Overview:
This site will introduce you to basic macro photography. Most of the
images on this site were taken with a Canon PowerShot S3. When
accessory lenses are needed, I typically use either a Raynox DCR-250 or
a Raynox MSN-202 close-up lens. I'll try to cover various lighting
techniques. Some of the images you'll see have obvious mistakes. I'll
offer suggestions to keep you from making the same mistakes. Since this
site is going to cover mainly basic macro-photography on a budget, I'll
try to show you how to get the most of the on-board flash. This means
that you'll see lots of different home-made flash diffusers.
A few quick notes:
If you have questions about the operation of the lenses
and/or cameras mentioned on this site, feel free to email me.
If you want to comment on the content that I currently
have (all constructive comments welcomed), please email me.
I've used relatively large images on this site. If you're
using a screen resolution of less than 1024x768, it will be very
frustrating to use this site. With the large, high resolution monitors
becoming more available and more affordable, this site would quickly be
unusable if I designed it for use at low resolution. Also, I know how
frustrating it is to have tiny images on photographic sites. If you are
unable to increase the screen resolution on your computer and are
really interested in the information on this site, download the Opera browser and set
the display size (zoom) to 70%.
Much of the information here may seem obvious to those who
are experienced photographers. This site is designed to help those who
are just getting started. It will show them the equipment and the
photographic results (both good and bad) from using various techniques.
The images of some of the spiders and such (must click
links to see) may be disturbing for young children. The images are
typically very detailed.
When learning this type of photography, you will take bad
photos. You may have to take 10, 20 maybe more to learn to photograph
certain types of objects. Don't give up. Too many people give up if
they can't get it right the first or second try. That type of attitude
will prevent them from doing great things. With digital cameras, there
is essentially no cost for bad photos. In time, you will get better.
If you're using a screen resolution of 1024x768, you may
want to use the F11 function to go to full screen mode. Hit the F11
button again to return to normal mode.
Monitor Calibration
If your monitor is properly
calibrated, you should be able to see a slight difference between
adjacent blocks below. In the second row, you should be able to read
"Basic Macro Photography" in each block. If you have a good quality,
properly calibrated monitor, you should be able to read it in the third
row also. You can use the controls on your monitor as well the software
supplied with your video card to make the adjustments. When making the
adjustments, try to get the left-most block absolutely black (not dark
gray) and try to get the right-most block absolutely white (as bright
as it can be). Before you make any adjustments, I strongly recommend
that you make notes of the current settings. For those who are not
computer savvy, it may be difficult to get back to your current
configuration if you don't know what they were.
Basic Equipment:
In this tutorial, you will see equipment that can be purchased on a
relatively small budget. If you have a budget that will allow you to
purchase top_of_the_line macro equipment with specialized flash
devices, very little of this will apply. Of course, you're welcome to
visit but this is intended for beginners and those with a tight budget.
Generally, the camera is
the most expensive piece of equipment. It's important to get a camera
with a relatively good lens, a good zoom factor (10-12x) and some way
to attach accessory lenses to the camera. Most digital cameras with a
zoom lens don't allow you to attach close-up lenses directly to the
lens so you must attach an adapter to the body of the camera. On this
camera, I use a LensMate adapter to attach
the various close-up lenses (browse the lens comparison images while on
their site). They connect to the camera with a bayonet type connector
and the other end has either 52mm or 58mm threads for accessories. Even
if you don't need accessory lenses, this adapter will protect the
fragile zoom lens assembly.
A note about super zoom
cameras... Super zoom cameras (generally those with 10x or higher zoom)
are not known for super high quality images. As with anything, when you
push technology to the limit, something is going to suffer. There are
always tradeoffs. For the non-pro photographer, the newer super zoom
cameras produce sufficiently high quality images for all but the most
demanding situations. For macro photography, the zoom helps you make
small objects larger. The close-up lenses allow you to focus closer,
but without significant zoom, the image of small objects may not be
large enough to be useful.
