My first macros with the ist

I've got a cheap macro lens coming from an Ebay purchase and once that arrives I'm planning to do some more organised stuff using my studio lights.

My wife bought some macro flower pictures which are in one of our bathrooms and I'm determined to replace them with some of my own!

Done in a hurry used an SMC-A 35mm f2.8 set at f8 mounted reversed on a fully compressed K bellows and a small maglite for illumination. Converted in C1, saved as a 16bit tiff, the only adjustments are the use of Matts Sharp-o-mattic action in CS2.

Oh! and it is the full frame, no croping.

The subject is my wedding ring (celtic design) which is 5mm wide.

Hi Brian,

that's nice, I'm glad you explained the source..

Have you still got the original file. I haven't used Matt's shapening advice yet, but would like to see the difference. I'm a bit of a noob at digital, and I'm going to try out some raw shots this weekend.

Cheers

Liam

Liam,
The full Sharpen-O-Matic tutorial is here:
http://www.ephotozine.com/techniques/viewtechnique.cfm?recid=367
Enjoy
Matt

Hi Liam

I'm no expert, still learning the art in this digital age (not that I knew a lot before). Sending the raw file is in my opinion is not going to help you decide, best to set up a test and take some Raw and Jpeg shots then do some grading after you have processed the files.
Matts action is great, simple one click and its done, you can see whats been added if you hide the original layer. Go on have a go and let us know your conclusions, it may be you decide like me to shoot raw but you may be just as happy with what you get from jpg.

Here's another macro I took tonight, took a little bit more time (i have a bit of trouble with manual focusing, old eyes and varifocal glasses ).
SMC-A 50mm f1.4 set at f22 coupled to the bellows (not reversed) which were extended about 3" and an AF-140c ring flash.

Full frame, no cropping.



And heres the subject.

Hi,

there's a lot of detail in that. I'll be trying the sharpenomattic on a RAW image or three on, probably, Sunday. I'm off to a birthday party tomorrow, so I may get some pictures taken then as well, to test out my portrait skills.

Cheers

Liam

OK, since we all seem to be playing at macro photography I've put some of my efforts here http://www.ammonyte.plus.com/photos/index.html

They were taken with my *ist DS and Sigma 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 APO DG lens mounted on a tripod; cable release with mirror lock up. The lighting was a single 60 watt tungsten spot (OK two would have lost the shadows), White balance set to tungsten, shot in RAW and processed with Rawshooter Premium. They are mainly geological specimens (my other hobby) including some meteroite fragments.

Oh and the rest of my website is rubbish, I need to find time to work on it but playng with cameras is more fun

Hi,

the site's not that bad, and the pictures are nice too. You may want to upload Ammonite_col_button.gif though, as it doesn't seem to be on your server.. hence the image placements where you have the second row of buttons (div id="Layer3") on the front page, rather than the images themselves.

Cheers

Liam

Here's one using the Vivitar 55mm F2.8 macro - this was at it's maximum magnification of 1:1.




I've very impressed with the lens so far and I'm looking forward to having it with me when I'm out and about with the camera.

Excellent. There are some very exciting independent lenses out there, it's just knowing which ones are worthwhile that's the trick.

It looks like you're going to enjoy using your Vivitar!

Dunno how it vanished, it was there, honestly! I now officially hate my Homepage and must do something, maybe when I sober up after the Big Match at Twickenham tomorrow!

Seriously caught the macro bug last summer, and since got a Sigma 105mm, but this was taken handheld with a Pentax 50mm 1.7, on three extension tubes (about 60mm altogether), with flash way off camera (three feet or more to left and above). Used to hate flash, but now love it for macro with the *istD.




P.S. It's a Hoverfly on a Sunflower.

Dan

Should really have added this - 100%



Dan

Daniel

excellent photo. Is the second one a crop of the first one?

Your eyesight must be very good to get the focussing just right. I recently bought the SMCPF 100mm Macro lens and took some shots of a jumping spider recently. Quite comical with its relatively huge eyes. I used a ringflash but made the mistake of using a too high ISO setting so the results are a bit grainy.

I'm in the process of constructing a dual flash macro rig using 2 x AF240T flashguns. I have most of the bits I need now . . . except the time to make it.

A ring flash might work for you and I can recommend the Vivitar 6000AF Pentax dedicated version. It works very well with the istD anyway.

Macro Photography is a fascinating subject.

Hi Peter,

Thanks for that. Yes, the second is a crop, so it's at full size. Like a previous poster, I just move back and forth to get focus - some you do, some you don't, but that's the beauty of digital. I tried a Jumping spider myself, but it didn't stay still, I think I was just too close for its liking.

I've thought about ringflash, but then just think "another thing to carry", so I'm not sure. I like the effect of the distant flash, certainly more natural looking than on camera, but I also use daylight a lot, where possible in fact. I've also thought about a twin flash rig, but again - time and extra stuff to lug around.

The thing I like about Macro, is that you see so many things you just don't notice normally, like with the hoverfly - the tiny whiskers on the wobbly nose bits (the technical term, I think you'll find), and just how hairy they are. Never knew before that Bees have hairs between each cell of their compound eyes. Quite amazing the things you learn!

Cheers,
Dan