What's your biggest challenge specific to macro photography?

[GLSonn]

(Others have mentioned that and it is worthwhile mentioning again: too many folk buy stuff that they don't require, based upon what other people use and not their own uses).

Yup. Good point. You need a tripod if it works for what you do. If a sandbag or the side of a house works for what you're doing, you can use that just as well.

[GLSonn]

Whilst tripods can be useful in some situations, for many situations they are a hindrance. Critters and bugs rarely stay still and minor movements by them can require a tripod movement to retain wanted framing and magnification.

Use of flash, which is ideal for macro, aids hand holding tremendously.

True. They're situational and depending on what you're doing (as per previous post) you might need one more often than not...or less often than not.

[William W]

Gary,

In your profession as an online marketer, do you, or does someone else write the marketing prose for your Home Page?

I ask out of curiosity, because there is some quite detailed information on your Home Page apropos Tripods: the answer may be relevant to this discussion.

Thanks,

WW

[GLSonn]

Gary,

In your profession as an online marketer, do you, or does someone else write the marketing prose for your Home Page?

I ask out of curiosity, because there is some quite detailed information on your Home Page apropos Tripods: the answer may be relevant to this discussion.

Thanks,

WW

I do my own research and writing. You've got me really curious as to where this is going.

[William W]

I do my own research and writing. You've got me really curious as to where this is going.

Thank you.

As to "where this is going?". Answer - Nowhere, other than what was stated.

The reason for the question was stated quite clearly, nothing more and nothing less, my bold now for emphasis:

"there is some quite detailed information on your Home Page apropos Tripods: the answer may be relevant to this discussion."

Your answer, is indeed relevant, to this conversation.

WW

[GLSonn]

Thank you.

As to "where this is going?". Answer - Nowhere, other than what was stated.

The reason for the question was stated quite clearly, nothing more and nothing less, my bold now for emphasis:

"there is some quite detailed information on your Home Page apropos Tripods: the answer may be relevant to this discussion."

Your answer, is indeed relevant, to this conversation.

WW

Okay. Got it.

[DanK]

Gary,

I hadn't looked at your site until Bill mentioned it.

I'd like to go back to my initial question: can you clarify what types of photography you would like our help with? I and others have made it clear that "macro" is not a single type of photography and that the type of equipment that is most suitable depends on which types one does. Also, can you point us to a site that shows what photography you have been doing, or describe it to us? Knowing what people already know and do can help participants provide relevant and useful information.

Dan

[GLSonn]

Gary,

I hadn't looked at your site until Bill mentioned it.

I'd like to go back to my initial question: can you clarify what types of photography you would like our help with? I and others have made it clear that "macro" is not a single type of photography and that the type of equipment that is most suitable depends on which types one does. Also, can you point us to a site that shows what photography you have been doing, or describe it to us? Knowing what people already know and do can help participants provide relevant and useful information.

Dan

Sorry, Dan, but I'm not looking for help here. I've tried to clarify this once before. I was originally looking simply to find out what others considered their biggest challenge. I wasn't asking for help to solve my biggest challenge.

I don't have a site up yet with any of my shots, but I will soon.

[xpatUSA]

The reason for the question was stated quite clearly, nothing more and nothing less, my bold now for emphasis:

"there is some quite detailed information on your Home Page apropos Tripods: the answer may be relevant to this discussion."

Your answer, is indeed relevant, to this conversation. WW

Indeed, Bill. Relevant in that his post #22 contains a promotional mention of and a link to the "The Only Tripod to Consider: Vanguard Alta Pro" in the author's seemingly commercial Home Page.

[GLSonn]

Indeed, Bill. Relevant in that his post #22 contains a promotional mention of and a link to the "The Only Tripod to Consider: Vanguard Alta Pro" in the author's seemingly commercial Home Page.

I did think twice before including that link. Maybe I should have thought three times. I'm not here to promote that site. I'll remove the link if you like.

At the time I wrote that article, I did think that tripod was "da bomb". Some earlier posts in this thread about mixing and matching have made me reconsider. I'm going to have to do some more research on the topic before I get a new tripod for myself. I do need one for some of the shots I take.

[Geoff F]

Regarding the question of whether a tripod is an essential item.

