Shooting Macro at Night?

Having recently discovered that the local spiders ONLY come out at night, I've been doing some night macro with mixed results.

I've been shooting in manual mode at ISO 100, f/8 - f/11 - 1/250, and flash at 1/2 - 1/16 power.

The problem that I'm having is that it's very hard to focus properly.

I just finished making an arm attached to my tripod to hold my tablet so that I can use DSLR Controller to let me zoom in better on the bigger display.

The only places I can get good shots are the ones illuminated by the security lights.

Does anyone have any suggestions regarding focusing in the dark, and or camera settings?

Heya,

I use a flashlight or lantern or ring light to focus, that is blocked out by camera ambient settings, and the exposure (at night at least) is 100% flash. Aperture is for depth of field. Synch speed pretty much doesn't matter (use whatever you want that includes or excludes ambient light if any exists). You can increase ISO considerably, to lower the power requirement of flash, so that it's a shorter duration flash and much higher recycle time and more flashes per charge. It will be clean up to ISO 1600 with 100% flash no problem on your camera.

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #18395649
Heya,

I use a flashlight or lantern or ring light to focus, that is blocked out by camera ambient settings, and the exposure (at night at least) is 100% flash. Aperture is for depth of field. Synch speed pretty much doesn't matter (use whatever you want that includes or excludes ambient light if any exists). You can increase ISO considerably, to lower the power requirement of flash, so that it's a shorter duration flash and much higher recycle time and more flashes per charge. It will be clean up to ISO 1600 with 100% flash no problem on your camera.

Very best,

Is there any particular kind of flashlight you recommend?

The last time, I tried to use a small pocket LED flashlight and got nothing but a black screen.

Temma wrote in post #18395669
Is there any particular kind of flashlight you recommend?

The last time, I tried to use a small pocket LED flashlight and got nothing but a black screen.

I've used any old LED flash light, nothing super powerful, I have a few red ones I use when I'm doing star stuff.

I've also used those bright headlamps (LED also) and they work great too. F11 stomps out that light so your exposure is 100% flash.

I've also used an LED ring light that threads to the front of the lens and just has constant light (makes focusing and composition easy).

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #18395674
I've also used an LED ring light that threads to the front of the lens and just has constant light (makes focusing and composition easy).

I just remembered that I had a very bright LED headlamp that a friend gave me for our last hunting trip.

I drilled a hole in the mount and attached it to my flash bracket. I tested it in a darkened hallway, and it seems promising. We'll see what happens tonight.

My flash has built in modelling lights which I use to focus, but I use a flashlight to find the bugs in the first place! This is a common problem though and not just at night, in fact I am currently designing a mount to fit on my custom made diffusers so you can attach a small light for focusing, currently this is only available to people with the MT24-EX flash though.

If the light you are using does not light the subject up you will need something brighter, to be honest my modelling lights are not that bright compared to a flashlight but work fine, so the one you tried must have been really low powered or low on batteries.

Temma wrote in post #18395641
Having recently discovered that the local spiders ONLY come out at night, I've been doing some night macro with mixed results.

I've been shooting in manual mode at ISO 100, f/8 - f/11 - 1/250, and flash at 1/2 - 1/16 power.

The problem that I'm having is that it's very hard to focus properly.

I just finished making an arm attached to my tripod to hold my tablet so that I can use DSLR Controller to let me zoom in better on the bigger display.

The only places I can get good shots are the ones illuminated by the security lights.

Does anyone have any suggestions regarding focusing in the dark, and or camera settings?

A macro flash like the Canon MT24-EX or an indipendent equivalent include focussing lights, else strap a small LED tourch to the camera on a bracket.
???

This is costly, but it's cheaper than a big brand version (twice the price), but these are awesome:

https://www.amazon.com …8-13&keywords=macro+flas​h

Very best,

I tried the adapted headlamp and it worked great!

See the "Dinner Time" post in the Macro forum.

You could add some fun at night with a "nichia" UV LED torch. It's surprising what fluoresces, eg chlorophyll = red and some bugs (eg opiliones) blue . Tripod use, though!

Chris.R wrote in post #18396902
You could add some fun at night with a "nichia" UV LED torch. It's surprising what fluoresces, eg chlorophyll = red and some bugs (eg opiliones) blue . Tripod use, though!

Scorpions too. Fortunately, we don't have those here.

The Yongnuo ring flash (about $100) has 2 small LEDs on the front to aid in focus. Never tried it at night though.

Some centipedes fluoresce too, though I'm not sure about ours.

I have that Yongnuo ring flash, the leds certainly help.
I don't much like ringflash for close-ups without a ton of diffusion/redirection, but that's cheap to fix.

Chris.R wrote in post #18397072
Some centipedes fluoresce too, though I'm not sure about ours.

I have that Yongnuo ring flash, the leds certainly help.
I don't much like ringflash for close-ups without a ton of diffusion/redirection, but that's cheap to fix.

Could you please tell me how you diffused the ring flash?

(sorry, off topic)

I'm shooting in manual at f/11, 1/250th, and ISO 100 or 200.

Using the viewfinder and the focusing light, I'm able to focus, albeit not that consistently. I have trouble focusing on the eyes.

When I try to use live view, the screen is black, and so far the light has made no difference. Not being able to zoom in is a real handicap. For studio macro, with the built in screen or DSLR Controller, being able to zoom in to confirm focus is a HUGE advantage.

Does anybody have a solution for this, or will I just have to use the viewfinder and take a lot of shots so that some of them are in the proper focus?

In case I didn't mention it before, I'm using a Canon T4i.