Pollen all over...

[TARI]

Hi,

a friend borrowed me Sigma 105mm Macro lens (210mm with Olympus e-510).
After about 30 photos of testing, this 3 were the best. EXIF in photos.

C&C please TY

[Shadowman]

Tari,

Nice colors, DOF, and composition.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Tari,

They look OK to me, but I am puzzled why you shot all 3 at f2.8 (wide open) - the thing with macro is the minute DoF, so to combine that with wide open, while it is "fair do's" for one shot, but it is also unrepresentative of 'normal use' one would put such a lens to.

If you can borrow it again; try some shots with the pop up flash - to eliminate camera shake at the lower shutter speed a narrower aperture like f16 will give.

Cheers,

[TARI]

Dave,

I know what you mean. First I took one photo with f2.8 and second with f22 to see the diference.




Because I like the blury effect, I used f2.8 for all other photos. Mybe I should try with f5-6 to get DOF on the whole fly

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Tari,

Yes, I agree that with the rose, the narrow DoF wins, but with smaller things, you generally want it all to be sharp, but there are exceptions.

For example, here's a fly shot I did in July's PAD with my Nikon 105mm (effectively 157mm with the larger Nikon sensor):

1/250s f/4.5 at 105mm iso1600

Cheers,

[TARI]

Ok now I am jealous, hehe. Great photo

I still need alooooot of practice

[Dave Humphries]

Ok now I am jealous, hehe. Great photo

I still need alooooot of practice

You do OK, I'd like to have got one like the first one above - I don't think I have ever got one on such a nice surface like that, nearly all mine mine are on wood, plain leaves, or in the case of the one above, the lid of the wheelie bin

Cheers,

[Katy Noelle]

I have a question! I just recently figured out that the smaller the subject the deeper the depth of field needs to be - you know, so the whole thing is sharp - OR I have to be very exact in focusing on what I want so that it's not all a mush. I am angling for the canon 60mm macro lens and am wondering if I will be able to see things more clearly than I do now. er, right now, I take a photo as closely as my camera will let me (several inches) and then crop. I've heard that the 60mm will take photos 1:1. Does this mean that it will show up magnified on my viewfinder - screen - thingy? I think, in any case, that I need to get a magnifying glass to help me build my photo of the lilliput world.

[Katy Noelle]

Do you know, I HAVE read the tutorials but, that was three weeks ago and everything looks different, now. I just reread the tutorial on macro photography and answered my question. I believe that it's "yes". (Although, I know that my camera has a cropped sensor.....) Well, I just remember the literature saying that it was 1:1.

[TARI]

So, Dave... how about this one? Nothing special but you might like the colours

[PopsPhotos]

In this case, having the outer petals go gradually out of focus works. The subject is the patterns and the color. In the case of a bee or other bug, it depends on what you want the "center of focus" to be. If you are recording and showing off the bug, you want the whole thing in focus, and the background to (usually) drop out of the center of attention. If, as in the cases shown above, the subject is the bug's head/eyes/mouth or whatever, parts of the bug should gradually fade out.

This is an example where I wanted the whole bug, but the background needed to be recognizable, but "out of subject."


This is an example of where I wanted the bug and the flower to be the subject, yet the flower was not "prime" to the picture.


Pops

[Dave Humphries]

So, Dave... how about this one? Nothing special but you might like the colours

I do like the colours, but I would ideally have focused a little further back and used say, f8, to get all the middle sharp, but not the background.

Nice lighting effect (?) that has the middle lit but seemingly the petals less so. How did you do that?

[Klickit]

I have a question! I just recently figured out that the smaller the subject the deeper the depth of field needs to be - you know, so the whole thing is sharp - OR I have to be very exact in focusing on what I want so that it's not all a mush. I am angling for the canon 60mm macro lens and am wondering if I will be able to see things more clearly than I do now. er, right now, I take a photo as closely as my camera will let me (several inches) and then crop. I've heard that the 60mm will take photos 1:1. Does this mean that it will show up magnified on my viewfinder - screen - thingy? I think, in any case, that I need to get a magnifying glass to help me build my photo of the lilliput world.

What you see on your LCD viewer will always be what you see in your photo, so if you are using a macro lens to get up close, you'll get a close view.
Maybe it is more a question of eyesight? I struggle with this too, but there is a solution in a magnifying viewer that you attach to your camera.
Macro lenses are great for getting full size images, but if you are leery of insects and they are going to be your main macro subjects, getting a longer macro lens, like a 90 or 110mm or even longer if you can afford it, will allow you to stand further back to get the same frame. It also helps in that a lot of insects are scared of us, and a longer lens is less likely to scare them off!

[TARI]

I do like the colours, but I would ideally have focused a little further back and used say, f8, to get all the middle sharp, but not the background.

Nice lighting effect (?) that has the middle lit but seemingly the petals less so. How did you do that?

What I like in this photo is that the flower looks like it is floating on the water. Dunno if the effect would be the same with smaller F.

This light effect is more likely side effect The transition from yellow to orange is the same in original RAW just not so obvious. With increasing contrast, sharpness and colours, transition became more obvious.

[Katy Noelle]

Thanks, Kit!

Tari, the orange flower is beautiful! Even if it's a side effect, the middle glowing is really lovely. Gotta go try that myself, sometime!