Tutorial: Macro tips and techniques of DSLR users

[LordV]

These posts are just how I do macro shots, they are not necessarily the only way to do them. You need to find techniques amd methods that work for you.

1. Equipment
I use a canon 300D or 20D DSLR with a Sigma 105mm EX macro lens. From the pictures I have seen around nearly all the fixed focal length 1:1 macro lenses from 50mm to 180mm are capable of giving excellent results, but remember the shorter the focal length, the shorter the minimum focus distance.My lens gives me only 4.5" from the front of the lens to the subject when at minimum focus distance and hence maximum magnification. I normally use a flash unit with this (Sigma 500 Super DG) which is mounted on a flash bracket. A picture of the rig can be seen here-




The last item is a softbox type diffuser necessary to reduce the harshness of flash. Dedicated macroflash units can obviously also be used but care has to be taken as they can give rather flat looking shots as the lighting is very even. Lastly, although not a necessity I also have a remote shutter button which I attach to the back of the flash bracket. The reason for this is to try and prevent camera motion blur as I found I was slightly rotating the camera when pressing the normal shutter button.
For increased magnification I sometimes fit a reversed 50mm lens (old Pentax Kmount lens) to the front of my macro lens. This lens is nearly wide open and the focus is set to infinity. This increases the maximum magnification to about 2.8:1 on my system but gives a DOF of about 0.5 mm and a minimum focus distance of about 1.5cms from the front of the reversed lens. I fit the lens onto my macro lens using a tube made out of duct tape and cardboard tube. I have since changed this and now use a closeup lens I obtained from the front of an old 35-135mm zoom lens- I again use a tube to attach it to the front of my macro lens made out of camping mat.



Since I started using extension tubes to take the magnification upto 2:1, I needed something to help stabilise the camera during shots. My solution is shown here-







[EDIT] I have now acquired an MPE-65 macro lens which is a totally dedicated macro lens. Maximum focus distance is 4" for 1:1 but it "zooms" up to 5:1 magnification with a focus distance of 1.6" from the front of the lens.
Pics of the new rig here-
www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/154297458/
www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/154297457/

Just made up a quick and dirty diffuser for a camera mounted external flashgun for macro shots- can see details in the following pics
www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/201782131/
www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/201782132/
www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/201782133/

A simpler diffuser for a camera mounted flash gun
www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/248177806/

New coca- cola can diffuser for bracket mounted flash here-
www.flickr.com/groups/macroviewers/discuss/72157594312315...

2. Camera Settings

I normally shoot with manual focus and the camera set in manual mode, ISO100-200 aperture F11-F13, shutter around 1/160th-1/200th (1/200th is the highest sync speed for my camera) and the flash in ETTL mode (Canon's advanced TTL mode). The reason for these settings is basically to get good Depth of Field (DOF). On my flash I have the built in wide angle diffuser deployed as well as using my homemade softbox diffuser.
For a slightly more natural look you can try upping the IS0 to say 200 and changing the shutter speed/ aperture unti the manual settings give only a 1/3 or 2/3 stop underexposure and then still use the flash.
For fully natural light shots upto 1:1 magnification I tend to use ISO 400, F8-F11, 1/120th- 1/200th in either Av or Tv mode depending quite what I'm shooting.

When shooting above 1:1 I've found that I need to increase the aperture to achieve good detail because diffraction softening kicks in as you up the magnification. Currently my settings tend to be
1:1 2:1 3:1 4:1 5:1
F11 F9 F8 F7.1 F6.3

Flash Exposure compensation (FEC)
When using ETTL flash regularly for macro shots, you tend to find a FEC setting (on flash or on camera but not both) that gives you pretty good results most of the time. For my normal settings with my coca-cola can diffuser this is about +.33 FEC on my 430EX. After a while you begin to notice that in certain situations this can lead to overexposure or under exposure of the subject. This happens when the background is predominantly either very dark (leads to over-exposure) or very light (leads to underexposure). I've now got in the habit of changing the FEC in these situations, so for a very dark background I reduce the FEC by about .66 to -.33 Fec and for very light situations, I increase the FEC by about .66 to + 1 FEC. This gives much better exposure of the subject.

