Macro DIY Lighting

[Stagecoach]

As some will know one of my photography passions is macro and small critters which I often shoot indoors at night and the main challenge is lighting. I do have fancy close up lighting to fit on the front of the lens but even with diffusers fitted I find this quite directional and requires a lot of adjustment when your subject does not stay in one place for long.

So this week I set out to produce a piece of kit to fit to my main flash when fitted to the camera directing diffused light primarily at and around a subject that would be shot at closest distance for 1:1 magnification.

This is the prototype, designed on the CAD system, made from just two pieces cut from a sheet of card, folded, glued and fitted with the only thing I could find tonight as a diffuser, some thin packing foam.



I do not want harsh shadows, and this is what I got



I want to retain details in the finest of hairs on my critters, and this is what I got (sorry no critters available tonight)



For these images camera was handheld, 1:1 magnification, aperture priority, flash on TTL and good exposures produced. The inside of the diverter has not been covered in foil and the diffuser is fitted to the flash head.

I feel there's a number of possible design variations on the cards

Grahame

[Dave Humphries]

The results look good Grahame.

I had an idea (oh dear!)

I appreciate you haven't lined the interior with foil to avoid harsher shadows, but I guess you must lose quite a bit of light through the sides and I wondered if it was worth covering the outside with foil - to reflect back in the lost light?

Of course, it may make negligible difference to the exposure and just add too much weight.
Or it may allow another stop of aperture

Just a thought,

[Stagecoach]

Hi Dave,

Good thoughts.

I was in such a rush to test it I did not take notice of light that may have come through the card. What I will do tomorrow is undertake a test with the rig on the tripod, look as it flashes and also put the flash on manual to determine the power it's using at the apertures I would normally use f16 to f29.

I'm already losing a bit of power because the diffuser is fitted to the flash simply because this prototype was a bit loose without it. What I really need to do next is find a proper subject for testing, maybe a flower or ideally another mantis.

Grahame

[CBImages]

Love your thinking Grahame and looking forward to seeing the results.

If it's lack of or very soft shadows you are after, have you considered placing some white foam board around your subject to reflect some light back into the shadow areas?

Chris

[xpatUSA]

Excellent job, Grahame!

As to the diffuser material, I quite favor thick tracing paper - cheap and plentiful. I was using 40 g/m^2 but later changed to 110 g/m^2 from UK eBay. Since I use continuous lighting, I am able to use diffusers separate from the lamps. This brings an advantage of being able to change the amount of diffusion (sorta) by moving the diffuser closer to the lamp (less) or closer to the subject (more). Quite important for shiny metal things like watches. The current setup (no CAD involved) ;-)



LED PAR38 60deg floods (3500K), Kodak reference white card 'reflector' (see Chris's post above). The resulting image can have low contrast as seen in your images and mine below, so I often use a mini-mag light to place additional highlighting or to accentuate a dial.



Hand-held, f/8, 1/20 sec. No post-processing at all apart from down-sizing. The low contrast given by diffused lighting is quite evident, even though some specular (as in blown) highlights were allowed to remain.

As ever, there are conflicting needs. In macro we seek sharpness. But a low-contrast image appears as soft to our eyes. Dilemma

[Stagecoach]

Chris,

I'm not too worried about some shadow as long as it's not harsh. One of the problems with working so close in is that its quite awkward placing reflectors, for which I have used white paper previously close enough to the subject to be effective.

The other problem is that with moving critters you are constantly moving and rotating their perch which is often a plant in a pot with leaves and stems all over the place to get them in view.

This is simply an experiment to see how effective it will be shooting a subject such as the mantis the other day and getting reasonable even lighting but keeping that black background. Hopefully tonight I can give it a good trial and I will post the results.

P.S. I see you are from Wiltshire Chris, I was born there and lived in Salisbury until 1965.

Grahame

[Stagecoach]

Ted,

Thanks for sharing your setup. I stick with flash for the critters inside due to ease and speed and also find it gives good contrast but as with everything it's a trade-off.

Diffuser materials are something I will experiment with, the plan being to adapt this so that I can slot in +1, +2 ranges easily.

I just need a subject to trial it with.

Grahame

[CBImages]

Chris,


P.S. I see you are from Wiltshire Chris, I was born there and lived in Salisbury until 1965.

