For
good macro photography you really need at least a 100 mm lens. This
is
because you need a greater depth of field when working with macro
subjects.
There is no need to spend a great deal of money on expensive
equipment.
If you already have a 100, 200, 300 or any 100+ mm telephoto
lens,
then just go buy a set of macro diopter lenses. Some people
complain
about loosing a stop of light here or they worry about
diffraction
with the use of diopters but some of the best macro
photographs
I have ever seen were taken with a 105 mm lens and a #2
diopter
lens. You can pick up these diopters at a local camera show or
from
ebay (www.ebay.com I would suggest checking out ebay for lenses
too)
I recently picked up a set of 55mm diopters #1, #2, #4 Tiffens for
$12,
they were in excellent condition.
Technique
Wow!
There are so many things you can do to make macro photography fun
and
successful. The single BEST reference for anyone who wishes to get
into
macro photography is a book by John Shaw “Close-ups in Nature”. It
is
about $22 and I highly recommend this book. He covers anything and
everything
you need to know. Just about everything I will “touch” on I
learned
from his book or adapting from his book. That is one of the
things
so great about photography, you are suppose to be creative and
adapt
to situations.
Really
when it comes down to it, macro photography is just like any
other
photography. You want to control your lighting, fill the frame,
provide
interesting subject matter, and have tack sharp focus. As
previously
mentioned more times than not you will want to use the
largest
f-stop possible or close to the largest because of the
magnification
and filling the frame you want the subject to remain in
focus
throughout your film plane. As far as magnification goes, well,
this
can be achieved in several different ways. The first thing is you
need
to know about which your minimum working distance will be for a
given
subject. I take macro photographs of insects; most of them will
not
let me get to close so I need a long working distance not to spook
the
critters. This can be achieved through using extension tubes or one
of
the third party lenses like the 70-300 macro. Generally diopters
allow
you to focus at a shorter working distance so I would not
recommend
them for insects, although I do use them quite a bit. For
flowers
or plants I would really use diopters, or the 3rd party lens.
You
should begin to see these third party lenses offer a lot of
flexibility,
which means less crap to carry. Used extension tubes can
be
picked up at camera shows and shops. Bellows serve the same purpose,
they
are increasing the end of the lens to the film plane, and this
provides
magnification with an increased working distance. You can
reverse
lenses by buying special adapter, which will allow you to get
super
close and give great sharpness. You can use a regular lens with a
reversed
lens on it, which will give you huge magnifications. If you
have
a 200 mm lens with a reversed 50 mm on it then this will give you
4X
magnification not 1:4 (1/4) but 4X. That is a lot of magnification
to
be in the field, not to mention the amount of light lost.
Tips on
Focusing
It
is important to remember most of your macro shots will be at least
1:2
if not 1:1 or greater. Thus (1/2 life size or life size) there a
few
important rules for focusing at these magnifications. Always use
a
sturdy
tripod! This is a natural because most of your shots you will
use
a larger f-stop then you will use a slower shutter speed. Common
speeds
are like 1/60 1/30 and ¼ sec, so you can’t handhold your camera
and
get a crisp picture. This can’t even be achieved with canon’s image
stabilizer
system, even with those lenses you would still need a
tripod.
Moving around with a tripod in macro photography can be quite a
pain,
but be patient! Always parallel the film plane with the subject.
In
macro photography a mm here and a mm there can make the difference
between
a good photograph and a great photograph. If you parallel your
film
plane with the subject then you should get tack focus throughout
the
subject especially when combining this with a large f-stop.
If you
have
your subject at an angle to your film plane even a small bug 3 or 4
mm
long will have areas, which are not in focus. When photographing
insects
or other small animals use the 2/3 rule of composition and focus
on
the eye. So place the eye on a 1/3 intersection of the frame and
allow
the body to take up the rest of the film. Ask yourself what it is
you
want to show people that they usually do not take the time to
notice.
When I take macro photographs of insects I use my camera and
lens
to escape to another world. I try to go into a bug’s life and not
that
damn movie. For real you are magnifying and recording things you
rarely
ever pay attention to.
Lighting
and Film Speed
Lighting
is critical in macro photography. Often you are close to the
subject
matter and if shooting insects or bugs, it is not like they hang
out
in the bright sunshine. If you want to capture a moss or fern think
about
where these plants grow. Does sunlight readily penetrate a forest
canopy,
rarely, or at least not in the thick woods of Alabama. Not to
make
matters worse but you should be using a large f-stop. So, use a
tripod
and slow shutter with ambient light. You will want to use a slow
film
to show great detail. Generally the less grain in a film the
sharper
the detail. This is important when you begin magnifying
things.
I would recommend ISO 25, 50, or 64. Some of the 100 speed
film
is still pretty good, especially if you are shooting transparency
and
not prints. I often use Kodak Royal Gold 25, although I am
definitely
a FUJI-MAN! So you can use a flash to overcome some of these
barriers
but be careful, your flash will be close to the subject and you
want
your subject to appear naturally light not bombarded with a burst
of
photons. You do not need a powerful flash, actually the smaller the
better.
You are illuminating your subject, which is often less than
10-15”,
from your film. Now, if you own a TTL camera then invest in a
TTL
cord for your camera, for Nikon it is the SC-17 and it runs about
$50.
You can hold the flash anywhere you want the light to be. You can
buy
a cheap flash bracket and position the flash over your lens aimed at
the
subject. You could always buy a really unnecessary ring flash for
a
couple
of hundred dollars. Use what you have, the less money you spend
the
better. It is important to have a sync cord or TTL cord because if
you
are using a 300 mm macro lens your flash can’t ‘cover’ the lens at
the
short working distance you are using. You could build your own
bracket,
John Shaw calls this the “Butterfly Bracket”. Even lighting is
important,
when everything is magnified and your subject fills the frame
you
do not want any harsh shadows. One of the most important things you
could
do is test your camera with different film, understand your
camera’s
metering system, understand exposure, f-stops, shutter speeds,
focal
lengths, and composition. Once you have these fundamentals down
you
can attack any type of photography you like.
Some of
my favorite set ups:
Nikon
N70 with Sigma 70-300 mm macro lens. Sunpak dedicated flash with
SC-17
and Stroboframe bracket. I often use my 70-300 mm not set on
macro
but at minimum focusing distance or I use diopter lenses. I stack
my
lenses, like a 50 mm reversed on my 70-300. I also use a Canon AE-1
Program
with a cheap flash and a sync cord. I use a Vivitar Series 1
70-210
f3.5 one touch macro for this camera. You name it then try it,
but
I highly recommend John Shaw’s book.