In the adapters below,
you should note that the interior of the barrel is black. If you buy an
adapter with a silver interior, you need to paint it black (flat
black). I purchased a cheap silver adapter for my other camera and all
of the images that were taken in bright light with the adapter in place
were washed out. After painting the interior black, it was much better.
The photo below shows most
of the lenses and adapters I'll be using in this tutorial. From left to
right...
This is a Raynox DCR-250
mounted in a 58mm Lensmate adapter. Since the lens has 43mm threads, I
had to use step-down rings to make it fit. The Raynox-supplied clip in
adapter worked well enough but I felt more comfortable with a threaded
mounting connection. This lens is suitable for relatively large
subjects (~3.5" maximum with the Canon S3). It can provide good
resolution for items 1/4" (~6mm) or smaller.
The next piece is
actually a cheap wide angle adapter (widely available on eBay). Many of
these adapters are in two pieces. The rear section of the lens can be
used as a macro lens. I believe that these were originally designed to
be used with camcorders which have a much lower resolution than most
digital cameras. For camcorders, this lens may have worked well enough.
For any sort of critical macro photography, the macro lens is virtually
useless. Of course, that's my opinion. I'll show the results with
several lenses later (including this one).
Just to the right of
the camera, you can see a simple close-up lens. These typically come in
sets that include +1, +2 and +4 diopter lenses. These are relatively
good for what they cost (~$30/set). This one is a +2 and it's the most
useful for the work I've done using this sort of lens. In a pinch, you
can stack the lenses to get closer to the subject (larger image in
frame) but the minor problems that you encounter with a single lens are
compounded when multiple lenses are stacked.
The large assembly in
the back is a 50mm lens attached to a Lensmate adapter using a macro
coupler ring (52mm male threads on both sides of the ring). The lens is
reversed (relative to the way it's normally used). This can work
relatively well but sometimes it's difficult to get the lens' diaphragm
to open fully. Since the lens is so long and the working distance
relatively short, it's difficult to get enough light (from the flash)
on the subject. This can be overcome by using a reflective type
enclosure which will be covered later.
Last but certainly not
least is the Raynox MSN-202
lens on another Lensmate adapter. This lens is suitable for very small
subjects. Something the size of a mosquito is near the maximum for this
lens. It's great for very tiny subjects (like the images of the mites
and the diamond phonograph stylus found on this site).
For someone just getting
started in macro photography, I'd recommend the Raynox DCR-250. It's
the best all-around lens of those shown. If you find you want to
photograph smaller items, the MSN-202 would be a great choice. If you
need to photograph relatively large items (up to ~2ft in length), the
close-up diopter lenses can do a relatively good job. They allow your
camera to focus closer than they are able with no close-up lens. With
all of the lenses, you can use the camera's zoom to vary the amount of
magnification.
Choosing the Best Setup:
When you need to photograph an object, you must make a few decisions.
These will determine the quality of the photos. When experimenting, you
need to take careful notes. This file will remind
you to note the most basic information. Use the 'click to print' button
for best results.
Choosing the correct
distance to the object is important. If possible, set the object at a
distance that's approximately in the middle of the range of focus for
the camera/lens you have. With small objects, you may have a problem
getting the object large enough in the photo. For example, if your
camera has only a 4x zoom and will not focus closer than 10 feet, a
relatively small object may be very tiny in the resulting photo. To
make the object larger, you'll have to get closer. Since the camera
won't focus closer, you'll need accessory lenses. The diopter lenses or
the dedicated macro close-up lenses will allow you to get closer to the
object which will make it larger in the photo. Various lenses will be
covered as you work your way through the site.
Lighting is very
important. If you have only a basic point and shoot type camera that
doesn't allow any manual adjustments (shutter speed, flash power...),
you'll have to try the various 'scene' settings to get the lighting
right. It is likely that you'll have to use a flash diffuser to prevent
dumping too much light on the center of the object. I'll cover many
types of diffusers. To adjust the light levels, you can adjust the
distance between the camera/flash and the object, you can adjust the
shutter time (when using long exposures) and you can change the
aperture (f-number) of the lens (smaller aperture, higher f-number =
less light, darker image). All of this is easier if you use the full
manual mode (if that's available on your camera).
