Macro general question

[molested_cow]

I brought home a Canon 100mm F2.8 macro lens along with a Rebel xti to play with this weekend. I am completely new to macro, only have shot a few with my friend's nikon 105mm macro once. I notice that lighting condition is very crucial. The shallow depth of field makes stability important too. Without mastering either, it will be worthless shots.

So tripod is almost essential. For nature macro shots of bugs and animals, how do you guys set up your shots? I am wondering this because I had a hard enough time trying to get a lizard to sit still on the tree, let alone setting up a tripod. Many of the shots I've seen here are bugs in the middle of doing something, like spider munching lunch or beetles mating, which means the bugs move. In this case, is it all on the flash, or is there some smart way to set up the equipment?

Or do you guys just kidnap the bugs and shoot them in controlled environment?

 

[dxqcanada]

A macro can be used handheld ... even with small apertures.
I have used macros during the day @f/8+ while shooting bees, but generally on sunny days.

Yes, sometimes momentary relocation is used.
Some insects can stay stationary for long periods ... ie butterflies.

I tend to shoot non-moving objects, so I really cannot say much more.

 

[tyler_h]

Bright sun with 100mm f/2.8 and 550D I could get 1/640th, iso 100, f/7.1 at 1 to 1.
The lighting issue you refer to is effective aperture is aperture + aperture * magnification. A tripod is handy for setting up composition in some ways but without macro rails it can be more a hindrance.
I've found manual focus set to 1 to 1 then moving the camera back and forth is easiest.

I'd love a macro flash (or any real flash) but it's not strictly necessary but can really help for a lot of shots; particularly in anything other than ideal lighting. As for controlled environment; I've capture a Tiger Moth and shot it in controlled before - you can get some nice shots with clean backgrounds if you like that style.

 

[molested_cow]

I don't understand the part about adjusting the magnification to the exposure. The lens user manual has a table of F stop vs magnification, can you explain all these?

 

[Stephen.C]

Although a tripod can help ( rails make it MUCH easier ), the proper daylight can make it totally possible to shoot handheld.

Its a skill to shoot handheld macro, almost like a sniper, at close magnifications it helps if you control your breathing.

Flashes also help. An R1 set would be awesome, but for now I just use my sb-600.

 

[ChrisA]

You can shoot in reasonable light with a 100mm hand held. Usually ISO400 and up to F11 should be manageable in reasonable conditions. You really need about 1/60th plus shutter speed to get results. Ideally around 1/200th.

Getting in close and on dark days, then some sort of flash helps freeze the subjects.

 

[Overread]

Adjusting exposure to magnification - this is mostly not a problem with TTL meters in the camera bodies because they take into account the changes in aperture that the lens goes through as well as the light fall off - so you don't have to change anything. However external meters and other kinds can give you false readings.


Now onto tripods and macro and the sun.
Now first up shooting handheld; if you are shooting in nice strong sunlight you've got the light so you can use a smaller aperture, raise your ISO and still keep a good shutter speed. However you're now met with 2 key problems:

1) That nice big bright sun is also rather hot and its just warmed up all your insects; which means many will be far more active and mobile. This makes things harder since they'll be more want to fly/scuttle around and can make shooting a might be harder. You can of course use lures and natural visiting points (eg honey, flowers, water sources, perches (dragonflies often perch to view their terratory and have regular patrols).

2) Shutter speeds and blur - slow shutter speeds can be handheld if you control your breathing and can crouch down/lean on something/use a monopod - however you can still run the risk of blur if your subject is moving around. Wings are going to be right out if they are moving and even head motions might blur in the insects.

Tripod shooting: Now tripod shooting is slow shooting for insects so you've got to have things in your favour. Many tripod shot macro insect photos are taken not during the height of the day (awake bugs) but in the very early morning. At this time wind levels are normally low (you need very low/no wind at all) and also you've got insects which are too cold to bother moving at all. This gives you a situation where you have time to set up and can also use more natural light if you so choose (just keep an eye since even light wind can blur things).
Some photographers will use custom lightboxes/tents to shield the insect from wind in these situations. Others will also manipulate the perch that the insect is on (many are so cold that they will just sit perfectly still even if their perch is moved around, provided that its not too sudden in motion).
Note also that these cold insects can easily be moved to a makeshift or indoor studio setup - allowing for posing of the insect on terrain and control over lighting and backgrounds - remember though that in such situations indoors is warm - insect warm up its going to wake up so you are a little against the clock.
Also if you do any focus stacking remember that there is another source of possible wind and its coming out of your mouth - breath can (you're working close) be a pain if it gets in the way.



Flash - now adding flash does let you overcome some of the problems listed above, not least in helping to ensure that your shots are not affected by motion blur (subject or photographer) by having the flashlight as the dominate light source. You can also combine flash and ambient light if you want (eg raising the ISO to a higher value) to give your shots more of an ambient feel rather than just flash (which can tend to black out background areas).


I hope that give some starting points and ideas. Remember its also not all about absolutes = tripods will work in the heat of the day; insects when cold will try to move around etc.... It's all about maximising the points in your favour when working with a subject that you have only limited to no actual control over.

 

[ben12345]

If you are using a lens such as the Nikon 105mm with AF can you effectively use the auto focus feature or due to the shallow depth of field, do you have to use manual focus?

 

[Josh66]

If you are using a lens such as the Nikon 105mm with AF can you effectively use the auto focus feature or due to the shallow depth of field, do you have to use manual focus?

I shoot Canon, so I obviously don't have that lens, but I assume that it's very similar to Canon's 100mm macro...

AF, when it works, it's lightning fast and dead on. AF doesn't always work for macro though... AF usually works for me, but occasionally I have to focus manually...

 

[tyler_h]

If you are after something right around 1 to 1 the small amount of swaying as you breathe can actually shift you too close for focusing; and hence if you try to focus at the point it will just hunt. I've found manual focus to be much more useful for anything greater and 0.5x magnification.