Ok I need help, macro pros UNITE!

Here is my setup..

Sigma 105mm f/2.8 macro
Onboard flash
Tripod/Monopod/Handhel​d

I need advice on what shutter speed, apature, etc to shoot. I cant ever seem to get the quality that you guys seem to get. Should I use the onboard flash all the time to freeze motion?

A little advice would go a long way.

~Shane~

Obviously to some extent I have to figure this out for myself but I am lost as far as even starting ground.

Here's my advice:

GET AN OFF-CAMERA FLASH!!!!

I noticed the biggest difference once I got a flash. It makes it possible to do macros you'll want to keep.

In order to shoot good macro shots, you need a high shutterspeed and a low aperture. Unfortunately, this usually equals out to "very low light." A flash will fix this.

In general, you'll want to be shooting between f/11-f/16, and you'll want a shutterspeed at or as close to 1/200th (max flash sync speed) as you can get. Unless you have very good natural light conditions, you'll need a flash to generate the light.

As far as focusing, autofocus is very slow at macro levels. You'll need to get good at manual focusing. The best way I've found is to set your lens at max magnification and then move your body back and forth to focus.

The onboard flash will help, but you'll need something more substantial for any serious macro. Also, it can't get the light to the end of the lens like a dedicated flash can, so you'll find you'll need a diffuser to light up your subject.

Other than that, practice practice practice. And post some pictures! We can help better if we see what you're talking about .

I am in the same boat. When you say a flash are you talking about a flash mounted on your camera or a ring light?

I also use apeture priority most of the time which sets my shutter speed. When inside I set my apeture to f/11 or so. This sets my shutter to speeds far to low to hand hold even when my flash is connected. Should my flash not be picking up on this and compensating. What film speeds do you recomend for inside and outside. And also it seems the closer I get to things the more out of focus everything gets. I see all these pictures of insects and flowers and everything is sharp and in focus. How do people do this? Should I get further back and just crop the photo, is that how people get such sharp pictures.

Thanks, I know thats a lot.

Brian

Next time I shoot Im going to try and shoot in M mode..

f/11 1/200 shutter speed, flash, and use exposure compensation if I have to. See what kind of results I can get.

If that doesnt work then Im going to save up for a flash lol..

The never ending money pit called photography

When I say a flash, I mean something like the Canon 430EX. A ringlite works too, but they're very expensive and really only work for macro.

demarco, the reason the camera sets your shutter speed so low is because it assumes you're going to be using the flash for fill (which, in most photography, you are). Thus, it tries to get the exposure for the subject right internally, then it meters the background and sets the flash accordingly. Since you want to use the flash as the primary lighting source, you need to either keep the flash in ETTL and use manual mode on the camera body to get the desired shutter speed (shutter speed doesn't matter because the flash pulses at 1/50,000th, so you want the shutter to be as high as possible), or do what I do, which is set everything in manual (flash and camera) and then experiment and go by feel for the exposure. Since you aren't relying on natual light to light up the pictures, you can use the exact same exposure settings in the middle of a sunny day or in the dead of night, and the exposures of both pictures will be relatively close to each other.

I always use manual mode so I can set the shutter to 1/200th and the aperture to f/11-f/14. I usually shoot at ISO 100, but sometimes 200 if the lighting is wierd.

The reason everything gets out of focus when you get close is because the smaller the picture, the less Depth-of-Field there is. It is just a fact of macro. The pictures you see that have everything in focus use a combination of smaller apertures (like f/13 or even beyond) and artful composition.

You can gain DOF by how you compose your shot. If you shoot a bug looking straight at you, chances are a large part of him will be out of focus because only a small part will be inside the DOF plane. However, if you shoot at an angle, more of him will be in your DOF plane, thus more will turn out "focused" in the final picture. You'll learn how to compose pictures better as you practice more.

Again, post some pictures of what you have. It is a lot easier to coach people if we can see their photos. Also, they may not be as bad as you think, and may just need some PP work in photoshop.

Let me dig around..

xxbodkinxx wrote:
Next time I shoot Im going to try and shoot in M mode..

f/11 1/200 shutter speed, flash, and use exposure compensation if I have to. See what kind of results I can get.

If that doesnt work then Im going to save up for a flash lol..

The never ending money pit called photography

I may be wrong, but onboard flash may not make it to the end of your lens and you'll get nasty shadows (I know it does on mine). Try making a diffuser by using an old milk carton or something that guides the light out and over the end of the lens and onto the subject.

Good luck, and post some the pictures you take for us!

Ok I just noticed my faults. I looked over all of my macro shots and they are all taken at f/2.8-f4 they are blurry because of how hard it is to get if the with dof.

Now that I look at the pics I notice that where I focused is really crisp and clear, unfortunately that area is so small that often times I missed the buf and got the flower

I will try out f11-16 or so, and see how they come out.

Thanks for the info. I was wishing for all the good macro equipment yesterday since I was at a butterfuly house. I got some decent snapshots, but nothing at all like the macros here. I am trying to come up with the money for a macro lens. Right now I just have a macro switch on the Sigma 70-300 lens and it only works at 200-300mm settings. So mine aren't terribly sharp or well enough lit at times. I pretty much messed up a bunch of my photos because I still had the uv lens on. Then when I went back out I forgot I had the ISO set higher and most everything ended up a tad overexposed. For some reason I didn't think to change back the ISO and I'm not too experienced on completely manual settings yet. I'd know what to do if it was a film camera, but it's not. What a great photographer I am. LOL

These are two of the better ones, and they aren't crystal clear:

My advice - stick to around 1/200 @ f11, get an offshoe adaptor for the flash and a flash bracket. Lose the tripod/monopod and go handheld. Get a diffuser like a sto-fen (works ok for me as far as I'm concerned). I usually shoot at ISO 400. I'd prefer to shoot at ISO 200, but I then find that halving my shutter speed results in a fair bit of camera shake/lens shake with the Sigma 150mm...

Dave

Thanks for the info. When you refer to a "off mount" or whatever, are you talking about a flash not attached and sitting beside a subject to light it up. Cause I use my flash 430 EX on top of the camera and I get bad shadows as well sometimes.

Here are two I took yesterday with my new lens (sigma 17-70mm) The seem alright, I will post some real close-ups later today. I am gonna try and get some.

Both of these were at around f/11-f/8 for the second shot 1/60 for both and ISO 200. Thanks for any advice

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I haven't been using the tripod or monopod. Sometimes I can get a nice sharp pic at 1/60th shutter speed, but other times I am not able to get totally steady... which bugs the daylights out of me. Most of mine so far have been hand held, natural light and not fantastic results. I did get a few good wasp pics, but nothing like the macros here. I'm guessing with the bigger lens that doesn't help with camera shake. I haven't tried with a flash at all yet. I do have a flash that attaches to the camera that can move into different positions (a "joint" in the unit allows it to move up and down), but I have to get batteries for it to try it out. Can something like that be used with macro at all?

I use a ringfl;ash most of the time for macro........... but i agree that getting some kinda bracket and maybe a Sigma 500 super (WAY WAY cheaper than the 580ex) with all the same features....

the ringflash can be used for other things than macro........... I've used it to get some interesting portraits..... with the 500 super i have slaved from the ring flash at varying positions in the room