3. Technique.
I preset the focus at the required magnification level. Focusing on the subject is then achieved by gently moving your whole body back and forth and shooting as you pass through the focus point.
This sounds a bit hit and miss, but when I first started I found about 8 out 10 shots were not in focus using this method and a lot of practice I'm now up at about 8 out of 10 shots with the focus where I want.
You can on my camera, part hold the shutter button half in and it lights up a focus point and beeps as the subject comes in focus.
I have two methods for approaching subjects. The first most obvious one is to slowly move in on them trying not to block any light on them, I have most success doing this if I am either level or slightly below the subject.
The second method is to stay near where you have seen the subjects and wait for them to come to you. This often works even when you have scared the subject off in the first place.

4 Image processing.
I am certainly no expert at this, but this is what I normally do.
I shoot in RAW format so have to use a software conversion utility to change them to JPG. I most frequently use Canon's own DPP software set to max sharpening. I also at this stage correct any exposure problems normally not more than + - half a stop.
I use focus magic Photoshop plugin to further sharpen the pics at level 2 and lastly sometimes use Paul's Velvia action to enrich the colour.If I have significantly cropped the picture during processing ,then I frequently use neat-image (freeware version)to reduce the noise.
Only other thing worth mentioning is focus stacking. I frequently take several pictures of the same subject at different focus depths and then use the freewaware programme combinez5 to automatically stitch them together. This seems to work about 50% of the time for handheld shots.

5. Finding the Insects.
All of my shots (so far) have been taken in my garden. I have two ponds and a lot of shrubs. I have not used insectacide for many years. This seems to result in a lot of bugs around!
One unexpected advantage I may have is one of my other hobbies is bonsai trees.
These are great for taking insects on as you can sit down plus if the insect goes into an arkward position, simply turn the tree around
Hoverflies seem to like many of the shrub/perennial flowers including Hebes, Rhodadendrons and Fennel.
The seed pods on several of my rhodadendrons seems to produce sap at their bases which attracts many insects.
Here's some pics of my garden to give you an idea.
www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/148889424/

www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/148886380/
www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/148886378/
www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/148886376/
www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/148886375/

[LordV]

6. Cross-eye sterograms.

They are in fact easy to do.
basically you take one shot of the subject and then move the camera sideways approx 1/30th of the subject distance (for macro shots this around 1-2cms) and take another pic. For flowers I use a tripod to do this and just move the tripod but you could do it on a macrostage if you have one.
You may need to recentre the subject after moving. Take the shots into PS and crop and align them - I normally crop one, copy it and paste it on the other and adjust the opacity of the layer so I can see both shots- and crop around the layer- then delete the layer.
You can then check the stereo content by putting the pics side by side- remember to create a cross-eye stereogram you have to swap over the L&R pics as taken so they are on R & L side. You can in fact do all of this in a neat piece of freeware called stereophotomaker (just google for it). It's handy to have a pair of anaglyph glasses for this (those coloured stereo pic viewer glasses).
Frequently when I'm doing flower closeup shots I also use focus stacking to increase the focus depth. This just means I take several shots to cover the focal depth of the subject for each half of the stereo pic and then use combinez5 (again freeware) to stack the images before starting the alignment process above.

The more aligned you make the shots (size, rotation and vertical alignment) the easier they are to view and the less likely to give you a headache trying.
The other "rule" which I frequently break is that if you imagine you are looking at the 3-D picture through a window (the frame around the edge) you should not have any objects touching the frame as this makes it difficult to view. You are allowed to have things coming through the window as long as they don't touch the sides. You adjust this apparent behind the window depth in stereophotomaker but it's to do with the pic spacing and view overlap.
If you can actually view the pictures they are great fun to do yourself.
Brian V.

[LordV]

Focus stacking is simply used to increase the DOF in a picture which can be a major problem in taking macro shots. It is done by taking a series of picures of the subject from the same point of view but at different focus depths covering the area you want in focus. This is achieved either by moving the camera or by using the focus ring. It is best done on a tripod but can be done handholding as long as the FOV is reasonably consistent.
I use the freeware Programme combinez5 to do this available from here
http://www.hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder..../combinez5.htm
Version above handles upti 8mps images version below handles 10mps images
http://www.hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder....al/Install.htm
First a series of three pics to be stacked- notice how the focus point is slightly different in each shot- I tend to start with the nearest point and move in.