You'll have to decide
whether to use the flash or not. There's no way to determine which is
best without trying both. Some objects work better with long exposure
times. Others work better with the flash (especially if your camera
employs noise reduction on all photos with long exposure time).
The background and work
surface are also important. You don't want the object to get lost in
the background. You also want the colors of the background to work well
with the object. Anything in the grayscale will generally be OK for the
background (assuming that the object is not mostly gray). Strong colors
must be selected carefully.
Flash Diffusers:
In the previous image, you may have noticed the plastic bag on the
adapter. The flash on most cameras is designed to illuminate subjects
at a fair distance from the camera. When doing macro work, the flash is
typically too bright. Most cameras can reduce the flash power when they
focus on close subjects but when the camera has a third-party close-up
lens on it, the camera may not compensate properly. The plastic bag
contains poly-fil material. It serves to diffuse the flash. It both
reduces the light reaching the subject as well as spreading the light.
There are many different types of home-made diffusers. I'll show you
several. In general, I'm not concerned about the appearance of the
camera or lenses. I use duct tape for all sorts of things (something I
learned from Red Green :) from holding the rubber port covers out of
the way of the port (as you can see that I've done on my camera) to
blocking light from the diffuser (well placed strips of tape can reduce
the output of the diffuser).
If you want to look and
sound more professional, use "gaffer's" tape instead of duct tape. It
has the same basic properties as duct tape except for the adhesive
(which is not supposed to transfer onto the surface to which the tape
is applied). I purchased a roll manufactured by Shurtape and it works
very well (strong and no sticky adhesive residue).
A note about 'macro'
photography... In the world of film cameras, the term macro applied to
photos that produced a life-size image on the film. Here I use the term
a little more loosely.
The next 3 photos show
how the flash functions with and without diffusers. All are with the
camera set to super macro (no close-up or accessory macro lens). I
don't like the super macro function on this camera because there is too
much barrel distortion (a rectangular object would have a shape similar
to an old wooden rain barrel). The first image has no diffuser. Here I
left the 58mm adapter in place. Normally, you would get some darkening
of the bottom of the image but not quite this bad. As you can see,
where the flash hit, the image is blown out (bright areas at/beyond the
maximum the camera can process).
Below, I used a 'bowl'
diffuser. For this type of diffuser, you simply cut a hole in a
styrofoam bowl so that it fits snuggly onto the adapter or lens barrel.
I press the back side of the adapter into the bowl to mark it. Cut it a
little smaller than needed and make a few relief cuts to allow it to
slide on. This prevents it from turning. As you can see, this is a
cumbersome diffuser. If you need to get the camera close to a surface
(to allow a low angle shot on a subject), it's difficult to do with
this diffuser.
In this next image, I used a
'can' diffuser. The results were essentially the same as the bowl
diffuser. The light is a little less diffused and the shadows more
intense but very good otherwise. This diffuser is probably a little
better overall because it more easily adjusted and more durable. When
using something like the Raynox DCR-250, this makes a good diffuser
because it projects a more concentrated beam, a little farther than the
bowl diffuser.
For those who want to see
the diffusers on the camera, your wait is over. You can change the
light output of the bowl type diffuser by rotating it (if you cut the
hole off-center as I've done). You should experiment to see what works
best for you.
This shows a more durable
version of the bowl diffuser. Sometimes, the relief cuts run making the
diffuser fit too loosely. Punching round holes (with a paper hole
punch) distributes the force and helps to prevent tearing. If you have
trouble with light leaking through the holes (I haven't as of yet), use
only relief cuts or use shorter relief cuts so the holes are closer to
the lens adapter. This also works. If/when the
diffuser gets loose or if it tends to slip off of the adapter tube,
wrap rubber bands around the tube at the point where you want to
diffuser to ride. Do not do this on a retracting lens barrel. The
rubber bands could cause damage to the lens mechanism.