Sometimes I remove my tripod and switch on the lens stabilizer to go chasing butterflies or bees at difficult angles and I can occasionally get good results with the butterflies although less so with little bees. They require exact angle close up shots for identification. However, after a little while of getting into awkward angles while holding a heavy camera and lens I am glad to return to letting my tripod take the strain. I still use manual focusing with hand held shots because of false focus point problems when using auto focus.

Shooting for image stacking becomes more difficult when taking hand held shots.

[Manfred M]

Gary - I get really concerned when I see the word "best" describing something. There are some assumptions underlying the use of that word and unless one is clear about what one means by best, it is impossible to determine if it has the same meaning for someone else.

One person may view best as being the least expensive, others might think it as the most stable while others might suggest that is the device that works in every condition that he or she might want to use it. There is even a legal view which suggests that we are referring to a premium product. Nicely said what is best for you is unlikely to be best for someone else, even if you are both shooting macro. At a minimum, you should explain why and how you have come to that conclusion.

Let me go a step further. I own five tripods and use them all. Each was bought for a different purpose because there is no single best. Two are elusively used when I am traveling, especially by air or I am out hiking. Another is used when I shoot video and another when I do tabletop work. The fifth one is my "go to" tripod I use 90% of the time, especially when shooting in the studio or on location locally. Which one is best? I have a different answer depending on what I am doing.

The same thing goes for tripod heads. I have six different ones; four are standard ball heads, one is a counter-balanced fluid damped head for video work and one is a geared head that I use to precisely position my camera when I am shooting still life and architecture.

[Tronhard]

Certainly, I cannot ascribe to the principle that there is one tripod, camera, camera bag to "RULE THEM ALL", as this would completely undermine my argument for justifying my collection of tripods, camera bags and other gear that I have accumulated of the decades!



Before the abuse starts this represents almost 20 years of digital and 40 or photography and the two sets of gear I had in Canada and NZ and became combined when I returned to live in one hemisphere... And I reject any GAS suggestion - by my definition GAS is when one buys gear in the belief that better gear it will reveal hitherto hidden talent. I have never thought it would, on its own, make me a better photographer. But I will admit to enjoying the gear for its own sake.

[GLSonn]

Gary - I get really concerned when I see the word "best" describing something.

I agree. I have written about products (mostly years ago now) where I treated the item as the "best" of its kind. These days, I'm much more likely, if I use the word "best" at all, to say it's the "best X for Y", as in best tripod for shooting video. Even then it's more likely to be...here are three good tripods for shooting video.

[DanK]

I'm going to be frank. Yes, writing that any one tripod is the best--on your site, more than that,"the only tripod to consider"--makes no sense. But that only scratches the surface of why this thread and your site bother me.

What you posted in this thread suggests that you have never used the tripod that you tell readers is the only one to consider. You asked if any of us had experience with it. You also showed no knowledge of tripods; you didn't even know that heads can be separated from legs. Yet you went ahead and told people on your site what to buy as if you have relevant expertise, and you make money if they take your advice. (To your credit, your site is clear that you make money. It just isn't clear that your recommendation is not based on any expertise.) I don't know about others, but I find this troubling.

Another reason this thread leaves me uneasy is that it isn't clear to me why you are asking us to take the time to write. You have twice refused to say what types of photography you want to pursue. The second time, you posted that you were not asking for help, just asking us to write about the problems we had encountered in whatever type of macro we do. Why, I wondered, would someone want this? You have posted nothing about your current photography--no description, no link, no photos. When asked, you said you would later. I actually searched in Google for a photo website with your name but didn't find anything.

So what are you really after, since it isn't help with your photography? Perhaps I am being too suspicious, but I find myself wondering whether you are looking for information you can put onto your site. E.g., now you can write: "If you do macro photography, it's important to have a reversible center column", even though you have never reversed a center column.

Can you please clarify this? I'll be delighted if the answer is that I am being unduly suspicious, and if you are after help in improving your macro photography, I can try to help.

[GLSonn]

I'm going to be frank. Yes, writing that any one tripod is the best--on your site, more than that,"the only tripod to consider"--makes no sense. But that only scratches the surface of why this thread and your site bother me.

