Another attempt at Macro

Danno83

Danno83

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Dan
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Hi All, Although I have only a 18-55mm lens with a 20mm extension tube, so can't get the best macro photos, but some thoughts on another attempt would be great. Its a little noisy as its cropped, but tell me what you think. Thanks
 
macro.jpg
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Doesn't look too bad. Is the macro bug catching you?
 
Thanks ecnir :) Is it catching me? Hope not because I am much bigger that it! ha ha. I think I still need to work on technique, bring out the colours etc. I like it as a shot but is a little flat still, but feel its a better attempt
 
You'll soon be hooked just like most of us who have a go!

And one good thing about macro is you don't have to travel the world to get the pics - your back garden is enough.

Anyway good luck with your addiction!

.
 
Welcome to the Macro world. It,s a nicely composed image with fairly good details. You already know about the noise, which is an issue I used to have but have sorted it thanks to advice from fellow forum members.
Good luck.
 
I tell you what, I do think it's an addiction. We don't like looking stupid, but with macro I'm happy like or crouching in strange positions to get the shot I need, while people walk past thinking, 'what is he doing' :)

Thanks for your comments. Regarding the noise once I have saved up for a dedicated lens there will be no stopping me.
 
Danno83 said:
I tell you what, I do think it's an addiction. We don't like looking stupid, but with macro I'm happy like or crouching in strange positions to get the shot I need, while people walk past thinking, 'what is he doing' :)

Thanks for your comments. Regarding the noise once I have saved up for a dedicated lens there will be no stopping me.
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Have you considered getting a set of extension tubes?

I've got a set of Kenko DG AF tubes which I bought on here for about half the retail price and they're invaluable for the macro enthusiast and can attach to almost any lens.

I use them on my 70-300mm L IS USM lens and that gives me a kind of variable macro and close-up lens:

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=345578

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=344817

There's also more here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20926615@N05/sets/72157623715955928/

showing various lenses and what you can achieve, some with very limited equipment, such as just a set of close up lenses.

So good luck with your shooting and yes I'm also quite happy crouching down in public among weeds and flowers to get the shots.

.
 
Hi Peter, I've just ordered some extension rings so looking forward to receiving them. I've tried my trends one already using there 55-300mm lens and it is ok but the focus distance still isn't great and will never get close to 1:1 ratio. Do you have any advice and tips. Don't have a spare £500 for a macro lens :)
 
Great shot new to macro myself love it .. Could some one please explain what noise is and how I could avoid it
 
Thanks dark star. As people have said to me on here welcome to the forum. What is noise on a photo. From my basic knowledge, photos are made up of pixels, and depending what you tell your camera to do depends on how smooth these tiny pixels render the image. For example I may be taking a photo in low light, my aperture is set to f11 because I want the depth of field, but my camera says my shutter speed is 1/10sec, and I don't have a tripod. What I would tend to do is either 1) bring my aperture down to let more light in or 2) put my ISO up. However with putting my ISO up makes the camera sensor more sensitive to light which will gain a larger shutter speed but because the sensor is more sensitive to light now, this emphasises the pixels and so therefore picture can become grainy and not smooth. But in my case o couldn't get close enough with my lens so I had to crop the picture, which in a sense makes the pixels larger and so therefore it becomes noisy/ grainy. That's my basic knowledge.

Hope that helps
 
Danno83 said:
Hi Peter, I've just ordered some extension rings so looking forward to receiving them. I've tried my trends one already using there 55-300mm lens and it is ok but the focus distance still isn't great and will never get close to 1:1 ratio. Do you have any advice and tips. Don't have a spare £500 for a macro lens :)
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I just bought a dedicated nikon 105mm macro for £250, the day after borrowing a "proper" macro from a mate.... So you don't need to save £500 :)
 
I have a nikor 105,even with such a fantastic lens my first attempts were awful,but with advice from people on the forum,it's getting better,by no means great.
I brought a cheep ring flash off eBay which has made a huge difference.
Keep at it,because it's true what people are saying it's addictive and you don't have to travel miles to get some fantastic images.
 
Just played on a Nikon 105mm VR, oh my oh my, I think I'm in love!! What a lens! I loved it... The person didn't let me take it home, but I was sold on it straight away!! I'll be even more addicted once I have that.
 
Danno83 said:
Thanks dark star. As people have said to me on here welcome to the forum. What is noise on a photo. From my basic knowledge, photos are made up of pixels, and depending what you tell your camera to do depends on how smooth these tiny pixels render the image. For example I may be taking a photo in low light, my aperture is set to f11 because I want the depth of field, but my camera says my shutter speed is 1/10sec, and I don't have a tripod. What I would tend to do is either 1) bring my aperture down to let more light in or 2) put my ISO up. However with putting my ISO up makes the camera sensor more sensitive to light which will gain a larger shutter speed but because the sensor is more sensitive to light now, this emphasises the pixels and so therefore picture can become grainy and not smooth. But in my case o couldn't get close enough with my lens so I had to crop the picture, which in a sense makes the pixels larger and so therefore it becomes noisy/ grainy. That's my basic knowledge.

Hope that helps
Click to expand...

Unfortunately that is wrong.

Increasing the ISO does NOT make the sensor more sensitive to light - THAT is fixed by the sensor design - a sensor is made up of millions of light sensitive elements which give out a tiny electrical voltage when light hits them - just like the solar panels which are used to supply electricity.

However the elements in a camera sensor are so small that the voltage generated by them is very small indeed and needs amplifying before it can be sent to the memory cards.

Increasing the ISO is similar to turning up your radio with the volume control.

Unfortunately everything electrical generates noise - think of turning up the volume control on your CD player and hearing the hiss - and THAT is what generates the "noise" on digital images - we call it "noise" because that's exactly what it is even though it comes out as a granular structure on our pictures.

So the more you increase the ISO the more you increase this noise - and it shows most on darker parts of the image because the signal from them is much weaker compared to the lighter parts.

So the higher the ISO the greater the noise.

And of course it shows up more on crops because you are simply magnifying the image of the noise as well as the real image.

Hope that clarifies the matter a bit.

.
 
And either way still got the turning up the ISO generates noise right, and cropping the image increases the noise right also, so it wasn't all wrong! :)

Thanks for clarifying though Peter. I understand better now and darkstar apologies for incomplete answer.
 
Hi Dave, do you mean horizontal image where bug is still in same position but say in the right third of photo or actually turn the whole image horizontal.,. If that's the case I think your right :) thanks
 
Hi Danno, have done abit of cleaning up, will delete it if you want

hover3.jpg
 
Wow!!!! How did you make it look so good!!! That's amazing!! Won't delete but
You must share how you did it :) I'm so impressed
 
lightroom, but any denoise program will do the trick and a slight sharpening. what processing do you use ?
 
I have capture one, but still trying to figure all the little gems out on it. You have made the picture come alive... Love it! That was taken on my 18-55mm kit lens would you believe... Going to get on my mac and re process I think.
 
just a tip think lateral line and focus on the eyes, hope this helps ;o)
 
Thanks for help and advice... look forward to getting out and trying again. :)
 
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