I can't take credit for the
idea of the can type diffuser. I found something similar on a forum but
I can't remember where. The photographer had some sort of egg shaped
end on the can. Here I used a plastic container from Crystal Light Diet
Lemonade. To make the diffuser, I cut the top out of an aluminum soda
can and cut a slot in the back of the can so that the camera's flash
can fit into the can. Then I made some relief cuts in the Crystal Light
container and slid it over the can. There I fixed it in place with some
duct tape (fancy, ain't it?). I hold it on the camera with a rubber
band. Not having it firmly affixed to the camera is handy because you
can vary the light output by pushing the can to the side (at an angle
to the lens barrel).
When/if you build one of
these, you should use something to protect the camera's finish where
the flash goes into the can. I folded the edges of the can over but it
wasn't enough. The padding in the center of the diffuser is folded
paper towels (I told you this was macro on a budget). You can use
something better if you'd like.
If you look at the bottom of
the diffuser (top, as its oriented in the photo), you can see that it's
open (open to light). If the diffuser extends beyond the front of the
lens, this can cause lens flare. Use some opaque tape to cover the
bottom of the diffuser. When you make tear-away pieces for this
diffuser, fold the ends of the tape onto itself so it can not stick to
anything. It makes it easier to remove. The opening in the bottom of
the diffuser can be handy for some situations. The next two images were
shot with the bottom of the diffuser open. This was done without any
accessory lenses. The camera was set to super macro. There was lens
flare at the top of each photo but that part was cropped.
The photos above were taken
in relatively bright daylight conditions. They look as if they were
taken at night because a fast shutter speed and/or a small aperture was
used.
Depth of Field:
One of the most frustrating aspects of macro photography is the lack of
'depth of field'. The depth of field is the area of the photo from far
to near that's in sharp focus. At high magnification, the DOF is
significantly reduced. Sometimes it's better to use less magnification
(simply don't zoom in as much) and then crop the image. This first
photo was taken at high magnification. The full frame is just what you
see (the image was resized but not cropped). As you can see, the #3 is
in clear focus but little else is in focus. This would be OK if that's
all you were interested in but that's rarely the case.
This next image was taken
with the same setup as the previous image but I zoomed out and cropped
the resulting image. As you can see, much more is in focus.
To get more depth of field,
you need to use a higher F-number setting. For most digital cameras,
the highest available F-stop is F8.0. When you increase the F value,
you are shutting down the aperture in the lens of the camera. This
reduces the light hitting the image sensor. To get sufficient lighting,
you must either use extended shutter times or use a flash (or other
source of light). If you're photographing a still subject, extended
shutter times are OK. If you're photographing something that's moving
(even very slightly), then you need to use a flash to prevent blurring.
I shot the image above at
F8. The image below was taken at F3.5. The only change I had to make
was the flash output. I had to almost completely cover the front of the
can diffuser with tape to prevent blowing out the image. If you look at
the fuzzies along the top edge of the spool, you can see that fewer are
in sharp focus in the image shot at F3.5.
In the next image, you can
see the small poly-fil diffuser in three different positions. Each one
produces different results. The first produces the darkest image.
Moving it to a vertical position, you get more light on the subject. In
the full forward position, the difference is subtle but sometimes you
only need a subtle change to get the lighting just right. Of course,
intermediate positions cast varying amounts of light on the subject.
This is a very flexible diffuser. I use it more than any other.
Note: The image above is a
Flash graphic file. You can right-click to zoom in. Use your left mouse
button to navigate when zoomed in.
If you look at the glare on
the top of the plastic, the front of the metal housing and the lighting
on the top of the tube (in the images above and below), you can see
differences due to the difference in the angle of the diffuser.
For those who want to see
the stylus up close... click.
That photo was taken with the Canon S3. If you're really on a budget,
you can still take nice macros. This photo is of the same
subject but was taken with a camera (Olympus C-740) that you can buy
used for less than $100 on eBay. Both were taken with the MSN-202 lens
mounted on adapters made specifically for each camera.
A note about diffuser
materials... Some materials will cause a color shift and produce
inaccurate colors. To combat this, you can use the manual white-balance
to compensate. I'm not sure how many cameras allow white balance to be
used with the flash. My Olympus C-740 won't fire the flash when setting
the white balance. This one (Canon S3) will fire the flash to set the
white balance.
