Ideal Lighting for Iris Eye Photography?

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AnotherPerspective

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Name
Jens
Edit My Images
Yes
Hey everyone,

I am trying to get a perfect sharp image of my iris. I was experimenting with my a6300 and 90mm macro using flash, flash light, Ring-Light and Softbox.
I am shooting at 30cm distance, but that perfect, sharp, professional looking image does not want to show up (1/125s, ISO 100-400, F4-16).
Any experiences in shooting iris?
 
AnotherPerspective said:
Hey everyone,

I am trying to get a perfect sharp image of my iris. I was experimenting with my a6300 and 90mm macro using flash, flash light, Ring-Light and Softbox.
I am shooting at 30cm distance, but that perfect, sharp, professional looking image does not want to show up (1/125s, ISO 100-400, F4-16).
Any experiences in shooting iris?
Click to expand...

best put up the photograph and any BTS Behind the scenes) shots you have

Mike
 
Rather late to this party...

Use the smallest light source you can e.g. bare flash gun some distance away, off to one side. You will get a small specular highlight in the iris which can easily be retouched.

A larger light source will give diffuse specular highlights - they will make the iris slightly misty and lack depth.
 
I would use side lighting through a diffusion dome/cone... You can spend quite a lot for one, or you can DIY using a conical lamp shade, plastic trash can, or white paper. DIY is likely to affect the WB/colors, but it is uniform and easy to correct for. The lens/opening will also be reflected, but if placed w/in the pupil it could be easily edited out if problematic.
This method also works well for macro, jewelry, etc...

_DSC3738.jpg
 
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sk66 said:
I would use side lighting through a diffusion dome/cone... You can spend quite a lot for one, or you can DIY using a conical lamp shade, plastic trash can, or white paper. DIY is likely to affect the WB/colors, but it is uniform and easy to correct for. The lens/opening will also be reflected, but if placed w/in the pupil it could be easily edited out if problematic.
This method also works well for macro, jewelry, etc...

View attachment 248891
Click to expand...

IME the light source needs to be absolutely as small as possible, no diffusion at all. Have you done a comparison of your domes vs bare speedlite?
 
juggler said:
IME the light source needs to be absolutely as small as possible, no diffusion at all. Have you done a comparison of your domes vs bare speedlite?
Click to expand...
No, I have not done a lot of iris photography in particular... only once if I recall. This was done with a cone of some sort, but with only ambient light (flatter).


the Photographer's Eye by Steven Kersting, on Flickr


But I have used them for product/jewelry etc. If the light source is small/hard and placed close to the cone it remains small, just with a very large gradient; it's more like very uneven diffusion. The purpose of the dome/cone is less about providing diffusion (large soft light), and more about controlling what is reflected in the subject. This was done with the DIY lamp shade and two opposing LED constant lights... the watch face is quite small (~12mm). Note that the image has high contrast with directional lighting and defined shadows, but no harsh reflections/catchlights... exactly what you would want when photographing an iris.


Eco-Drive by Steven Kersting, on Flickr
 
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Be very very careful, the human eye has a delicate optic nerve ,and once lost never to get back again. I nearly lost mine through glaucoma . If It hadn't been for a brilliant eye specialist surgeon, the insertion of a "Stents" ********. It scared the s*** out of me
jens
Just stop and think what you are doing, is it really necessary especially trying to use flash, that to my mind is pure stupidity.. You could be blind for the rest of your life, so forget about any more photography and think about walking about with a stick and a guide dog instead.
 
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realspeed said:
Be very very careful, the human eye has a delicate optic nerve ,and once lost never to get back again. I nearly lost mine through glaucoma . If It hadn't been for a brilliant eye specialist surgeon, the insertion of a "Stents" ********. It scared the s*** out of me
jens
Just stop and think what you are doing, is it really necessary especially trying to use flash, that to my mind is pure stupidity.. You could be blind for the rest of your life, so forget about any more photography and think about walking about with a stick and a guide dog instead.
Click to expand...
A bit alarmist I think. There's little/no chance of causing any permanent damage; but flash blindness (a temporary condition) is possible. It takes quite a bit of light/UV to cause retinal burns/scarring (like from an arc welder or laser).
But it is best to use indirect light (so it's not passing directly to the retina), and IMO constant lights would be better as they allow the eye to adjust to the transmitted levels (and you can adjust the power for the desired pupil size).
 
Hi Jens

You got real close there. I had no idea you could take such an image. Never seen images like that before. I liked the video very much.

Well one.

Gaz
 
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