how to get closer? zoom or crop?

[GreenEggs_n_Ham]

my first macros using my 602..

apparently i failed...

can i ask something? how in the world do u get big pictures of insects? Photoshop n Crop?? getting too close to them would result in the insects scuttling off for sure! and these i took with +4+2 filters....

here are the cropped ones i took.. to make them "look bigger"

sam

http://www.pbase.com/image/16795865
http://www.pbase.com/image/16795866

 

[Wryer]

I don't think many of the macro takers crop in order to make it 'larger'. Most of them crop for composition wise. Do note that cropping will cause image quality to suffer, just like blowing up an image.

As for insects scuttling away, it takes practise. For magnification, a longer zoom plus a +4 will do the job. Maybe u want to stack your closeup filters? But by doing so, u need to be very close and focusing to be very precise. Stacking filters makes focusing very very difficult. With a +4 and a +2 stacked, together with 6x zoom of 602, it shouldnt be too difficult to get good magnification. Take a look at azone's 602 gallery (and of course, his article)

See that you have some exotic flies, they should be very small IMO. Maybe you want to try those dragonfiles over at BG for a start? Good place to kick off a macro fetish.

Exposure wise, i think is pretty ok. Try to focus at the insect's eye. (Easier said that done). Take a sideview of the insect instead of its butt.

One of the ok macros i have taken with flies, http://www.pbase.com/image/16169791
As you can see focussing of the eye still not quite there.

Regards

 

[dennislim]

hmmm borrow ur thread ...

using a G3 here ...

so when taking spiders i assume the user also moved very close to the spiders to take a picture of it right ?

inorder to have a bigger view of the spiders ... i zoom in to the max (140mm) and add a +4 close up filter and move my cam back and fourth to focus the subject to find the focus point once found i snap it ?

is it the right way ?

roughly how close u all go to those insects ?

5 cm ? 10 cm ?

 

[meng]

a +4 filter will reduce your minimum distance to the subject to about 20-25cm, and it varies with camera.
try with other subjects and get the feeling right.
And you might not always want to zoom to the max in all the pictures you'll want to take.
Practise and learn

Originally posted by dennislim
hmmm borrow ur thread ...

using a G3 here ...

so when taking spiders i assume the user also moved very close to the spiders to take a picture of it right ?

inorder to have a bigger view of the spiders ... i zoom in to the max (140mm) and add a +4 close up filter and move my cam back and fourth to focus the subject to find the focus point once found i snap it ?

is it the right way ?

roughly how close u all go to those insects ?

5 cm ? 10 cm ?

 

[viix]

Originally posted by dennislim
hmmm borrow ur thread ...

using a G3 here ...

so when taking spiders i assume the user also moved very close to the spiders to take a picture of it right ?

inorder to have a bigger view of the spiders ... i zoom in to the max (140mm) and add a +4 close up filter and move my cam back and fourth to focus the subject to find the focus point once found i snap it ?

is it the right way ?

roughly how close u all go to those insects ?

5 cm ? 10 cm ?

There's no specific style or "right way" to shooting macro.. there are some ways that result in more successful photos.. u can go in close or zoom in if u really can't get any closer.. or juz wait at the same spot till the insect flies back into view (which requires patience on ur part)

Try not to always crop ur photos unnecessarily. it might become a bad photographic habit.. LOL

All these takes practice.. soon enough, u'll understand the behavorial patterns of the insect.. and be able to find good location to catch the insect in action.

Remember, a good insect shot doesn't always have to have the insect take up a LARGER portion of the photo. Creative composition counts too..

 

[espn]

My main failure when taking macros is trying to fill it all up with the whole EVF. So most of the time my shots failed to illustrate the beauty of close ups.

I think close up filters do help, they do reduce your FL by a bit and magnifies your shot, but over excessive stacking will degrade the picture quality.

Azone has a very good comprehensive guide on macro shooting, try reading it.

Alternatively follow megaweb go shooting, I believe he's the local God of Macros in the residence of Clubsnap.

 

[dennislim]

Originally posted by espn
My main failure when taking macros is trying to fill it all up with the whole EVF. So most of the time my shots failed to illustrate the beauty of close ups.

I think close up filters do help, they do reduce your FL by a bit and magnifies your shot, but over excessive stacking will degrade the picture quality.

Azone has a very good comprehensive guide on macro shooting, try reading it.

Alternatively follow megaweb go shooting, I believe he's the local God of Macros in the residence of Clubsnap.

hmmm and where is the guide @ ?

 

[espn]

Macro

All credits to Azone, I hope he doesn't mind me posting his link like this.

 

[jasonpgc]

Originally posted by GreenEggs_n_Ham
my first macros using my 602..

apparently i failed...

can i ask something? how in the world do u get big pictures of insects? Photoshop n Crop?? getting too close to them would result in the insects scuttling off for sure! and these i took with +4+2 filters....

here are the cropped ones i took.. to make them "look bigger"

sam

http://www.pbase.com/image/16795865
http://www.pbase.com/image/16795866

if you cannot work with a close up lens then use a teleconvertor

 

[dennislim]

Originally posted by jasonpgc
if you cannot work with a close up lens then use a teleconvertor

hmmmm do u mean ... if cannot work using the close up lens ...
then use the teleconvertor under macro mode is it ?