Below, you can see the
C-740 with the close-up lens. I use the same type of diffuser (bag of
poly-fil) on this camera. The wires go to a slave trigger that I use to
fire a larger flash.
Monopod/Distance Gauge:
When photographing small critters that are on the move, it's difficult
to get the camera to focus (particularly at high magnification) because
it's difficult to find the small range in which the camera can focus.
To make it easier to focus quickly, I rigged the following monopod (of
sorts). I set the camera to manual focus and set the focus in the
middle of its range. I then cut the rod to a length that would position
the camera at that distance from the surface. When I set the rod on the
surface of a specimen (generally very small - less than 5mm), the
camera can focus very quickly. The tape is on the end to prevent
slipping on hard smooth surfaces. The rubber band holds the rod in the
hole I drilled in the tripod shoe (this didn't affect the operation of
the shoe). The rod fits loosely. This works well when you need to
fine-tune the area of focus without moving the rod on the surface. You
can wedge your fingers between the rod and the lens adapter barrel to
stabilize the camera.
Below, you can see a
variation on the idea. I've clamped a small ruler between the camera
body and the tripod shoe. Notice that this is the MSN-202 lens which
has relatively high magnification. I use it when photographing small
creatures. The fact that it's easily adjustable (loosen shoe and slide
ruler) makes it easy to adjust to insects of various heights. Remember,
at high magnification, you have a very shallow depth of field and
therefore, the working distance is very critical. To photograph an
individual that's only ~1mm high, you have to clamp the ruler in one
position. For those insects with long legs, you have to extend the
ruler slightly so that the camera can focus on the insect's body.
Sometimes, if only a very slight adjustment is necessary, you can tilt
the camera a little forward or backward and get the proper distance to
allow the camera to focus. With the solid rod shown above, stabilizing
the camera was only necessary 'sometimes'. With this flexible ruler,
you MUST hold your fingers between the ruler and the lens adapter
barrel to stabilize the camera.
Notes:
Both of the previous images are larger than shown here.
Drag the image to the address bar of the browser to see it full sized.
You may have to tell the browser not to automatically resize the image.
The images above show you the approximate working distance
for the Raynox DCR-250 and MSN-202 lenses on this camera.
Color Cast from Surroundings:
When photographing items that have to be color-correct, you need to be
aware of your surroundings. It's best to have surroundings with neutral
coloring (gray to white). If the surroundings include barriers or
objects with intense colors, they can affect the color of the object
you're photographing. In the next example, you can see that the watch
on the left is silver/gray as it should be. The one on the right has a
distinct pink cast to it. This was due to the flash bouncing off of an
object several inches out of the frame (on the right).
Extended Exposure:
Earlier, I mentioned using long exposure times to compensate for a lack
of light (particularly when using small apertures). This typically
requires the use of a tripod and the timer on your camera. Since no
tripod is infinitely rigid, you will move the camera slightly when you
press the shutter button. Using the timer delays the opening of the
shutter and allows you to remove your hand from the camera before the
shutter opens.
When you set a tripod to
the desired height, there are two ways to do it. You can use the small
adjustable riser column or you can adjust the legs to something between
all out or all in. It's best to have the riser column at its lowest
position to provide the best stability. If it's difficult to get just
the right height, you can set the leg height just under the desired
height then use only a short length of the column for fine adjustment
of the height. For many tripods, the riser is so weak that the camera
will shake significantly from something as simple as pressing the
shutter button. If you have a heavy camera on a weak tripod, it's
possible that the camera will continue moving even after the 2 second
delay timer.
Light Sources:
When using a light source other than the flash or daylight, you will
likely find that the light source is causing the image to be too green
(fluorescent lights) or too red (incandescent lights). For film
cameras, you could buy special film or use filters to compensate.
