First Attempts at Macro Photography

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Richard
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Good start. Gardens can hold lots of little treasures if you take your time, look carefully and experiment.

Personal opinions follow. YMMV, so FWIW...

I like the fourth one best because of the even coverage of the three front seed pods, with the fourth one sufficiently out of focus to be separated from them and not muddle up the image too much. This contrasts with the thirds one where the in-focus/out-of-focus comparison sits less easily for my eye, with a distinct left/right look to it rather than a more natural-looking front/back look with the fourth one. I don't know what aperture you used, but you might want to experiment with using smaller apertures so as to get greater depth of field so as to produce a more coherent set of parts as the subject.

Alternatively, where there are parts separated front to back and you can't get a nice split between in and out of focus elements, you could try stacking. I use that a lot for flowers. It may take some time to delve into that, but as you are locked down you may well have the time available.

For example, with a stack of the first one, using maximum aperture to minimise the depth of field for each shot, you might be able to get a clearer separation between the front elements and the rear elements, Something more like this perhaps. Exactly what look you could get depends on how the parts are arranged front to back, and what the largest aperture is that you can use.


NOT MY IMAGE - richard.everett3 - flower with blurred background
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

It might have been possible to get a similar effect with the second one, with the circled flower in better focus and the ones behind it more out of focus. As always, the exact location in space of the parts determines what can and can't be done. Because it is difficult to tell what will work and what won't work I often capture single shots at various apertures and also capture images for stacking and then decide during post processing which works best. And of course as to what "best" means, for me, as I photograph for my own enjoyment, it means the version that looks most pleasing to my eye. And we all have different visual tastes!


NOT MY IMAGE - richard.everett3 - annotated flower
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
 
Thanks Nick, your advice makes sense.

The fourth shot is my personal favourite and I see what you mean about about the third shot: I think the left/right effect you have highlighted has occurred as I had to take the picture from an "eleven o'clock" position rather than looking directly at the image.

Stacking is a good idea, I hadn't considered that option so I'll have to consider that.

Many thanks
 
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