Macro Photography

The ladybird shot was shot with the canon MP-E 65mm, which goes to 5.1 magnification ratio. Your lens only goes to 1:1 ratio.

Either save up and buy the MP-E or you could use tubes to get a bit closer, although Im not sure you'll manage 5.1
 
TCR4x4 said:
The ladybird shot was shot with the canon MP-E 65mm, which goes to 5.1 magnification ratio. Your lens only goes to 1:1 ratio.

Either save up and buy the MP-E or you could use tubes to get a bit closer, although Im not sure you'll manage 5.1
Click to expand...

Perhaps not the greatest example considering it was taken with a lens that cost double mine. :lol:

How about this one?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danpa_76/2711521554/

This was taken specifically with a 100mm macro.

I'm not sure if I am doing something wrong when trying to achieve this level of macro? I can't seem to get close enough whilst maintaining the focus on something so small
 
Steve_o said:
Perhaps not the greatest example considering it was taken with a lens that cost double mine. :lol:

How about this one?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danpa_76/2711521554/

This was taken specifically with a 100mm macro.

I'm not sure if I am doing something wrong when trying to achieve this level of macro? I can't seem to get close enough whilst maintaining the focus on something so small
Click to expand...

You should be able to get closer than the example you posted. Set the lens, in manual focus, to its closest focus (there should be an indicator showing 1:1 on the lens) and focus by moving the camera back and forth. Also use an aperture of f/10 - f/16 to maximise depth of field. You will also need a flash and you will have to diffuse it.

I use a 90mm Tamron macro with 48mm of tubes, 1.4 Kenko Pro DG TC to get about 2.5:1 and a diffused flash on a Nikon D90. Looks like this:


14 spot ladybird by jomike, on Flickr
 
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Its quite possible that image has been cropped to make it look closer.
I took this on a 50D with a 100mm IS macro.
As far as I can recall it was at 1:1, but I could be mistaken as it was a long time ago.

If I cropped tight, it would look similar to the second image you linked to.


ladybird by TCR4x4, on Flickr
 
This is good to know. Thanks for the examples and advice.

I felt like the equipment I was using wasn't capable enough.

In terms of speed light, I currently use a Speedlite YN460-II.

I believe this is a cheap and nasty but it should do the trick
 
Steve_o said:
This is good to know. Thanks for the examples and advice.

I felt like the equipment I was using wasn't capable enough.

In terms of speed light, I currently use a Speedlite YN460-II.

I believe this is a cheap and nasty but it should do the trick
Click to expand...

Your kit is more than capable, just keep practicing.

Have a browse through this sticky on macro kit over in the macro section here.
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=132158
 
Steve_o said:
This is good to know. Thanks for the examples and advice.

I felt like the equipment I was using wasn't capable enough.

In terms of speed light, I currently use a Speedlite YN460-II.

I believe this is a cheap and nasty but it should do the trick
Click to expand...

The kit you have is more than capable steve, keep practising and you'll get there. The Yongnuo flashes maybe cheap, but they are not nasty at all...great kit for the price.

Macro is not easy to do well!!!
 
I've got a Canon 100mm f2.8 L macro and I can get some pretty decent close up shots with it. I had to climb up a tree and hang one handed while using liveview and AF to get the shot with a 7D.

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I've got a set of Kenko macro tubes that give me a better than 1:1 ratio but I've not got round to using them much, mainly due to the weather, but I did manage to get this one a few weeks ago. It was about 4mm long and was crawling around a flowerpot but I've no idea what it is. I'm really looking forward to summer starting to get some more but this should give you an idea of what you can get. They are both Jpegs SOOC and the only PP was a crop.

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