Basic help for a macro beginner please

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burrachaga

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Name
colin
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Hi everyone,

the quality of the recent insect macro shots on this site is superb and has motivated me the past few weeks to try more macro so for all us beginners out there maybe a few of my questions would help everyone.

firstly, does anybody use a tripod when trying to photograph live insects? I struggle to focus quick enough on the little critters when i am hand holding the camera so i cannot imagine how anyone could use a tripod.

This leads to my main problem, limited depth of field!!! I know this is basically unavoidable but let me give you todays example as a reference. I was trying to capture flies and wasps on some sugar puffs in the garden. I bumped the iso up to 640 (nearing the limit on the d90) to allow me a narrower aperture, i was then able to shoot at f14 at 1/400s with a slight underexposure dialled in. It turns out f14 is nowhere near narrow enough to give me enough dof to get even a the entire head of the fly in focus. I wasnt using a flash so that is obviously my next step but I have seen plenty of hoverflys recently on here perfectly in focus using the mpe-65 at f14! what am i missing?

I guess am i trying to run before i can walk but trying to get a good bug is tough and addictive!!

here is the best of this afternoons efforts. You can see that the top of the head is in focus but its mouth (sorry but cant think of the proper name) is out.



congratulations anyway to all you guys getting great results
 
Personally i hand hold 90% of the time - to help maximize DOF you need smaller apertures f11 -f16 and for that you really need a flash , try using manual focus and rocking the camera to focus - you'll get there just needs a bit of practice - Lighting is very important with macro have a look at the sticky in the macro forum for lots of ideas.

You've nailed the focus on the eye's of the green bottle
 
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That's a pretty good effort, Colin.

Unfortunately shallow depth of field goes with the territory in macro.
 
I get the exact same problem, you get a very narrow DOF when doing macro stuff. Since figuring out how to set auto-iso on my D60, things are far better.

I can now choose my aperature and shutter speed in M mode, and the camera automatically adjusts the ISO for a good exposure (up to a point). I'm sure your D90 will have this feature also.

I found around f20 gave nice results, but I did need to turn on the flash to get enough light for a hendheld shot, even with the auto ISO set... But I found the inbuilt flash made things look a little strange!

I'd be interested to hear any other ways of getting a bigger DOF somehow, preferably without having to shell out for ring flash! :D
 
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The MP-E lens, isnt that the tilting lens? Sorry I'm unfamiliar with them, but can't you adjust the field of focus using the tilt feature? That way you can decide what area is in focus. Am I right or talking rubbish?
 
thanks for the help,

i did try using my sb800 for a little while but holding the flash in one hand whilst trying to manually focus the camera with my other was a tad tricky, i guess there is no way around having the proper kit for a proper job!

I was also wondering that if i get to say f22 or higher using flash then where do people start noticing diffraction? It is probably safe to assume that macro lenses are designed to work at much larger f numbers but just how large can you go with a crop sensor and a tamron 90mm before the image quality becomes an issue?
 
Someone here, (Alby:thinking:) described how to get the best out of macro focussing. Think of the area which will be in focus as a plane which is always parallel to the front of the lens. It is how you lay this whole plane which will maximise how much of your subject is in focus. The effect can be quite stunning. Limited DOF is just life in macro. If you have an SB800 and can get it off camera then take a look at the 'sticky' thread at the top of the forum. There are great and simple ideas for using your flash.
HTH
 
aardvark said:
The MP-E lens, isn't that the tilting lens? Sorry I'm unfamiliar with them, but can't you adjust the field of focus using the tilt feature? That way you can decide what area is in focus. Am I right or talking rubbish?
Click to expand...

No the MP-e is a very basic lens - manual focus and 1-5X magnification and it closest focus distance is 41MM and maximum focus distance 101mm............

but it is a stunning lens capable of producing stunning images.

To see how aperture and magnification and thre focal plane affect DOF practise with a ruller using different apertures and holding the camera at different angles to the ruller, then change the magnification and try again.
 
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aardvark said:
The MP-E lens, isnt that the tilting lens? Sorry I'm unfamiliar with them, but can't you adjust the field of focus using the tilt feature? That way you can decide what area is in focus. Am I right or talking rubbish?
Click to expand...

Your thinking of the ts-e lenses. The mp-e is a 1-5x macro lens and has no tilt or shift features.
 
thats a great tip dogfish about using the ruler, cheers.

im gonna keep doing that until it is second nature to know my dof's
 
burrachaga said:
thanks for the help,

i did try using my sb800 for a little while but holding the flash in one hand whilst trying to manually focus the camera with my other was a tad tricky, i guess there is no way around having the proper kit for a proper job!

I was also wondering that if i get to say f22 or higher using flash then where do people start noticing diffraction? It is probably safe to assume that macro lenses are designed to work at much larger f numbers but just how large can you go with a crop sensor and a tamron 90mm before the image quality becomes an issue?
Click to expand...

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/diffraction-photography.htm

Scroll about 2/3rds down the page to "What it looks like". The demo shows it to appear about f.11.

Bottom line is to try what apertures you can and see what results you get.weblink omitted from post
 
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