A 1:1 Macro lens or
extension tubes, tripod and remote shutter release (or use onboard timer), flash(es) or available light, reflector(s), and
backgrounds (also see "Some Macro Gear" below)
The Aim:
To show the world small
things, and for getting in really close to something.
How:
Camera
Settings: Use iso100
(for best quality, but as light allows), something between f2.8 to f11-ish, and atleast 1/100
for handheld (slightly more is better to avoid hand-shake / blur, but
preferably use a tripod), or
1/125 shutter speed with the flash.
Lighting: You can
use 'available light', or a flash. Obviously you want the light to appear
natural in most cases. To get this natural look, you'd aim to have
'global' or 'uni-directional' lighting. The other way to get good, and
global lighting is to use a ring-flash (see below). These are specially designed
flashes which are a ring shape, and sit at the end of your lens. Other flashes have the problem where the light coming from them
are often blocked by the lens (considering how long these lenses are, see
below), so the small object is often in the shade
of the lens and the background is lit up by the flash. Or, you could move
the flash to the side. You can also get special rigs where you can have
the flashes mounted on brackets on either side of your camera, and angled
and pointed in toward the area close to the front of your lens (see the
Amazon ad just below).
White Balance: Be
sure your white balance is
set for the flash you're using. In the examples below, the studio flash
was rated to 5,600K, so the cameras WB was set to this. Or, if you're
using 'available lighting', then set your WB to shade, cloudy, sunny,
whichever is appropriate.
Lenses: I prefer to
use a my Minolta 100mm 2.8 Macro lens (now Sony, I bought mine secondhand at a great
price), no other lens is better. Canon, Nikon, Tamron and Sigma do have
good lenses, too. You can use extension tubes (which happen to be cheaper)
on a 50mm macro lens to zoom in a bit more and still have the 1:1 effect
(or close to). Another option is to use extension tubes on any other
regular lens, but you won't have the 1:1 effect.
Modifiers: Have a
reflector bounce any excess light to gently fill in shadow areas,
especially on the 'dark side'. This allows you to have both a well-lit
subject, and retain a global or uni-directional lighting effect.
Tripod: It's really
difficult to get accurate focus on things that are really small. A good
friend,
Clive, strongly suggests to use a tripod for this. This lets you
accurately focus on what needs to be focused on. I would suggest for
insects that this would normally be the head; flowers, whichever part is
the main subject, such as the stamens. If you try to go handheld, then
there would be some blur (unless you use a flash). When you take a photo,
use a remote release (or on board timer), as just pushing the button will
wobble the camera, defeating the purpose of using a tripod. You can also
get a sort of accessory for your tripod, a macro focusing rail, to help
you finely adjust the position of your camera and fine tune the
composition (wish I had one).
Quality Issues: Be
sure there's no distractions, or unnecessary junk in the background. Any
leaves or branches in the background shouldn't distract from the subject.
Plan it, so everything that you see through the lens is there, because it
needs to be. Also see the
Composition article.
1:1 Macro Lenses:
These are
the 'real' macro lenses, where at minimum focusing distance (really
close), the object has a 1:1 life-size representation on the film or
sensor. So, in other words, at the closest you can be to get focus, 1cm
in real life, equals 1cm on the film / sensor. Other kinds of 'macro',
like 1:3.5 aren't real macro lenses, but is marketed as such anyway, as
these are designed to let you get really close to focus. Standard lenses
usually allow you to be about a meter (3 feet) from the object, but the
fake macros let you be about 35cm's (a foot) from the object to focus.
Light Tents
for an Indoor Studio?
No, no,
no. I got one and regretted it. They are just a gimmick designed to make
someone rich. They really get in the way of effectively controlling the
light and keeping it bright enough inside. Keeping things open (as seen
below), and using softboxes are so, so, SO much better and produces better
results.
Examples:
Click on these to view them
at a larger size
< A
grasshopper, outdoors. F10, 1/100, iso200; 18-75mm lens; available
light.
< A
dragonfly in the indoor studio. F7.1, 1/125, iso100; 100mm 2.8 Macro
lens; 800watt flash in studio. Note the unfortunate shadow. I could have
put the dragonfly on paper, and lit it from underneath, too, or a flash
either side.
< A
caterpillar, outdoors. F2.8, 1/80, iso100; 100mm 2.8 Macro lens; using
available light. Perhaps the
DOF was a bit shallow on this.
< A
ladybird, outdoors. F4, 1/200, iso100; 100mm 2.8 Macro lens; using
available light. This only needs to be sharper on the head; I'd
forgotten my tripod on this day.
< F11,
1/125, iso100; 18-70mm lens. 800watt flash. Packaging styrofoam blocks
from a box were used to help bounce light, from the flash, back onto the
dark side of the subject. That way, I don't need to purchase an
expensive second light. If you're into outdoor flower photography, you
should carry a simple white card (like the sort you get in the packet when you buy a
new collared shirt), and use it similarly.
< The
result. As seen here, the shadow is much less pronounced.
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