hear your thoughts on how I can improve my macro work.

 

[jowensphoto]

DOF, as you mentioned is very shallow. The first two would especially benefit from a greater DOF. The last isn't bad, I like all the shades of red.

The first two are better than the second two in terms of composition.

 

[pecco22]

thanks for your thoughts. I am using a sb-700 flash on the camera with home made diffuser that directs the light out over my lens and down from the top. I have tried up to f11 but even with the flash I'm not sure how much higher I can go without having to increase ISO.

 

[Judobreaker]

Don't worry about increasing your ISO, you're shooting a D700 according to the EXIF so you should be able to cope with a lot more than ISO 200.
F/11 is still a pretty large opening in macro terms, it is definitely not uncommon to stop down to f/16 or even smaller. Sometimes you simply need a larger DOF.

 

[charlie76]

Yep. DOF

 

[Bynx]

Look up focus stacking. Its quick and easy. With shots like these you are well on your way to spectacular shots.

 

[pecco22]

ok I will go out today, increase ISO some, stop down to f16 and play around. I have a 105 f2.8 but these shots came from my 50mm with extension tubes. I am undecided which one seems to do a better job.

 

[pecco22]

Look up focus stacking. Its quick and easy. With shots like these you are well on your way to spectacular shots.

I do know how to do focus stacking but I thought that was more or a tripod kind of shooting and I have been doing handheld.

 

[cgipson1]

You should have no trouble at at shooting even F22 to F32 (ISO 100 to ISO 400) with the SB-700 assuming your homemade diffuser is not wasting a lot of light. (of course, anything over F16-F22.. and diffraction will start to be a problem.)

 

[sm4him]

That last one looks pretty good!

I'm still learning macro myself, but advice from others here has really helped my macro shots tremendously. You definitely need to bump up the ISO and use a much smaller aperture (higher number). I've used up to f/32 and just bump the ISO to whatever is needed to compensate, along with flash.

For example, this was my most recent macro: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/macro-photography/298967-these-stink.html
The second one was shot at ISO 400, f/22, 1/200 shutter speed--handheld with flash (at, I think, about 2/3 power, maybe not that much). I use a Tokina 100mm f/2.8 on a D5100.

Sometimes those shallow DOF shots can be very effective with macro, depending on what you're going for. But most of the time, you are going to want to go to at least f/16.
One other thing: shooting handheld, sometimes using burst mode can be helpful to get a really good, crisp focus. I try to brace myself against something if possible, keep the camera as steady as possible and all that, but if I fire off three shots, the middle one is nearly always the best of the lot. On the other hand, I have a hand tremor--if you have fairly steady hands, that may not really be necessary.

 

[pecco22]

with my 50mm and extension tubes I cant go over f16, so I went back to my 105mm for the second one. Do these look any better?

 

[Judobreaker]

Definitely much better in terms of DOF.
Now if you could get that lovely jumping spider facing the camera, that'd be cool (I love jumping spider shots ).

 

[pecco22]

yeah I tried but it wanted nothing to do with me. best shot I could get. even though I like because of its colors. Jumpers Rock...lol still undecided whether I am better with my 105 f2.8 or my 50mm with extension tubes. it seems at though I take better photos with the 50.