pipe tobacco

[camera obscura]

I've been experimenting with higher apertures f/11-f/13 as suggested. Wow, it makes a big difference for getting the background in focus!

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[manaheim]

Ooof... that light is HARSH. Are you pointing a flash directly at your subject? I would advise against it. Looks focused, though.

 

[camera obscura]

Yeah, it's the built-in flash on my Nikon. It's the only flash I have at the moment. I set it to "fill." Seems to be the best setting for macros. Too much light huh? Would a strobe like the SB-400 help in this situation?

 

[manaheim]

Yeah, it's the built-in flash on my Nikon. It's the only flash I have at the moment. I set it to "fill." Seems to be the best setting for macros. Too much light huh? Would a strobe like the SB-400 help in this situation?

The on-camera flash is evil incarnate. Avoid it at all costs. Seriously.

In short, yes, absolutely ... an external flash that you can bounce off a ceiling/put a diffuser on/etc. is absolutely the way to go.

In lieu of that, there are also some other tricks you can try with the on-cam flash.

One is this:

Photojojo » Reduce, Reuse, Diffuse: Make Your Own Flash Diffuser from an Old Film Container

You can also put a small mirror or even a white business card directly in front of the flash and have it bounce off the ceiling. It's a little clunky, but it works reasonably well sometimes.

 

[mooimeisie]

I sometimes also like to use f/11 on macros. When I need to use fill flash on my camera I always set the flash to underexpose by 2 stops.