Beginner do macro photographers still use flash with bright sunlight

Lighting macro subjects is always tricky - you are so are usually so close to the subject that there is a tendency to shadow some of it with your body / camera kit.

If the subject is in the open and you can get a reasonable distance from it (because it is reasonably large, like a flower, or you have a longer macro lens - say a 180mm) then flash may not be necessary. In many cases flash will be required, especially as you'll probably want a small aperture to increase depth of field.

The problem with some flashes is the dull flat light you get - this is a problem with ring flashes - they might be great for dentists getting evenly lit shots of teeth, but make bug shots look boring. I prefer to use an ordinary flash off camera (I have it on a bracket to the side of my camera and use a mini ball head to angle it as required). A more expensive option is something like the Canon MT-24EX which has two mini flash guns which can be angled independently and powered to different levels to allow some shadows in giving more depth to the shot.
 
Light Tower One said:
Do tell us what this is please.
Edit ...... Just googled it and found a lot of good links.
Click to expand...


If you take a look at the "Show Us Your Macro Rig" thread in the Macro/Close Up section of the forum you'll get to see what most of us are using and virtually all of your questions will be answered. There's some very good and interesting setups there including the Pringles tube setup.(y)

George.
 
anyone used the
Nikon Close-Up Speedlight Kit SB-R1 and any comments
 
Given that sunlight comes into your question then I assume you're primarily asking about live subjects (insects and alike). You have to consider that the sun isn't always illuminating the subject from the direction that you want so even at the minimum it's good to add some fill flash. You also have the option to shade the subject and use flash to provide the bulk of the light and keep the shutter speed high enough to mitigate any movement by yourself. The final part of all this is the effective aperture you end up with....often many times smaller than you set on the camera due to the effects of internal extension within the lens (focusing system).

In short....you can get along without flash but the limitations will make it frustrating.

Bob
 
Yes, have used the Nikon SB R1C1 and for macro is very good as the infra red connectivity works really well.

Obviously if you have a Nikon compatible Speedlight or compatible IR Nikon camera/pop up you don't need the commander unit. You can add extra SB200 units around the lens ring to create more even light although the two provided are fine for most macro subjects.

Of course two full sized Speedlights that are IR compatible could be set up to trigger with one set to master mode and one set to slave.
 
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