Digital cameras typically have a 'white balance' function that corrects
for the type of lighting you're using. Generally, to set the white
balance for the lighting you have, you aim the camera at a white or
gray surface and press the white balance button. From that point on,
until your camera's settings are reset, the camera will compensate for
the lighting you have. The following photo was taken under fluorescent
lighting. The left image was taken with the white balance set to
daylight/flash. The image on the right was taken under the same
lighting but the white balance was set to compensate for the
fluorescent lighting.
Influence of Ambient Lighting:
Since ambient lighting and shutter times were mentioned, now may be a
good time to discuss the influence of ambient lighting when using a
flash. In general, the flash will swamp-out any ambient light sources
but there are exceptions. If you have bright room lighting and are not
using a diffuser, the influence of ambient light may become apparent in
the shadow areas. This can be avoided/lessened in several ways. A
diffuser is an obvious solution. If your camera allows for manual
control, set the shutter speed as high as the camera will allow. On the
S3, it's 1/500 of a second. With the higher shutter speed, the shadows
will be darker but at least they won't be orange or green (depending on
the ambient light source) .You can also use a reflective enclosure to
bounce more light into the areas which would otherwise have shadows. In
the following image, you can see that the left of the photo has a green
tint (from fluorescent lighting) and the right of the photo has a red
tint (from incandescent lighting). Here I had the camera set to 1/40 of
a second with no diffuser. That's a slower than normal shutter speed
but it helps to show you that ambient lighting can have undesired
effects on a photograph. If your camera doesn't allow for manual
adjustment, set it to a sports mode. That should set the shutter speed
higher. If your camera also sets the ISO rating higher in sports mode,
you may end up with noisy/grainy photos. Try to find a setting that
will allow high shutter speed and low ISO settings.
White Balance Failure:
Auto white balance often fails if there is no white in the photo. In
the following photo, you can see a 'yellow' plastic cap (supplied with
the Lensmate adapters to serve as a dust cap). The image on the left
was taken using a white piece of paper to set the white balance. The
center and right images were taken using the auto white balance. In the
center image, there are no white or gray areas for the camera to use as
a reference. In the right image, there is a white background and the
silver clip holding the cap. The camera could use either as a reference
to get the balance correct (as it did on the right).
Proper Exposure:
When photographing an object, you need to get proper exposure. In
general, this means that all of the object is exposed well enough to
see the details of the entire object. For some objects, this is easier
than others. The images below were photographed with the camera set to
manual. They were exposed for 0.2, 0.4, 0.8 and 1.6 seconds each under
normal room lighting. The first photo is obviously under-exposed. The
details of the face of the watch are completely lost. Even using
software, there is virtually no way to enhance the photo to anything
remotely acceptable.
The next photo may be
considered to be under-exposed by some but it's salvageable if you want
to lighten it slightly. Looking at the watchband, you can see the
texture of the surface of the band virtually throughout the image. The
face, while a bit dark, has pretty good detail. In this photo, you
could selectively lighten the face and have a usable photo. When the
fine details are important, like the texture of the metal surface, you
have to capture them in the image. Brightness, contrast and sharpness
can all be modified but if you don't capture the important fine details
of the object, there's little that you can do to recover them.
The face of the watch below
is better than those above but the band is somewhat blown out (some
fine detail lost). You can see the texture in very few areas. If you
had an object like this to photograph and you couldn't get a single
perfect photo, you could use a program like Photoshop to combine the
best parts of each.
While some may think this is
the best image because it's the brightest, it's actually very bad.
There are too many blown out areas to consider this to be a good
quality image.
The following image has been
"shop'd" (edited in Photoshop). I cut and pasted the face of #3 onto
the band of #2. This resulting image could be considered to be a
relatively decent photograph. Of course, if this would have been
professionally done, there would be no reflections in the watch crystal
as I have here. This is what the photo can
look like when a little more time is spend trying to get it
perfect.
Compressed 'air' dusters can be good for
cleaning some devices but I'd warn against using them to clean your
camera. If you use these to blow out the connectors and such on your
camera, you may force dust inside the camera body. There's no guarantee
that the electrical connectors provide an air-tight seal. If you blow
dust into the camera body, it could end up on the sensor or on the
inside of the lens. If you apply too much pressure to sensitive
diaphragms (used for microphones or speakers), they could be fractured.
