For those of you that do macro photography, I am trying to improve my macro photography. I have the Z MC 105mm f/2.8 and the Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6. I am curious what settings (aperture and speed) that give you the best results.
Macro Photography
- Thread starter jerrylwatson
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Hi Jerry - that's a good topic.
The lenses you mention are excellent for both macro and close ups. Macro is generally considered to be half of life size and more magnification. Close ups are normally 1/6 to 1/2 of life size. Your 105mm lens at minimum focus distance can give you 1:1 magnification - a 35mm wide subject fills a 35mm sensor. The 100-400 at 400mm and closest focus distance gives you around 0.25 magnification so a 140mm wide subject fills a 35mm sensor. These are rough terms - and we normally lump the two together.
Also consider Wide Angle close ups - photos of plants or animals with a wide angle lens to incorporate their environment or other aspects of the surrounding area. Wide angle lenses have amazing close up capability.
There are a couple of big differences between close up and macro photography compared to normal photos. Because of the high magnification, sharpness is important - especially the focal point of your subject and the near side of the subject. I the front of your subject is blurry or soft, it can be very noticeable. You also may want to use a tripod - especially with slower shutter speeds. Wind can be an issue and causing small amounts of motion that are hard to manage. Keep your shutter speed up or make sure you have no movement.
Because you are so close to your subject, depth of field is tiny. As a result, you may find yourself needing to use much higher apertures than normal. While you can't avoid the impact of a little lost resolution, depth of field can be more important. You can also stack multiple images - but that's not the only technique. High apertures may make it harder to maintain an adequate shutter speed, so you may need supplemental light like flash or reflectors.
This is a wide angle close up with a 14-30 lens. The photo was made from under the columbine blossoms to include the sky and trees.
Photographing small subjects also places more importance on the background than some other photos. longer macro lenses and long focal lengths like the 100-400mm lens can produce give you the ability to pick your background - color, shadow, or even a manmade background.
The background here is the cover of a reflector.
Finally - you need to think about the difference between photographing things and making artistic photos. Your photo does not need to represent the thing - and it can be better if the subject is unrecognizable. But you can also render things in exceptional detail.
This is a thistle seed covered with dew and caught in a spider web. The background is simply a shadow.
Some of the best macro work I've seen comes from Mike Moats. he has a host of information - and a Macro Club that is worth supporting. Moats specializes in macro and close up photography - and uses gear everyone can afford. Also take a look at the work of Nikon ambassador Joey Terrill. He does amazing things with lighting and ordinary household items. Joey likes to talk about creating images with ordinary items that are hard to recognize as being ordinary items.
The lenses you mention are excellent for both macro and close ups. Macro is generally considered to be half of life size and more magnification. Close ups are normally 1/6 to 1/2 of life size. Your 105mm lens at minimum focus distance can give you 1:1 magnification - a 35mm wide subject fills a 35mm sensor. The 100-400 at 400mm and closest focus distance gives you around 0.25 magnification so a 140mm wide subject fills a 35mm sensor. These are rough terms - and we normally lump the two together.
Also consider Wide Angle close ups - photos of plants or animals with a wide angle lens to incorporate their environment or other aspects of the surrounding area. Wide angle lenses have amazing close up capability.
There are a couple of big differences between close up and macro photography compared to normal photos. Because of the high magnification, sharpness is important - especially the focal point of your subject and the near side of the subject. I the front of your subject is blurry or soft, it can be very noticeable. You also may want to use a tripod - especially with slower shutter speeds. Wind can be an issue and causing small amounts of motion that are hard to manage. Keep your shutter speed up or make sure you have no movement.
Because you are so close to your subject, depth of field is tiny. As a result, you may find yourself needing to use much higher apertures than normal. While you can't avoid the impact of a little lost resolution, depth of field can be more important. You can also stack multiple images - but that's not the only technique. High apertures may make it harder to maintain an adequate shutter speed, so you may need supplemental light like flash or reflectors.
