Macro help

[MrsP]

I am a relatively green photographer (meaning not overly clued up). I have an older camera - Nikon D40, got out my macro lens yesterday - AF-S Micro Nikkor 105mm 1:2.8 G ED (not sure what all that means!) and picked some flowers from my garden (too windy to shoot outside) and set up my little "studio" by my lounge window. Wow - I have a lot to learn. I am having trouble getting my focus right. I get it right and then when I fire the remote control it looks all wrong. What am I doing wrong. I have uploaded one of what I consider my "better" shots. It took me nearly all day to get this one. All the rest promptly got deleted ... I'd be no good on film camera. It's all so complicated. How do I decide what aperture and shutter speed is best.

 

[480sparky41 40]

The Depth Of Field in close-up photography is exceedingly narrow. You either need to find a way to 'flatten' your subject, use a smaller aperture (this was shot at f/4..... very little DOF) or start to learn focus stacking.

 

[TCampbell]

You can also use "focus stacking".

Before shooting, tape a piece of masking tape around your focus ring on the lens. With camera on tripod (you MUST have a tripod for this) focus the lens to put the nearest part of your subject in focus (just the tips of the closest petals in your example.) Take a marker (e.g. use a Sharpie or equivalent) and mark that focus position on the tape.

Next run the focus to the farthest point in the image and also mark that position with the sharpie.

Now back up the focus to the nearest point and you'll begin shooting... take 1 shot then nudge the focus ring just a tiny bit, shoot, focus, shoot, focus, shoot, etc. and you'll do this all the way until you reach the farthest point. Now you've got a dozen or so images from near to far.

Open Photoshop (or other software that can do focus stacking) and use the "photo merge" option.

The result is an image that is focused from front to back.

 

[Buckster]

#1: Throw light at the subject. In order to stop down your lens (I shoot at f/22 when shooting macros) to get as much of the subject in focus as you can, you'll need more light. If you have a an external flash, use it. If not, that's okay - even the onboard light on your camera will do the trick. If you can get a location with sunlight pouring in, that will be great too. As a last resort, bright lights of any kind can do the job, but they tend to make photos take on odd colors, and that leads to needing some lessons in color balance, which is a whole 'nuther subject.

#2: Don't fear using a higher ISO. After getting all the light you can at the aperture you'd like to use, if it's still too dark, open up that ISO. From what I've seen about the D40, you should be able to get away with ISO 800 or maybe even more without too much trouble, as long as you're not cropping away a bunch of the photo later.

#3: Stabilize the camera. For set-up shots like this where the subject isn't moving, or any situation where it's possible, use a tripod if you have one. Even a little, cheap table-top tripod will help. Even using little sandbags or beanbags for stabilizing the camera will work. Just get the camera in position where it's not moving, with your subject framed, then focus and then snap. That way you're not moving a little in or out, which can be disastrous with macros because of the really thin depth of field (DOF).

Check this out for some ideas on diffusing the onboard flash and general macro-shooting inspiration:

 

[Overread17 5]

A few thoughts:

1) Focus stacking is a fantastic method, BUT I would not approach using it until you can get a good clear shot in a single frame. Focus stacking is a slightly more advanced method with its own difficulties and pitfalls, but most of it relies upon taking a series of solid, normal working shots - so learn to do that first then go toward focus stacking.

2) Stop deleting your bad shots. You are throwing away a wealth of learning potential (esp if you're deleting them on the camera where you've very little capacity to judge the shots fully on the LCD).
Learn from your failed shots - look at the apertures, shutter speeds and ISOs and compare them to shots that did work - by keeing the shots you also keep a record more easily (in your mind) of how you took the shot. You can then review how you worked and what might have gone wrong. Finally you can also clearly present this information and the shot to others and get their feedback.
Often when we make mistakes we make the same ones over and over - by spotting those patterns we can help remove them - ideally before they become more established in our method.

3) With macro tiny motions can cause things to move out of focus. When you describe your setup it sounds like you're using a tripod and a remote control to fire the shutter. Now if you're on a tripod indoors chances are you might be on carpet - carpet moves. It moves with your weight upon it, as can softer wooden flooring and other surfaces. That can move the tripod and the surface the subject is standing upon - now you know where some of your missed focus shots might be coming from.

Another source is the tripod head, most have a tiny amount of droop or adjustment when you let go of the setup. This takes getting used to and each head will be different - if you can observe it through the lens you can then more easily account for the drop and compose accordingly. Some tripod heads are better than others - if you get really into it look up the Manfrotto Junior Geared head - its a fantastic head for macro work.

Finally breath - yep breathing whilst working close to a delicate small subject can cause you no end of problems; because at those close distances we often end up working at the breath acts just like light wind - blowing and moving the subject which might not settle in exactly the same place (or you breath as you fire the shutter and if its over the subject - yep just moved it).



The shot you have here looks very good to me - the depth of field is honestly just right for it. Remember macro is just like anything else in photography. There are NO fixed and set "settings" you MUST use. You are free to choose whatever you want for the creative result you want (or just play around and see what happens = a big joy of digital cameras).

 

[MrsP]

Thank you ... I was deleting the bad shots and keeping the ones I feel are "okay". But I get your point overread and am now keeping them so I can review and hopefully learn from my mistakes. Yes I am using a tripod - it is a Manfrotto with a ball head, and yes I have found that with the macro lens on board my camera is front heavy and I need to compensate for that on the ball head as it can tend to drop.

Ha ... breathing ... your right there too. I am learning to hold my breath!

I will keep practicing. But my biggest frustration is not understanding what all the settings on my camera do. For instance once set my camera to focus on say the very centre of one particular flower, then recompose the shot, then I let go of my shutter release in order to fire the remote and I lose what I have set up. How do I resolve this.

This is another shot I took this morning but as you see my focus point ended up being on the right hand petal that is resting among the greenery, whereas I wanted sort of in the centre of the rose. And there is too much light on the rose leaves.

 

[Overread17 5]

The AF in the camera works by locking into the closest point it can detect a contrast change in. As such it can often be very unsuitable for macro photography and for this reason the majority of it is done in manual focusing.

Note on modern camera with live-view you can use the LCD and magnify the LCD image whilst in live-view mode to zoom in and help you focus manually (ideal for tripod and static subject).


If you want to keep using the AF for other situations you have to learn to define the point that you want the AF to use from its grid display.

Note that AF points are blind, they look for the closest point of contrast change and lock on. They don't know what it is they have locked onto and they don't track that specific point in the scene*; so if you focus on something and then recompose the shot the AF won't factor in the change of angle that you've performed and won't compensate the focusing for that - indeed if you're in continuous AF modes the AF will just re-focus on whatever you point the camera at after re-focusing.

For this reason focus and recompose is not a suitable method - indeed focus and recompose really should have a "re-focus" step included in it.

 

[480sparky41 40]

.............I will keep practicing. But my biggest frustration is not understanding what all the settings on my camera do. For instance once set my camera to focus on say the very centre of one particular flower, then recompose the shot, then I let go of my shutter release in order to fire the remote and I lose what I have set up. How do I resolve this..........

Not sure if the D40 is capable of it, but use what is called "Back-Button Focus". This removes the focus from the shutter button and instead uses a button on the back of the camera. Once the focus is set, you can press the shutter button any time you like and the focus point will not be changed.