Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Slight Blurr

[grandadraymond]

My first shots with this lens 2 Butterflys or moths and ive got a slight blurr at the tip of the wings am i doing something wrong please thanks...Ray

[Jman13]

The wings are outside the depth of field of the shot. Those images were shot at f/2.8, and except when you are shooting non-macro subjects, or you want really thin depth of field, you'll want to stop down. Macro shooting usually requires very small apertures, especially as you get closer to 1:1. (f/8-f/16, or sometimes further if you really need it). Take this shot, for instance...this is at 1:2 (half life size), at f/10, and I'm still nowhere close to getting the entire insect in focus.



So, stop down more if you want all of the butterfly in focus, but it's a fine balance between more DOF and softening due to diffraction at small apertures (the sharpness will suffer smaller than f/11). Still, if you need the DOF, you need the DOF. If you are steady, and your subject is too, you can try to focus stack as well. (Ask about it in the macro forums, and you'll get more information.) Macro shooting is hard...probably the most difficult type of photography from a technical standpoint. (From an artistic and compositional standpoint, it's the same as any other, of course.) There's a reason most macro shooting is done tripod mounted for still subjects (long exposure time), or with flash, so small apertures can be used and still freeze the object.

[grandadraymond]

Thank you Jman you just learned me something then im grateful to you...Ray

[fWord]

That aside, looks like you nailed the focus on the eyes, which is where it really counts.

[vision35]

some wing movement gave the bee photo some life & is very acceptable as an art form