Primroses and macro

[Daisy Mae]

Trying to get good results on my new Canon EF -S60mm F/2.8 Macro USM but the light is not good here in scotland.













Primrose by Sharon Reid2010, on Flickr


Advice and critique more that welcome. xx

[Geoff F]

Try using flash, Daisy.

You don't have to use a macro ring light, I get good macro shots with a Speedlite unit and even the camera pop up flash can produce good results, although I remove the lens hood if I start to get shadow problems.

I normally shoot insects with a 180 mm lens but the basics are the same.

Using the camera manual controls works best for me. Set dial to Manual, choose a suitable shutter speed and aperture, say 1/160 & F11. Select a suitable ISO; somewhere between ISO 100 and 400 should work fine.

Use the ETTL flash setting and adjust the compensation to suit your scene. Around minus one third to minus 1 is a good starting point; but sometimes I go as low as -2.

As a total alternative, some people make up a number of LED lights, such as worklights etc and use this as floodlights but I have found this is a bit complicated to operate and a standard camera flash is sufficient.

[Daisy Mae]

Thanks Geoff...am grateful for that

[GrahamH]

I like the apple pic, unusual but effective.
Graham
(heading to kitchen to get an apple and a knife)