macro settings

[robrob]

Hi, i have a Nikon 7000 and sigma 150 macro. I bought both 3 months ago, upgrading from a d3100 i bought last summer. Just after i bought the camera i had an accident at work, and up until now have not been able to get out with the camera. I read mastering the D7000, written by Darrell Young before my bump, but only went out once or twice with the camera and having been so long since ive used the camera i can't remember where i was at with the settings!! I think i was leaving the flash in full auto, with a shutter speed of around 1/1000th sec, and somewhere around f9 at iso100. Does this sound about right? im going to venture into the garden after dinner and see what bugs i can find,i just want to confirm im in the right ball park! Thanks

E2A i have the nikon SB700 flash and a DIY bracket and diffuser which attaches to the tripod mount on the lens!

 

[Overread]

A few thoughts:

1) There is no such thing as "macro settings". There are certain conventions when shooting macro that are commonly used, but there are no magical macro settings as such besides focusing close. The light you have, what control you have over that light, the subject and what you artistically want from the final shot will determine what settings you can use.

2) Flash won't fire at full power unless you are using shutter speeds of 1/200 or 1/250sec (depends on your cameras fastest flash sync speed). If you select faster shutter speeds the flash powers down and uses a series of weaker pulses of light; this is due to how the flash and shutter setup works.
This video gives more info:


NOTE there are one or two Nikon camera bodies (I think the video mentions one) that have an electronic shutter instead of a physical shutter which, of course, changes this relationship

3) As a guide for settings consider:

a) Aperture - controls your depth of field; in macro this is often your key setting since depth of field controls what is in and out of focus. Typically people like to use small apertures, f13 or f16 area so that they can get a good deep depth of field whilst retaining sharpness (going smaller (ie bigger f numbers) introduces more diffraction softening - do some test shots and find where the limits are for yourself).
However you can get great effects too with tiny depths of field at wide open f5.6 - it depends what creative result you want from the shot

b) Unless you're shooting a static subject on a tripod your shutter speed is likely going to be as fast as you can set it. 1/200 or 1/250sec when using flash support for lighting to encourage the least amount of blurring. You can, of course, use slower speeds if you are on a tripod - you can also use slower speeds if the shot is totally flash dominated (ergo the aperture, shutter speed and ISO would give a pure black shot without the flash).

c) ISO - typically you'd want this low for low noise, however if shooting with flash you'll often find that your subject and background will be differently lit since the flash light will weaken too much to light the background well. With your aperture small for depth; your shutter speed fast to avoid blurring from the ambient light - you can then raise your ISO so that the overall exposure increases to bring the background up in exposure.