Macro Help

JackSellers16 · Aug 26, 2010

Well, due to the increase in flys around my area over the past few days my parents bought these fly traps and i thought this would be possibly a good situation to practise my macro. But i cannot get as much detail or no where near as close to the fly as some of you guys. I recently bought a macro lens for my Lumix FZ38 and i have tried with all the diffferent settings and also tried having more miniscule focus points, but I'm still not satisfied.

This is all stressing me out and i would really appreciate as much advice for macro as possible.

tirediron · Aug 26, 2010

I'm assuming, given that yours is a bridge camera, that by 'macro lens' you mean an attachment that slips over the front of the lens?

There are a couple of issues: One is that the quality of such attachments is usually mediocre at best, although judging by the size of the sly in your image, it looks like you got a 'true' macro shot, that is a 1:1 image. Another is your settings:

Auto exposure, Program AE, 1/4 sec, f/4.4, ISO 400

That's your EXIF data: 1/4 of a second is way to slow to either hand-hold or capture anything that's moving even the least little bit. Macro work is very specialized, and usually requires some fairly uinque and expensive gear; special lighting and lenses costing between hundreds and thouands of dollars.

Lastly is the fact that that to get the best macro or close-up results you have to focus by hand on exactly the area you want. Bear in mind that the in macro work, DoF is often measured in millimeters, and it can be extremely difficult, even with the best equipment to get good shots.

Here's my suggestion: Find a brighter area and/or use reflectors and supplemental lighting to get your shutter-speed up there, ensure that your camera is stable (tripod) and keep practicing.

JackSellers16 · Aug 26, 2010

okay thanks for the great feedback =]

LCARSx32 · Aug 26, 2010

Definitely need more light to get your shutter speed up. Many P&S cameras already do remarkably good macro shots, even without an attachment. When I worked at Circuit City, we had Olympus and Fujitsu P&Ss that you could literally put the lens against the crystal of a wristwatch and take a clear picture of the face. Simply amazing.

Things I would check:

-Make sure the camera has macro mode turned on (look for a symbol of a flower)

-Get as much light in the area as possible. Since it's a fly trap, you can bring light to your subject. You might try some outdoor shots where there is a lot of natural light.

-A tripod can be a godsend when the lighting leaves much to be desire. That is, at least, if your subject is stationary.

-Try taking a macro shot without the attachment and see how close you can get. I wouldn't be surprised if it's quite close.

Try again and post the results!

JackSellers16 · Aug 26, 2010

Have you got any tips also regarding how to get the best macro photos regarding the boundaries with a bridge camera?

JackSellers16 · Aug 26, 2010

LCARSx32 said:
Definitely need more light to get your shutter speed up. Many P&S cameras already do remarkably good macro shots, even without an attachment. When I worked at Circuit City, we had Olympus and Fujitsu P&Ss that you could literally put the lens against the crystal of a wristwatch and take a clear picture of the face. Simply amazing.

Things I would check:

-Make sure the camera has macro mode turned on (look for a symbol of a flower)

-Get as much light in the area as possible. Since it's a fly trap, you can bring light to your subject. You might try some outdoor shots where there is a lot of natural light.

-A tripod can be a godsend when the lighting leaves much to be desire. That is, at least, if your subject is stationary.

-Try taking a macro shot without the attachment and see how close you can get. I wouldn't be surprised if it's quite close.

Try again and post the results!

Yeah Thanks also and yeah i will try these tomorrow hoping there is nicer weather. I have been practising photos recently trying to improve my knowledge of depth of field but the lighting in my kitchen makes my photos seem orange. Is this because it is ''artificial'' lightiing? I am only a beginner so sorry if my question seem simple and annoying! haha

tirediron · Aug 26, 2010

JackSellers16 said:
the lighting in my kitchen makes my photos seem orange. Is this because it is ''artificial'' lighting?

Yes, however it's simply a matter of adjusting your white balance (check your manual) to the appropriate colour temperature for the lighting environment you're in. Once done, your images should appear completely natural.

JackSellers16 · Aug 26, 2010

tirediron said:
JackSellers16 said:

the lighting in my kitchen makes my photos seem orange. Is this because it is ''artificial'' lighting?

Click to expand...

Yes, however it's simply a matter of adjusting your white balance (check your manual) to the appropriate colour temperature for the lighting environment you're in. Once done, your images should appear completely natural.