Critique Daisy with Aphid

[Compuwight]

Just rebuilt my macro/close-up rig for better alignment and focussing rail setup. Picked a 2cm Daisy from the garden and took some practice shots. During PP found an Aphid which I reckon to be 2mm long. Nikon D610 FF with Sigma 105mm Macro, 1/200th f36 iso400 with Ring Flash and white reflection/diffusion underside and green background.

 

[K9Kirk]

The 1st shot looks decent for a close up shot but the 2nd shot is oof. Macro takes a lot of practice.

 

[Compuwight]

The 1st shot looks decent for a close up shot but the 2nd shot is oof. Macro takes a lot of practice.

Thanks for looking, #1 was my intended shot. Only noticed the aphid in PP and as is the law when I tried to find it again to get a better shot it had gone.

 

[K9Kirk]

Thanks for looking, #1 was my intended shot. Only noticed the aphid in PP and as is the law when I tried to find it again to get a better shot it had gone.

My bad, I didn't realize you had simply cropped in on that lil dude. I get it now.

 

[GardenersHelper]

It looks like the focusing rail side of things worked ok, but why did you use f/36? That would give a lot of diffraction softening. Unless there are special circumstances It is usual to use around the "sweet spot" (sharpest) aperture for focus stacking. The sharpest aperture of the 105 macro is presumably around f/4 at infinity focus, so around f/6.1 for the magnification you were using. By using a larger aperture you would also have been able to use a lower ISO. (Or perhaps ISO 400 was a conscious choice. If so I'd be curious to know what the thinking was.)

I think I may be missing something here. (Wouldn't be the first time. )

 

[Compuwight]

It looks like the focusing rail side of things worked ok, but why did you use f/36? That would give a lot of diffraction softening. Unless there are special circumstances It is usual to use around the "sweet spot" (sharpest) aperture for focus stacking. The sharpest aperture of the 105 macro is presumably around f/4 at infinity focus, so around f/6.1 for the magnification you were using. By using a larger aperture you would also have been able to use a lower ISO. (Or perhaps ISO 400 was a conscious choice. If so I'd be curious to know what the thinking was.)

I think I may be missing something here. (Wouldn't be the first time. )

Firstly thanks for looking and such a in depth response.
I am not 'stacking' at the moment so went for widest aperture for depth. ISO was set from last use of camera !
I had spent the morning rebuilding my rig with some new bits I had acquired and simply popped out the garden for some subject matter. My thinking was around the 3 axis micro movements I can now make for camera and subject. Close-up is all new for me so basically, trying out bits and settings.
Next time I will take your advice on f6 and lower ISO and perhaps even try a small stack.

Thanks again !

 

[GardenersHelper]

Firstly thanks for looking and such a in depth response.
I am not 'stacking' at the moment so went for widest aperture for depth. ISO was set from last use of camera !
I had spent the morning rebuilding my rig with some new bits I had acquired and simply popped out the garden for some subject matter. My thinking was around the 3 axis micro movements I can now make for camera and subject. Close-up is all new for me so basically, trying out bits and settings.
Next time I will take your advice on f6 and lower ISO and perhaps even try a small stack.

Thanks again !

Ha! I did miss something. It wasn't stacked!

Yes, I understand f/36 for that. f/6 would only be for stacking, or for single shots if the narrow depth of field at f/6 works nicely.

What I do with flowers is to capture images at different apertures and then choose later which one I like the look of best. As it happens I use a setup which makes this easy. With a single press of the shutter button I get a series of images like this to choose from, from f/2.8 to f/22, but you can use this sort of approach taking individual shots manually of course, especially with flowers, which aren't about to run or fly off at any moment.


1529 4 1521 43 Aperture bracket sequence, F2.8 to F22 by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

Incidentally (and not a recommendation, just an observation), I used to use a tripod for flowers but I discovered that working hand-held gave me more flexibility, let me get angles that I couldn't get when using a tripod, and let me work faster and try more options. As I said, not a recommendation. We each need to experiment and find out what works in our hands, for our subject matter, shooting circumstances etc.