 

[jasonpgc]

This is how things works,

Close Up Lens : This is a magnifying glass element that will reduce the minimum focusing distance of your lens. Therefore the subject will appear to be bigger at the new minimum focusing distance.

Teleconvertor : This is a mutli element glass attachment ( Front of DC Lens / or Rear of SLR Lens ) that will reduce the angle of view of your lens while maintaining the SAME minimum focusing distance. Since the angle of view is reduced, the subject will occupy a larger area on the frame.

What I meant was, since he cannot achieve the desire magnification with the Close up lens without scaring away the insect, he can always use the teleconvertor to do the job without have to move too close to the insect.

:bsmilie:

 

[mpenza]

Originally posted by jasonpgc
This is how things works,
Teleconvertor : This is a mutli element glass attachment ( Front of DC Lens / or Rear of SLR Lens ) that will reduce the angle of view of your lens while maintaining the SAME minimum focusing distance. Since the angle of view is reduced, the subject will occupy a larger area on the frame.

:bsmilie:

Could I say instead that the minimum focussing distance is the same or further away? With the Olympus B300 1.7x tele on, I think the min focussing distance is extended to 3m instead of 1m without it.

 

[jasonpgc]

Yes you can, only the SLR type confirm holds the same min focus distance

Originally posted by mpenza
With the Olympus B300 1.7x tele on, I think the min focussing distance is extended to 3m instead of 1m without it. [/B]

Oh that sucks :dunno:

 

[shuy]

just to borrow this thread, do u use a flash for macro photography? i find it difficult to get enuff exposure at a decent shutter speed for my digicam, n upping the ISO causes noise...

been checking out the metz series of flashes, r they gd enuff? any to recommend?

 

[dennislim]

Originally posted by shuy
just to borrow this thread, do u use a flash for macro photography? i find it difficult to get enuff exposure at a decent shutter speed for my digicam, n upping the ISO causes noise...

been checking out the metz series of flashes, r they gd enuff? any to recommend?

yes u need an external flash ..
54MZ3 is good ;p

 

[shuy]

wat pointers do i need to look out for when choosing a flash? i'm using the Epson 3100Z, a prosumer digicam...

 

[dennislim]

Originally posted by jasonpgc
This is how things works,

Close Up Lens : This is a magnifying glass element that will reduce the minimum focusing distance of your lens. Therefore the subject will appear to be bigger at the new minimum focusing distance.

Teleconvertor : This is a mutli element glass attachment ( Front of DC Lens / or Rear of SLR Lens ) that will reduce the angle of view of your lens while maintaining the SAME minimum focusing distance. Since the angle of view is reduced, the subject will occupy a larger area on the frame.

What I meant was, since he cannot achieve the desire magnification with the Close up lens without scaring away the insect, he can always use the teleconvertor to do the job without have to move too close to the insect.

:bsmilie:

erm ... i am blur already ...

1) macro means close up ... right ?
2) by using close up lens ... why do we have to disable macro ?
3) using a teleconvertor makes the image bigger ... but can it be identical to those taken in macro ? in another words if i use teleconverter do i need to turn on the macro function in the camera?

 

[mpenza]

1. sort of.
2. under macro mode, the amount of zoom is limited. you need to use the higher zoom range to achieve greater magnification with close-up/macro filters.
3. it does make the image bigger but usually you can only focus further away.

There're also people who combined a close-up filter and a teleconverter to take macro shots.

 

[mpenza]

Hi dennislim, hope you don't mind me posting reply here.

hmm... suggest you take a look at azone's website. it teaches most of the tricks that you'll need to know:
http://azone.clubsnap.org/insectguide/page01.html

2. use full zoom to achieve the best magnification. if you use a +4, your camera can only be ~25cm from the subject (whatever the focal length used under normal shooting mode. however if you use macro mode on the camera, a close-up allows you to get even closer).

3. you need to calculate using the formula, magnification effect (I don't know the exact name) = focal length / distance from subject (this applies whether or not you use macro mode, close-up filter, teleconverter or just the camera)

To achieve greater magnification, either increase focal length or decrease distance. If you're using 210mm focal length and a +4 close-up, focussing 250mm from subject, the degree of magnification is 210/250 or 0.84.
If you use a 350mm focal length, focussing at 1m away from the subject, the degree of magnification is only 350/1000 or 0.35, less than what you can achieve in the earlier example. To achieve a similar effect similar to a 210mm with +4, you'll need a 840mm focal length lens capable of focussing 1m from the subject.

dennislim wrote on 27-05-2003 09:10 PM:
hmmm ...

1) can i correctly say that ... when people take macro, they want a small subject (insects) to look as big as possible ? is that the term for macro ?

2) so when i take using say +4 close up, i just disable the macro mode in the camera and take the shot right ?

3) using teleconverter to take the subject from a further distace

and

using a close up lens to take the subject from a closer distance ...

will it be the same ?

 

[GreenEggs_n_Ham]

Originally posted by mpenza
Hi dennislim, hope you don't mind me posting reply here.

but,
it's my thread....



haha..anwyays, i'm sure everyone had a clearer understanding.thanks mpenza.. do use Azone's guide to macro photography, and go GREEN with megaweb's pictures..

and mind u all.. azone uses a 602. so u dun need a pro cam(=DSLRs) to take pro shots.

oh but a flash does help. it provides the "contrast" to your photos and since macro requires good DOF, where a f8-11 is called for, a good flash will fill in(pun intended) your photo EQ...