Some recent flower shots from our house

All 50D, EF-S 60mm macro. Last one has extension tubes, but I forget what length.

A heliopsis:

lovely series

wow. fantastic set!!

Lovely series
brian v.

Thanks, all

Did you take these pictures against black velvet or with the shutter speed the same as the sync speed of the flash?

Great series!

Thanks. The background for the second and third is a black fleece jacket I bought on clearance at REI, draped over a frame. No flash. The lighting is two 75W incandescent bulbs in aim-able reading lamps, each covered with Manfrotto diffusers.

I knew it..!! Black fabric background! Great effect!

I can only purchase black velveteen around me and am wondering if that would also work?

Did you have the aperture closed right down for max dof?

No, I usually shoot f/10-13 and then stack images in Zerene. All of these are Zerene stacks, using DMap

Why stack and not use f22?

Lovely shots, Especially like the nasturtium.

Tony.

Thanks, all.

pwilliamson: two reasons. First, images start to soften from diffraction as you stop the lens down. In my experience, with my setup, I can go to f/20 or so with some flowers without a problem, because some are soft anyway, but beyond that, the image visibly degrades. Second, when you get close enough, DOF is so narrow that even a small aperture is not enough.

Interesting, i've been shootin pictures using the same train of thought. However, I was reading a magazine lately and the author seemed to be shooting all of his macros with the lens stopped down to max.

Try it--shoot the same image using your 60 at f/10, 20, 32. Pick something with fine detail and contrast.

great series