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Thread started 03 Dec 2016 (Saturday) 15:33
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Help with Macro Please

 
Bogino
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Dec 03, 2016 15:33 |  #1

Today I found this dead beetle (at least I think it was a beetle) in my car. I took it out and set it on the ground since I figured it would be a good subject for some practice macro photography. Personally I think it terrible and can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. For this shot I used my 7D Mark II with my Canon 100mm Macro and I set it on a tripod with 2 second timer. All my "hand held" shots were blurry. This one was the best of the 5 or 6 I took on tripod. It was done outside on a very bright and sunny So. CA. morning. ISO was 100 and f was around 4.0 (done in Manual mode). Why am I not getting "crisp"/"sharp" images? Advice appreciated. Thank You.

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chauncey
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Dec 03, 2016 16:32 |  #2

Aah, it's dead, right...take it inside, put it on a white piece of paper, and shoot it live-view tethered with the handy-dandy Canon Utility Software.


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Bassat
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Dec 03, 2016 16:46 |  #3
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DOF is razor thin at macro distances. Start at f/11. Add light.




  
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Left ­ Handed ­ Brisket
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Dec 03, 2016 17:01 |  #4

Crank ISO, no need for 100, you can easily go to 400 and much higher SS and f stop. Get lower and use the shallow dof to isolate his head.


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Archibald
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Post edited over 6 years ago by Archibald.
     
Dec 03, 2016 17:23 |  #5

Macro photography is a challenging area. You are off to a good start with this beetle.

The reason macro is difficult is because of shallow depth of field, lighting, focus, and subject/camera motion.

The latter issue is solved for you because the bug was not moving and the camera was on a tripod. At least we can assume the bug was motionless, or could be. This gives you a lot of options to solve the other issues.

Usually in macro we strive for lots of depth of field. This is achieved by stopping down. As Bassat suggested, try f/11. It is a very suitable aperture for macro. Stopping down even more, say to f/22, gives more DOF, but starts to cause less sharpness due to something called diffraction. So f/11 or maybe 16 is a good compromise.

The light quality is good, and the quantity can be adjusted by selecting a suitable shutter speed. If the beetle is truly still, and not being buffeted by wind, then you can use as slow a shutter as you want. If you happened to be shooting a live moving specimen, then you can crank the ISO to get a good shutter speed. In some cases you have to resort to use of flash, but that can get a bit complicated and we can discuss that some other time. In this case, just set a shutter speed for a good exposure.

Now focus. The most accurate way to focus is to use Live View, and being on a tripod facilitates that. Blow the LCD image up to 10x and focus on the eyes.

While you are at it, vary the pose of the beetle. Try bringing the camera down more to the level of the subject. Turning the beetle sideways will get more of it in focus, but keeping it turned a bit may look more attractive. Just experiment, because it can make a difference.

Finally, give some thought to a background. You can try colored paper, some rock, a leaf, black glass, whatever.

Have fun and let us know how it turned out.


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chauncey
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Dec 03, 2016 17:57 |  #6

BTW...any frozen subject works...doesn't need to be dead.


The things you do for yourself die with you, the things you do for others live forever.
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T3 ­ Heavy ­ Shop
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Dec 03, 2016 22:18 |  #7

also, make sure IS is off if tripod mounted.


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Help with Macro Please
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