Joel, lovely shot of the lilly anthers.
Hi, I've collected lots of shots of beautiful spring flowers and buds lately. I haven't really been into this before but I've kind of got to like it. Today it was time to say goodbye to a bunch of tulips that have been on our kitchen table for a week or so, but when I was about to just throw them away, I noticed the beauty of a fading tulip. Of course I had to get a capture also of one of those.
Fading beauty
Thanks for viewing!
Well the flash brackets arrived today so I set up my 1D MKIII with 180mm macro and the 1.4X TC and 2 430 EXII flashes on the wimberly brackets. This makes a heavy and cumbersome rig to carry around but I took a few shots close to my back door....I'm gonna need alot of practice
Good start with the lights. I might just use one light and build a little modifier for that light. Might lighten your rig a little bit and still get your light source. I only say modify the light because it looks a tad harsh on the 2nd and 4th shot. I wasn't sure if you were shooting for perfection or not.Originally Posted by Joel Eade
Well the flash brackets arrived today so I set up my 1D MKIII with 180mm macro and the 1.4X TC and 2 430 EXII flashes on the wimberly brackets. This makes a heavy and cumbersome rig to carry around but I took a few shots close to my back door....I'm gonna need alot of practiceDont be afraid to get close to those little jumpers, you only then get to see their little personalities.
Thanks jayson for the helpful hints, I have aome small diffusers that fit on the 430's....I will try those. I was using the flashes on manual settings, do you think ETTL woul dbe better? On these shots I was just trying things out very quickly and didn't have alot of time so I will have to gradually refine my technique. I really do appreciate any suggestions, it reduces the slope of the learning curveGood start with the lights. I might just use one light and build a little modifier for that light. Might lighten your rig a little bit and still get your light source. I only say modify the light because it looks a tad harsh on the 2nd and 4th shot. I wasn't sure if you were shooting for perfection or not.
I was just giving you a hard time before and think you have a great start. I am sure in no time your macros are going to rival your bird photography! Regarding tips, I am by no means great at macro, but do enjoy it very much so I have tried quite a few things.
Cool part about diffusing light for macro work is the diffusers don't really have to be that big because your subjects are usually much smaller if your aiming for bugs. For flowers, I have an Apollo 28 inch softbox that I use inside. I rarely have flowers to photograph and will hopefully have more in the near future. I have to do the planting because the wife really isn't into gardening.Outside for flowers, I rarely use flash. I usually try to stand or use something to block the direct sunlight (I purchased a 5 reflector kit for portraits that came with a white fabric middle that works pretty well for this). That way you don't have to worry about direct sunlight and clipping any highlights.
For other stuff such as bugs, I tend to use my flashes on manual more that ETTL basically because when using them on ETTL, they are always punching out too much light even when I lower the compensation. ETTL works nicely if you don't want any background in the shot, but not so much if you want fill. I believe it is due to the closeness of the subject and then lens and the resulting light you get by getting that much closer, but I truly have no clue. I usually just use my flash as a fill and not the main light mostly because when I am shooting a bug or something like that, I am usually in broad daylight and rarely under the cover of shade. I try to pop off quite a few shots (with the hope that I can catch them doing something cool) and the recycle time of a manual flash will be faster working at that close of a distance and not blasting at full power. I really am not that great with the set up and go, most of the time it is trial and error on the flash with manual exposure. I know others do use ETTL, but I prefer manual for those reasons.
Here is an example of what I mean about just using fill in broad daylight.
This was taken on a sandbox at about 2:00 in the afternoon. I probably could have cloned out the flash on the back of the ladybug, but I was lazy. I mainly just try to fill in the shadows that the sun leaves and bring out just a little more detail in those shadows. This makes things a little softer than having the harsh light. I know it's not the best example or my best picture, but it illustrates what I was trying to say about the fill. In this shot I actually was using a lumiquest 80/20 with a fill card, the softbox front and a little foam protector that I got when I ordered pictures. It kills the power of the flash, but makes for very soft shadows. The flash was actually on the hot-shoe for this shot also. Hard to move the rig around with 3 kids wanting to play.
This again, not a great example of perfect work since I chopped off the top half of his wings, but this is why I don't use ETTL. This was in broad daylight again, but the flash put out full power and made the background black. I would have liked a fill and had some of the background in the scene too. There were flowers everywhere.
This one is the perfect example as to why I liked using manual instead of ETTL for closeup macro. I captured two or three shots, I can't remember, and focus stacked this to get all the detail and hairs. If this was firing on ETTL, the flash wouldn't have recycled fast enough and I couldn't have completed this picture like I wanted.
Hope that helps.
Thanks, it helps alot.....that last picture of the fly is killer!
Not nearly as good as the photos above but here are a few taken with my new Sigma 105mm OS lens I received today! It was pretty windy out and so not the greatest day to take macro shots outside but I just couldn't wait to try it out! Actually, I am pretty pleased with the lens itself.
IMG_1850_1 by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr
Columbine Flower by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr
IMG_1738_1 by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr
Columbine Flower by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr
Lupine Flower by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr
Many of the textures I use are provided by Jerry Jones @ ShadowHouse Creations. He is one of the few I have found online that allows you to use his textures for commercial and non-commercial purposes. Although there are many, many different techniques to use for applying textures, overlays and backgrounds and even I use a few different ways to get the look I am going for, Jerry has a number of tutorials that I am sure will help those that are interested in learning how. I hope you find it useful ...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skeleta...7622794823052/
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