Critique 1st attempt with indoor macro rig

[Compuwight]

Just building myself an indoor macro rig (for rainy cold days) and the only thing I could find to photograph was an old battered Air Gun Pellet. Not tried anything like this before and the lighting is literally a black-hole. I have 2 (cheap) LED swanneck lights , 1 below and 1 above with a ring flash on the lens. I tried various coloured backdrops and I think the green works best. As always all and any advice much appreciated.
PS I have watched numerous videos and read more than few articles BUT it all becomes confusing when actually taking your own pictures (me anyhow)

 

[Paul Iddon]

Hi Steve.

The first thing I would mention is the need for diffusion on the flash. That said, a ring flash is very hard to diffuse - I used plastic milk bottle pieces and foam and vellum paper in different quantities and combinations to try and solve that one.

The subject is a bit "uninsteresting" in so much as there is little in a pellet to make it look like a subject to capture the viewers attention - though I appreciate you said there nowt else to practice on. Once you find other subject matter, this will improve of course.

My main criticism though (as with a lot of macro images and our sensors) is the amount of dust particles that this kind of thing shows up. These become more evident at different apertures and exposure levels - but while they are there, my eyes keeps looking around at them. If you don't have the lens cleaning swabs to try and reduce them, then cloning them out is the only way - and this would need a lot of cloning.

As you allow image editing - I ran this through Topaz, and then cloned out the dust spots. This has added a bit more detail back into the image, and tidied it up.

Hope you don't find this reply too destructive - I am not professional, and have learned what I can manage simply through time, YouTube videos, and loads of practice!

Paul.

 

[Compuwight]

Hi Steve.

The first thing I would mention is the need for diffusion on the flash. That said, a ring flash is very hard to diffuse - I used plastic milk bottle pieces and foam and vellum paper in different quantities and combinations to try and solve that one.

The subject is a bit "uninsteresting" in so much as there is little in a pellet to make it look like a subject to capture the viewers attention - though I appreciate you said there nowt else to practice on. Once you find other subject matter, this will improve of course.

My main criticism though (as with a lot of macro images and our sensors) is the amount of dust particles that this kind of thing shows up. These become more evident at different apertures and exposure levels - but while they are there, my eyes keeps looking around at them. If you don't have the lens cleaning swabs to try and reduce them, then cloning them out is the only way - and this would need a lot of cloning.

As you allow image editing - I ran this through Topaz, and then cloned out the dust spots. This has added a bit more detail back into the image, and tidied it up.

Hope you don't find this reply too destructive - I am not professional, and have learned what I can manage simply through time, YouTube videos, and loads of practice!

Paul.

Paul,

Firstly thank you for taking the time to respond so comprehensively and you edit is great. I was hoping the ring flash was a good choice, however, I can see that it needs more work. It is only a cheap flash without any controls so I will have to resort to your suggestions regarding manual diffusion. As for the 'dust' it is not the lens, I am using an old D600 which suffers from oil deposits on the sensor (it is booked for another clean) and the backdrops I purchased for a whole 50p, whilst looking good, upon closer inspection are very dirty. This morning I checked with some colour match cards and mostly its the backdrop. I will swap to another body and taking your points, try again - I am thinking this is a long term project with a lot to learn.

Thanks Again,

Steve

 

[Compuwight]

A quick swap to my D610 and dump the backdrop gives a cleaner image instantly, still a few spots, but much better, now to clean the lens and filter.
And work on diffusing the ring flash !

 

[Compuwight]

So the fun continues, made a diffused from kitchen roll for the ring flash and repositioned the LED's, still a bit to much reflections but overall I like the results !

PS moved the backdrop much further away so its out of focus and not showing all the marks.

 

[Compuwight]

Another attempt, different nib and changed the angle to a writing style. Using a Ring Flash and 2 remote SpeedLights with lots of diffusion. I am thinking better diffusion on the Ring Flash is needed and perhaps lower the power of the slaves. On the plus side I am having a lot of fun on these cold winter evenings....

PS Tried with writing BUT mine was terrible so looking for a Calligrapher to help me.....

 

[ilikebowens]

Hello. MACRO can be a whole lot of challenges for sure. One thing I would note is how well you have focused, that alone can be tricky.
Ring flash units are great for technical or scientific documentation (coin and stamp collections, insects, dental work etc). It offers even, repeatable light with the option for smaller apatures with more depth of field. They don't offer too much in the way of creativity.
Taking a regular flash to one side and diffusing it, which can be as simple as bouncing it off a white ceiling or wall etc, you will get some depth of shadows. Then go on from there, thrown in a fill reflevter or fill flash from the other side. One for the background, some coloured gels. It can get a bit out of hand! The basics remain the same, set the apatite or flash output for the main light then set the fill or background or snoot as a ratio of that.
With the ring flash you have you could maybe try not just difusing but adding an ND to one half of the ring to add shadow and again maybe even a coloured gel to one half.
All that being said experiment and find your own style.

 

[Compuwight]

Hello. MACRO can be a whole lot of challenges for sure. One thing I would note is how well you have focused, that alone can be tricky.
Ring flash units are great for technical or scientific documentation (coin and stamp collections, insects, dental work etc). It offers even, repeatable light with the option for smaller apatures with more depth of field. They don't offer too much in the way of creativity.
Taking a regular flash to one side and diffusing it, which can be as simple as bouncing it off a white ceiling or wall etc, you will get some depth of shadows. Then go on from there, thrown in a fill reflevter or fill flash from the other side. One for the background, some coloured gels. It can get a bit out of hand! The basics remain the same, set the apatite or flash output for the main light then set the fill or background or snoot as a ratio of that.
With the ring flash you have you could maybe try not just difusing but adding an ND to one half of the ring to add shadow and again maybe even a coloured gel to one half.
All that being said experiment and find your own style.

Thanks for your comments, thats a lot for me to think about !
I have some more backgrounds and diffuser materials on order, I am taking dozens of pictures at a time, changing things slightly to check effects. Mostly I am just having fun in the warm and trying to improve by trail and error (lost of them)... Thanks again...

 

[Compuwight]

So I now have two slave flashes and all sorts of diffusers and reflectors. After 2 dozen attempts with different settings and positions I am content with my attempts thus far ....

 

[davholla]

I think that is great I can imagine the problems with lighting a nib are pretty tough.
what I would do though is keep any dead insects you find in a small box in the freezer and photograph them when you have the time.
Warning this is not always popular.