It is important you do not do any cropping before focus stacking as the programme will only accept pics of equal size.
Now the hard bit
Run combinez5 and open up the file load dialogue and choose the pics to be stacked

Once loaded Simply tell it to stack them

It then works away re-aligning, colour and contrast matching and resizing, picks the in Focus bits apparently on a pixel by pixel basis and hopefully will produce a clean focus stacked image.

Finally producing the stacked image

It's just then a matter of saving the file using the Save Frame/Picture As dialogue.
Sometimes if the pictures were not that well aligned you will get odd effects around the borders which obviously need cropping. You may also get haloing around high contrast edges - this requires some careful cloning and healing brush in PS to remove.
Brian V.

[LordV]

There are several ways to try some macrophotography shots with a DSLR without splashing out on a new macro lens.
A Lenses

1. Reversing the kit lens or other lens around 35mm to 70mm focal length.
This can be done quite successfully just holding the lens. Fit the lens normally on the camera switch it on and in Av mode set the aperture to F8. Then Hold down the DOF preview button and press the lens release and remove the lens. If you have a camera body cap and rear lens cap fit these for a moment.
Switch the camera to manual mode and set 1/200th, F8 and flip up the on camera flash. Set the lens to say 50mm and focus on minimum. Take the caps off an hold the lens in reverse against the camera body and focus on the subject by moving the camera (focus point 1or 2 inches in front of the lens) when you get a sharp image in the viewfinder press the shutter. You can try this with a variety of focal lengths set on the lens but the lower the focal length the higher the magnification and the closer the focus point will be. Also try setting the lens on infinity focus and see the difference in magnification.
You can buy camera body reversing rings to do this which screw into the lens filter and attach the lens properly to the camera body.
Test shots using this method of the mm scale on a ruler

Shot of a window gnat at about 3:1 with the reversed kit lens


2. If you have two lenses in the range 40mm to 200mm, you can attach the larger lens to the camera body and then reverse the other lens onto the front of the body lens. The reversed lens is set at max aperture and infinity focus. You can attach them with a bit of ingenuity using tubes made up of dense foam or butyl rubber or such like but care needs to be taken that the attached lens does not fall off. Again you can buy reverse lens couplers to match the filter threads of both lenses.
Using a reversed lens like this the camera can be used in Tv,Av or M modes and focus is achieved again by moving the camera body rather than playing with focus rings.
The magnification gained is focal length main lens/focal length reversed lens.

3. Get a set of extension tubes. In the UK Jessops ext tubes are good value otherwise a set of Kenko tubes. Note that Kenko tubes do not work with APS-C 1.6 crop only lenses (the Jessops ones do).
Again use Av, Tv or M mode and focus using the focus ring but you will lose infinity focus.
Magnification gained is length of tubes/ focal length of lens.

4. Dioptre lens filters
You can get sets of dioptre filters to fit on the front of lenses. Unless you get the fairly expensive Nikon or canon filters they tend to suffer from chromatic aberrations. I have no experience of using these apart from using the front element of an old zoom lens I had which worked rather nicely as a + 20 dioptre lens.

[LordV]

Basic rules when approaching bugs.

1. Move slowly in with no sudden movements- I often take shots as I move in so I get something at least before the bug flies off.

2. Do not block any natural light falling on the bug

3.I tend to prefocus the lens to the magnification I want so I don't have my hand near the focus ring

4.Keep low- either parallel or lower than the bug or sneak up with some plant material between you and the bug.

5. Bugs are more skittish when they are not doing something else, so a degree of skittishness index runs something like this
Nothing>sunbathing> Feeding>blowing bubbles (many bugs do this)>mating.
Normally the smaller the bug the less skittish they are.

6. Windy days- all though normally a no-no for macro shooting, on windy days bugs tend to hunker down on plants and are much less easily scared. I've frequently made excellent shots shooting one handed whilst holding the stem of a plant with the other hand.

7. Shoot early in the morning before the bugs warm up

If you do scare the bug off step back- they will often come back. The other way of doing this is to camp out near a plant or whatever that the bugs are visiting frequently- If you are already there when they arrive they tend to regard you as part of the scenery.