Either type of damage will require that you send the camera to a
service center for repair. It's unlikely to be covered by any warranty.
If you want to use it to clean the close-up lenses before attaching
them to your camera, that would be safe.
When the can is full or near full, you must keep the can
vertical. If you tilt it, you may dispense liquid which can damage the
surface of the lenses or even injure bystanders. The chemical used in
most dusters can be used as a refrigerant and is VERY cold as it boils
off at atmospheric pressure. If you're unsure how far you have to tilt
it to dispense liquid, aim the can in a safe direction and begin
spraying while increasing the angle of the can.
You should know that some of these products have
additives that deter their use as inhalants. It appears that some of
these additives are flammable. This is only a danger when liquid is
dispensed.
Further Softening the Flash:
I don't know if you've noticed but many product images taken by
professionals have no shadow around the objects being photographed.
This can be accomplished in several ways. The simplest is to construct
a reflective enclosure. Below, you can see that I've taken an ordinary
shipping box and folded it inside-out. It's not folded precisely as
designed because it worked better the way I have it here (it would have
been much smaller if folded correctly).
As you can see, there is
virtually no shadow around the objects. What little shadow you see is
very soft.
Comparing the image above to
the one we showed you previously, you can see that the shadows are much
less significant. The diffuser alone does a good job but having the
objects inside a reflective enclosure makes the photo even better (if
you define better as having fewer/softer shadows).
Above I mentioned that there
was at least one more way to reduce the shadows. Many professionals use
a slave flash mounted under the table on which they place their
objects. The table is translucent so the flash fires through it. Since
the objects are lit from the bottom, there is virtually no chance that
they'll have a shadow.
Close-Up Lens Comparison: This page shows the
difference in the images from 4 different close up lenses. When you go
to the individual pages, the images will be large but only a fraction
of their true size. Follow the instructions near the bottom of the page
to see them full size. When displayed actual size, you'll have to
scroll to the center of the image.
For those who don't
recognize this bit of ancient technology, the device is a magnetic
phono cartridge. For a size reference, the end of the tube in which the
stylus is mounted is less than 0.024" wide (~0.6mm). I used it because
I knew that it had a small, precisely made stylus.
Diffuser Comparison Shots: This page shows you several
images taken with a +4 diopter lens and either a can-type diffuser or a
bowl-type diffuser. I offer my opinion on the various images but you
can decide for yourself which you think are the best.
Other Styrofoam Diffusers: This page shows different
ways to use the bowl diffuser and a styrofoam cup as a diffuser. These
and others can be found on various sites on the internet. As always,
you should experiment to see what works best for your equipment and
subject.
Shooting Flowers:
Ok, I'll admit that I don't really like taking photos of flowers. It's
too much like art. I'm much more interested in the technical side of
photography. To show you a few different results with flowers, I put
together this page.
Photographing Coins:
This is a basic introduction to photographing coins. There are many
ways to get good images. Here I'll show you a few
examples with various lighting and backgrounds.
Basic Jewelry Photography:
Most of the tutorials on the internet show jewelry photography skewed
towards the use of a particular product. On this page, I'll show you how
to get reasonably good photos for minimal cost. The first images look
really bad due to poor lighting choices. As the page progresses, the
quality of the photos gets better.
Miniature Clamshell Stage: This page shows you a few
images taken in a clamshell stage comprised of 2 styrofoam soup bowls.
This is the same stage/setup used for the jewelry page.
Dark Images:
I often take photos that may seem a bit under-exposed. This is done to
preserve detail in the brightest areas. If you have areas that are
blown out, that information (what the surface looked like) is forever
lost and unrecoverable. If you get the exposure just right (which may
initially seem a bit dark), you can edit the image and make it
brighter. Many times, the best way to change the brightness of a well
exposed image is through the 'curves' function of the editing software.
If it has no curves function, use the gamma and contrast to get the
image to your liking. Here, the gamma and curves images are a bit
different but that's because I didn't take the time to match them
perfectly. They are both acceptable to me.
