A few bugs - New to macro - critique please

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Edit My Images
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Would really appreciate some critique on these please.

I've recently bought an entry level DSLR and a sigma 105 macaro lens. Here are a few of my best efforts so far. I'm finiding it quite difficult to get the head of small insects in focus. I'm unsure whether this is down to technique or settings though. I've been using auto focus so far, but I've read that perhaps I should be using manual focus instead?

EDIT: Sorry, the images didn't seem to upload the first time around.

_DSC0059 by Kieron Goodwin, on Flickr

_DSC0084 by Kieron Goodwin, on Flickr

_DSC0097 by Kieron Goodwin, on Flickr

_DSC0070 by Kieron Goodwin, on Flickr
 
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Are these straight out of the camera with no PP @HappySnapper123 ?

Yes, they are overexposed and to be honest you're trying to run before you can walk with insect macro photography.

Get a tripod and use manual focus on a calm day and try some flower macro studies to get the hang of the genre.
 
If auto focus works, then use. I looked on flickr and you used ƒ/7.1 aperture for the last one, f13 or greater might work better.
 
Well David you have made a decent start using AF and natural light. A hit rate of abour 1/100 is OK at the start handheld. The are bright images but not overexposed the histogram reaches the right nicely.

Lets start by saying macro is not easy so it takes practice I have never used a tripod and do not shoot flowers but that would be up to you. I do not know the camera but if you are using AF you want to use back button focus(not using the shutter realease button but assigning anothert button) Can you use MF and AF comdined?

Look here for some tips https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/we-need-you-in-draft-want-to-get-into-macro.551944/
 
Thanks for the replies so far (y)

I appreciate insect macro is a difficult genre & i've thrown myself in at the deep end a bit but it's insects that I really enjoy photographing & I'm keen to learn.

I used some basic editing software to tweak the images slightly. From what I can remember, I cropped, added a touch of saturation, sharpened & interestingly upped the exposure a fair bit as they looked quite dark/dull. Perhaps I overdone it, they don't look over exposed to me though. Maybe it's my eyes or my screen, i'll look into that and it's something i'll bear in mind in the future.

Alf, I don't think my camera has a feature to use AF & MF combined, but i'll have another look through the manual to make sure. Using back button focus is something I couldn't get my head around when researching, what would be the advantage of doing so?
 
BBF allows you to focus when you want without it getting in the way of firing the shutter. Using the shutter release for focus will mean the camera tries to focus when you try to take the shot having just got the focus where you want it to.
I use AF with MF on one of my lenses so I use BBF to get close then MF and rock to refine the focus and when press the shutter the camera doe snot try to ruin my fcocus by starting again.
 
My advice would be not to bother with a tripod and taking photos of flowers, if that's not what you're interested in - imo it won't teach you anything about taking photos of insects.
You want to use a small aperture to maximise depth of field, I'm not sure what the sweet spot is for the Sigma but if you go too small you'll start to get diffraction softening the images. Try something in the range of F10-F13.
Using a smaller aperture means you'll need to use flash. There are plenty of options, but whatever you choose diffusing it well is the key to good light. There are plenty of home made diffusers that you can get ideas from on here and elsewhere that a quick Google will find.
I use a shutter speed of 1/200 and keep my iso at 100.
It's probably best if you use manual focus and move backwards and forwards until the subject is in focus.
If it's insects that you're interested in, try to get them when they're less active to make things easier- early morning or evening. You want to get the eyes in focus as a minimum but you can maximise what's in focus by being side on to the insect so most of it will be in the same focal plane.
Macro isn't easy, especially insects but keep practising and try not to get frustrated
 
Thanks Alf & NSNO. That's really helpful.

I've just been having a look at flash rings online. Are there any to avoid or do they all do pretty much the same job?
 
Ring flashes are quite difficult to diffuse, you might be best to try a regular flash with a mini softbox. You should be able to pick one up pretty cheap as well
 
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