Brian V.

[chemicalbro]

awesome that you took the time to do this Brian...
it's gonna be a lot of help to a lot of people.
especially the DIY parts... (i think thats what puts a lot of people off macro, thinking about all the extra gear) but with a little imagination it's pretty simple to adapt what you already have.

[LordV]

I'm certainly no expert in this and there is no right or wrong way, but not suprisingly the normal composition "rules" apply just as equally to macro shots as normal shots. I put rules in inverted commas because they are also there to be broken .
One of the delights of macrophotography is just "seeing" - it encourages you to look at subjects often in a different way.

So try to use the rule of thirds for composition. With bugs I tend to use a simpler rule- give the bug more room in the direction it's facing.

The same goes for style- there are many different styles and none is correct. They range from the "arty" almost totally OOF shot (often with flowers) to the very detailed almost technical shot (often with bugs).

I've put a few example shots below of different styles but have to admit I'm still most frequently found in the flash/detail style.

Brian V.

Natural light fairly shallow dof





To flash focus stacked detail closeups

[SteveBachs]

LordV...

Thank you so much for this.
This thread has been immediately saved to favourites and called 'Macro Masterclass'

Invaluable information.
The Focus Stacking post is very fascinating.
I don't own a macro lens and use the reverse method (I now have a reversing ring)

This is an interesting area of photography...when it's cold and wet outside and it feels like there is nothing to shoot, there's a whole new world out there right under your nose!

[LordV]

Thanks for the comments

Steve- focus stacking isn't just for macros anyway- it can even be used in landscapes.
Brian V.

[LordV]

Thought I'd just put together a quick tutorial on how these are done.
You need to be shooting at around 2:1 to do them (100mm macro lens with 68mm of ext tubes is fine), although I'm normally shooting at about 3:1.
Need your camera rig , probably a dry mat ,a small daisy type flower about 2 to 3cms in diameter and a nice heavy early morning dew on your grass . I use the camera in manual with ETTLflash manual focus, F10-F11 ,1/200th ISO200
Put the mat down carefully on the grass and kneel on it and try to spot an interesting dewdrop (smaller than about 2mm in diameter preferably) or group of dewdrops. Carefully place the flower about 2cms behind the drop in a vertical position and then find the dewdrop in the view finder.If you need to move the flower- remember it's upside down when viewed through the dewdrop. The camera is normally resting on my hand as low to the ground as I can get it. Take several pics whilst moving the camera forward very slightly until you have covered the focus points of all the dewdrops themselves in good focus and also the refracted images in good focus.
You need to make sure you are keeping the FOV the same and do not rotate the camera whilst taking the shots.
You then need to focus stack the images using combinez5 (see http://www.inspiring-photography.com...91&postcount=3 for details)
Below are the three pics I used in a recent image and the last shot is the focus stacked version. Notice that the focus is only very slightly different in the pre-stacked shots.
Image1



Image2



Image3



Focus stack of all 3 images



Brian V.

[LordV]

Everyone that does macrophotography generally would like more DOF in their pics and this is often done by reducing the aperture. However the increased DOF comes at the price of loss of detail due to diffraction softening effects.
The pics below show a dronefly hoverfly taken at 1:1 magnification at F16 and F8. The picture taken at F16 clearly has more DOF and looks better.
However the 100% crops of the eye show that the F16 pic has lost a lot of fine detail compared to the F8 shot. Obviously choice of aperture depends on what DOF you want and also what you are shooting (does the subject have fine detail ?), but as a general rule I tend to shoot around F11 min at 1:1 to try to keep reasonable detail.

F16



F8


100%crop F16



100%crop F8

[EOSAddict]

Brian,

Fantastic tutorial! Just trying to dabble in macro... insects are not my thing but am loving trying to see things differently. Got a Sigma 50 just before Xmas and had a few goes. Just had a great chance to get hold of a Sig 150 macro which will be in the post tomorrow

Can't wait to give it a go!

Anyone want to buy a Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro???

[Mark]

Just seen this post, great articles Brian, many thanks

[Drew]

Thanks for a great tutorial, it's book marked!

[Keithphoto]

Very informative, thanks, Im definately going to have a go at this as I have never tried macro.