This is a wide angle close up with a 14-30 lens. The photo was made from under the columbine blossoms to include the sky and trees.
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
Photographing small subjects also places more importance on the background than some other photos. longer macro lenses and long focal lengths like the 100-400mm lens can produce give you the ability to pick your background - color, shadow, or even a manmade background.
The background here is the cover of a reflector.
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
Finally - you need to think about the difference between photographing things and making artistic photos. Your photo does not need to represent the thing - and it can be better if the subject is unrecognizable. But you can also render things in exceptional detail.
This is a thistle seed covered with dew and caught in a spider web. The background is simply a shadow.
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
Some of the best macro work I've seen comes from Mike Moats. he has a host of information - and a Macro Club that is worth supporting. Moats specializes in macro and close up photography - and uses gear everyone can afford. Also take a look at the work of Nikon ambassador Joey Terrill. He does amazing things with lighting and ordinary household items. Joey likes to talk about creating images with ordinary items that are hard to recognize as being ordinary items.
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Great explanation Eric. Thank you!
I must say that this is exceptionally interesting and exciting.
I will be sure to check out and support Mike Moats and to check out Joey Terrill.
Many thanks
I will be sure to check out and support Mike Moats and to check out Joey Terrill.
Many thanks
@EricBowles - love that photo of the bellworts.
@jerrylwatson Depending on what I'm shooting, I usually find between F8 and F16 to be the best due to the extremely shallow depth of field when shooting close focus and/or macro. I try to keep the shutter speed up. Even though my camera has IBIS and my macro lens is only 100mm also with IS, I really try to keep shutter speed 1/640 or preferably higher.
When shooting flowers, I try to have the center of the flower in focus. When doing close focus on a number of flowers or a grouping of objects together, the one closest to the lens should be unfocus. The exception would be if something farther back in the image is the subject and the blurry foreground elements are part of the framing.
with insects, spiders and other small creatures, I prefer to, as with any wildlife photography, have the nearest eye to the camera in focus.
With things like water drops, it depends on the subject, if the water drop and what is "dripping from" is the subject, then have the drop itself in critical focus, if it is the reflection in the drop (or bubble) then the reflection should be in focus. etc.
Macro is fun. For me, it slows me down, and encourages me to see things I would never have see if I were doing any other type of photography.
Here is an example of a crab spider I saw a couple weeks back. Had my wife and I not been out with doing macro shots, I most likely would have walked right by this tiny one.
@jerrylwatson Depending on what I'm shooting, I usually find between F8 and F16 to be the best due to the extremely shallow depth of field when shooting close focus and/or macro. I try to keep the shutter speed up. Even though my camera has IBIS and my macro lens is only 100mm also with IS, I really try to keep shutter speed 1/640 or preferably higher.
When shooting flowers, I try to have the center of the flower in focus. When doing close focus on a number of flowers or a grouping of objects together, the one closest to the lens should be unfocus. The exception would be if something farther back in the image is the subject and the blurry foreground elements are part of the framing.
with insects, spiders and other small creatures, I prefer to, as with any wildlife photography, have the nearest eye to the camera in focus.
With things like water drops, it depends on the subject, if the water drop and what is "dripping from" is the subject, then have the drop itself in critical focus, if it is the reflection in the drop (or bubble) then the reflection should be in focus. etc.
Macro is fun. For me, it slows me down, and encourages me to see things I would never have see if I were doing any other type of photography.
Here is an example of a crab spider I saw a couple weeks back. Had my wife and I not been out with doing macro shots, I most likely would have walked right by this tiny one.
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
StefanSC
Well-known member
My defaults are 1/500s and f8.
But most of the time I'll use anything between wide opened and f16 and 1/60th to 1/3200th, depending on what I am trying to achieve.
Remember: what results you want to achieve determine the best settings to use, not the other way...