Aussieroo wrote in post #5735693
I guess I have been fence sitting here for long enough time I wrote and said hi and things. I have had this lens for about 12 months now and have been fortunate enough to have a great mentor take me out and show me the finer things about macro photography.
I thought you would like a few points on taking macro, some may seem pretty obvious but I will list them anyway. In no particular order just as they come to mind.
1. Get yourself some gardening knee pads, as you will be on your knees more often than not.
2. You will find a cable release invaluable.
3. An angle viewfinder helps as well saves lying on the ground at times.
4. Using the "Mirror up" option when in real close helps in eliminating that minute chance of vibration from the shutter.
5. When in grassy wet areas a pair of rubber boots helps as well.
6. Keep an old pair of scissors in your camera bag for getting rid of any annoying grass stalks that may be in the background making it messy.
7. Concentrate as much on the background as the subject matter. A busy messy background will distract for the subject and will be difficult to remove later in PS. Keep the back ground as blurred as possible checking your DOF and aperture.
8. Be sure you are as parallel to the subject as possible. Shooting at an angle will result in too much out of focus due to shallow DOF. You may have to shoot up, you may have to shoot down the angle will depend on how the subject is positioned.
9. Get in as close as you can without frightening the subject away.
10. Use a tripod where ever you can Remember with the Velbum you can remove the bottom half of the support stalk to get even lower to the ground. A Ball head is very handy for those odd angles and adjustments.
11. Be aware of lighting. Shadows are easier to keep highlight from blowing out and using slow shutter speeds will give you exposure you need.
12. Practice shooting in RAW and the doing your initial edit in the PS RAW editor.
13. Use manual focus always
14. Shoot early in the morning while insects are cold and less likely to move. Best in the spring when days are warm to hatch the insects but cold enough mornings to have them nice and slow.
15. Take your time with every shot, shoot less and shoot better.
16. Enjoy the "Hunt" and learn to look down and see small things. Sometimes sitting still in a reedy area your eyes will become accustomed to the things around you and you will start to see smaller things you previously have missed.
17. Learn the habitat and habits of what you are likely to shoot. Times of year and times of day etc.
18. develop your skills in editing for even better results.
A couple of samples
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