Grahame

I'm a bit of a gypsy to be honest - born and raised in Manchester, lived in Scotland for 15 years, moved to Devizes 5 years ago and now I'm moving up to Lytham St Annes in 10 days time!

I have done my fair share of 'critters' as you call them - I do like that word
Mainly damselflies and dragonflies along with a few other species of insects - you can see a few on my web site http://chrisbeard-images.com
All were taken outdoors, in the wild using natural light - however I do occasionally use a reflector to bounce light back onto the insect. Yes I also know all about the frustrations that comes with trying to photograph them, I am glad it is difficult otherwise everyone would be doing them ;-)

[Stagecoach]

Chris,

I had a look at your website and will suggest that anyone here who wants to see some great images, especially landscapes, view it to get some inspiration.

Grahame

[jcuknz]

When I have bought things, sorry forget what, kitchenware?, they have been wrapped in a white wrapping cloth which can make a good diffuser at no cost. I have one or two pieces rolled up somewhere in my junk.
The fruit looks very nice and edible but to be critical I suggest the light source is too small from the 'vertical' reflections on the paper clip ... horizontal ones are good ... becuase they are black? One answer might be if shooting paperclips et al again to organise white surfaces around the subject so the shiney metal reflects them and not the black surround. Obviously of little importance with the wee creatures you hunt usually and probably impossible for them anyway

TED .. I suffered the same problem with my white bucket inverted with hole in the bottom for the lens with a magnifying glass mounted but with a little tweak of the curve, selective darkening of everything except watch and a bit of sharpening it came up nice and crisp ... but since I am not sure of my monitor and the adjustment controls on it are a PITA I won't post anything but it looks a cracker on my monitor

[Stagecoach]

John,

I will do some tests with different materials to see which performs best on the shiny backed critters eventually. The strawberry, the last in the fridge, was very edible

I'm not quite clear what exactly you are referring to "the light source is too small from the 'vertical' reflections on the paper clip". Are you referring to the harsh shadows under the chromed rods?

Out of interest I looked at that image again and measured the values in three corners and was surprised that it's pretty even.



Grahame

[Stagecoach]

Had time to test the diffuser tonight with respect to flash power levels. Based upon my normal working max of f29 with the 105 macro at 1:1 ratio 1/2 power of the flash was required for good exposure. At f22 around 1/4 power.

From the results there's ample power so I will not be worrying about putting tinfoil inside and there appears negligible loss through the card.

The subject was chosen due to colour and the delicate petals.



Grahame

[CBImages]

Chris,

I had a look at your website and will suggest that anyone here who wants to see some great images, especially landscapes, view it to get some inspiration.

Grahame

Thanks Grahame I appreciate your comments

[xpatUSA]

I just need a subject to trial it with

How about one of these?



It was alive at the time. I caught it in a paper towel and shot from a safe distance, yes, with flash.

Grahame and Chris,

I too have Wilts connections although I grew up next door near Uffington, Berks. Passed the test in Cheltenham having been failed by the infamous Mr Bull in Swindon. Lived in Swindon while stationed at RAF Lyneham.

Ooh arr,

[Stagecoach]

Ted,

Luckily we do not have any of those here because I'm daft enough to want to get in real close to capture it's face and eyes.

Grahame

[jcuknz]

Ted,

Luckily we do not have any of those here because I'm daft enough to want to get in real close to capture it's face and eyes.

Grahame

Perhaps you need to get more extension and use your long lens if you import one for photography purposes

[jcuknz]

John,

I'm not quite clear what exactly you are referring to "the light source is too small from the 'vertical' reflections on the paper clip". Are you referring to the harsh shadows under the chromed rods? [/IMG]
Grahame

No Grahame I thought the shadows pretty good it is just the basic principle of photographing reflective objects [ glass metal plastic ] that they usually reflect what you are seeing through/by them. In this case the light source only occupied quite a small arc of the reflecting angle and hence the dark sides to the spring metal. For this passive kind of subject a couple of pieces of white card just out of frame should overcome this not really serious problem. It is a long time since I did anything like this, pre-digital days, but I have been browsing through "LIGHT Science and Magic" from time to time of late and they are very keen on angles and interesting dodges [literally and metaphorically speaking].