What you posted in this thread suggests that you have never used the tripod that you tell readers is the only one to consider. You asked if any of us had experience with it. You also showed no knowledge of tripods; you didn't even know that heads can be separated from legs. Yet you went ahead and told people on your site what to buy as if you have relevant expertise, and you make money if they take your advice. (To your credit, your site is clear that you make money. It just isn't clear that your recommendation is not based on any expertise.) I don't know about others, but I find this troubling.

Another reason this thread leaves me uneasy is that it isn't clear to me why you are asking us to take the time to write. You have twice refused to say what types of photography you want to pursue. The second time, you posted that you were not asking for help, just asking us to write about the problems we had encountered in whatever type of macro we do. Why, I wondered, would someone want this? You have posted nothing about your current photography--no description, no link, no photos. When asked, you said you would later. I actually searched in Google for a photo website with your name but didn't find anything.

So what are you really after, since it isn't help with your photography? Perhaps I am being too suspicious, but I find myself wondering whether you are looking for information you can put onto your site. E.g., now you can write: "If you do macro photography, it's important to have a reversible center column", even though you have never reversed a center column.

Can you please clarify this? I'll be delighted if the answer is that I am being unduly suspicious, and if you are after help in improving your macro photography, I can try to help.

I'd be glad to try to clarify, Dan.

The Optics Oasis site of mine is, as you have seen, an affiliate type of site. It's purpose is to collect information for searchers looking for that type of information.

At the time I wrote the tripod article, based on information I had then collected, I thought it to be the "best" tripod available. I have since changed my mind on that but haven't taken the time to update the article yet.

Even though I have been taking macros for about 3 years, I still consider myself a newbie at it and haven't posted my pictures to a site - other than a few on Facebook.

I am trying to collect information from other photographers in order to help them with a new (not affiliate) site I will be starting in the next week or two. It will be about macro photography with an eye to helping beginners such as myself (and a friend in a similar situation). We intend to work through learning macro photography and to show others like ourselves what we discover along the way.

The info I was trying to get (and did get) here I figured would be a good starting point - what's your biggest challenge - for such a site. If we can help alleviate that pain point for others, that would be a good thing.

I haven't specialized in any one facet of macro photography yet. I may. I don't know right now. I guess I'm a macro generalist, if there is such a thing.

[DanK]

Gary,

Thank you for the clarification.

I think I will bow out of this discussion. I don't think second-hand information--that is, having a relative novice collect information from people whose expertise he doesn't know--is the best way to go about this. You don't have the expertise to interpret and filter what we write. There are a number of sites on line where novices can get advice on macro from known experts. For example, here are a few sites that provide information from highly experienced macro photographers (far better than me). If you want to help people learn macro photography, refer them to people who are experts in it.

Dan


https://dgrin.com/categories/holy-macro

https://photography-on-the.net/forum...d.php?t=807056


https://dgrin.com/discussion/50752/brian-valentine-smugmug-artist-in-residence

[xpatUSA]

There are a number of sites on line where novices can get advice on macro from known experts. For example, here are a few sites that provide information from highly experienced macro photographers (far better than me). If you want to help people learn macro photography, refer them to people who are experts in it.

https://dgrin.com/categories/holy-macro

https://photography-on-the.net/forum...d.php?t=807056


https://dgrin.com/discussion/50752/brian-valentine-smugmug-artist-in-residence

Another one here, Gary:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/1054
.

[William W]

. . .

The Optics Oasis site of mine is, as you have seen, an affiliate type of site. It's purpose is to collect information for searchers looking for that type of information. . .

Frankly, The Optics Oasis site "purpose" is commercial.

It is clearly a marketing website.

The commercial interest is clearly stated at each link to article: "I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post." op.cit.l

One's profession is also clearly stated in the Bio Page: "Occupation: Online marketer."

The Bio Page, provides a biography, which is relevant to this discussion: "About GLSonn - Biography: A beginner at macro photography (as of early 2020)", however that Biography appears contradictory to this previous publication: {LINK}

WW

[GLSonn]

Frankly, The Optics Oasis site "purpose" is commercial.

It is clearly a marketing website.

The commercial interest is clearly stated at each link to article: "I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post." op.cit.l

Your profession is also clearly stated in your Bio Page: "Occupation: Online marketer."

WW

Correct. That's what an affiliate site is and that's my occupation. My (macro) photography interest is a hobby.