This dialog box is from IrfanView. A program I use a
lot to crop, resize and make minor changes in images. This program
allows you to adjust the gamma and contrast. It shows you the
difference and, when you are happy with the results, you can apply the
changes to the original.
This dialog box is from the GIMP (a free image editor
similar to Photoshop). To adjust the curves, you grab a point on the
diagonal line and move it. Grabbing the center of the line and moving
it slightly to the upper left corner of the box is often all that's
needed to make significant improvements. Here I needed to move it a
little higher on the line. When you adjust the curves, you have two
sets of levels displayed. The vertical grayscale bar is the output
value. The bottom grayscale bar has two sections. The bottom half is
the full spectrum. The top half shows the new values. Here, you can see
what was a medium brightness is now brighter. The top and bottom of the
scale are not changed (as you would have if you used a 'brightness'
adjustment).
This is the beginning of a
tutorial for the GIMP software. If you follow this link, you will learn
other ways to
Inexpensive Light Table Using Flash Units:
I mentioned that some photographers partially light the objects from
the bottom. This page shows a cheap
light table with a relatively inexpensive flash. This one uses an even less
expensive setup.
Inexpensive Light Table Using CFLs:
The previous light tables use flash units for lighting. This one
uses constant lighting supplied by Daylight Balanced Compact
Fluorescent Lamps.
Shooting on a Glass Stage:
Sometimes, you want a background that's a little different. You can use
a piece of plate glass and a few pieces of colored material to produce
some reasonably nice looking backgrounds. Here are a few
photos with different color backgrounds.
Image Stabilization:
Many cameras are equipped with image stabilization. In most all cases,
the image stabilization is only to reduce camera shake. At this point
in time, I don't know of any IS systems that compensate for the
movement of the subject.
Focus Area:
When an auto-focus camera focuses for the photograph, it can use
multi-point focus or spot focus. For the photos I generally take, I use
spot focusing. Multi-point focusing is generally for scenes where there
is no central point of focus (landscape vs portrait).
Manual Auto Focus:
Many times, you'll try to focus on one particular point of an object
but the auto focus continuously focuses on a different part of the
subject. For those instances, you can allow the camera to focus and
then move the camera forwards or backwards until the point of interest
is in sharp focus. It may take a few wasted shots to get it right but
it does work.
Macro Focus Rack/Rail:
When working at very high magnification, depth of field is very thin
and therefore, focus must precise to obtain the photo you desire. For
specialized macro work, you can use a focus rack. It mounts on a tripod
(the camera mounts on the rack) and allows very precise movement
towards and away from the subject. Some even allow for lateral
adjustment.
Heat Produced by Flash:
It's important that you never allow anything to be in contact with the
lens of the flash when it fires. From my experience, it's possible to
permanently scar the lens as the contaminant burns (when the flash
fires).
Chromatic Aberration:
Chromatic Aberration is seen as colored fringing in an image. It
typically occurs near the corners of the image and is most obvious
where light objects meet dark objects. If you visited the section of
the site where I displayed the sample images from various lenses, you
should remember that one lens had particularly poor focus. The same
lens is also plagued with CA. This
is the thumbnail from the photo. Even in this small image you can see
the problem clearly. This
is what it should look like.
Photographing Live Insects: This
page may help you if you're trying to photograph insects in a
controlled environment. This is a work in progress so if you care to
provide feedback, please email me.
I am not a professional entomologist/arachnologist. If
there are mistakes in the identification of any individual or in the
information provided, I would greatly appreciate it if you would email me to let me know what is incorrect.
I'm not a professional photographer. If you have
suggestions that will help me to improve this site, please email me.
You are free to use the images on this site for non-profit,
educational purposes. If you want to use them for commercial projects,
please contact me.
Virtually all identification of the individuals on this
site were obtained from the BugGuide.net site. It's a
great site that's maintained and staffed by volunteers. They do a great
job.
If you're
interested in electronics or car audio, you may be interested in my car audio site. It has lots of graphics and
covers virtually everything associated with car audio.
If you are having
trouble using a personal computer, the Basic Computer
Operation site may be of interest.
