First quick macro attempt

[SammyC]

This is not so much a critique of my photo more of my photography skills!!

Basically, I just bought my 350D kit the other day and this is the first real camera I've owned. I've played with SLR cameras before but its different when its someone else's.

I'm interested in any suggestions on how to improve the picture, my feeling is that the bee should all be in focus by having a larger DoF.

It was taken by getting as close as possible when the camera would still auto focus and it was set to the basic macro mode of the camera. Someone with a bit more 350D knowledge might be able to expand on that setting!

:thankyous

 

[Matt]

thats a pretty good first go!!

 

[SammyC]

Thanks!

It's all very new to me, I took about 40 photos of the same flower as I played with the various settings of shutter, ISO, aperture etc!

 

[jewel]

Oh my, very nice pic. I could never get a shot like that! Wow. I do agree with you that a larger DOF would look better though. The bee should be more in focus IMHO.

Jewel.

 

[CT]

You really need a macro lens Sammy to tackle bugs like that. The bad news, even with a macro lens is that depth of field, even using a small aperture is seldom more than a couple of millimeters or so. With something as relatively large as a wasp (as bugs go) you seldom get all of it in focus. That's the challenge though of macro photography - to get the key part in focus. As long as the head or the side nearest to the camera is sharp it's quite acceptable for the rest of the bug to be slightly out of focus. Looking at your shot you've actually got sharp focus about half way along the bee's body, so you're only slightly out. If you'd have got the head in focus the shot would have been the bizzo.

If you're not ready to fork out for a macro lens, there are other options, you can get a supplementary close up lens which fits over the front of your lens just like a filter and enables you to get much closer, or you can get extension tubes which fit between the lens and camera body. Both options are pretty cheap compared to buying a macro lens.

Having said all that, you haven't made a bad attempt at all there. Try switching off the autofocus and focusing manually which is far easier when you get down to close ups like this.

 

[Gary Bagshawe]

Hi there, Thats pretty good for a first go,
I have done some stuff like this myself using a close up filter that screws onto the front of the lens, I find switching to manual focus is easier and then focus as close as possible then move the whole camera forward or backwards to achieve sharp focus.

 

[dod]

Hi there, Thats pretty good for a first go,
I have done some stuff like this myself using a close up filter that screws onto the front of the lens, I find switching to manual focus is easier and then focus as close as possible then move the whole camera forward or backwards to achieve sharp focus.

That's the "easiest" way, even doing that though expect a high failure rate. The biggest problem is depth of field and shake. The sort of distances you're working at means you really need to be getting down to at least F8, probably smaller. Flash really helps keep the aperture small and getting the shutter speed workable.