SLR Photography Guide

Flickr Group – SLR Macro Photography (digital)

There are now quite a few interesting discussions going up over on our Flickr Group, SLR Macro Photography.

1. Penny has started a challenge for members on a theme called ‘Threads’ which is becoming popular. Members have posted photo’s of material such as denim, cotton and woollen objects. While others have taken the theme one step further to include threads seen in spider webs, or threads of a leek while preparing dinner.

To see more of this challenge and submit a macro yourself, visit: Challenge #1 “Threads”

2. Another popular discussion is talking about members favorite macro shots and the reasons why. Shown below is a sampling so far:

The macro shown above, called ‘Making a pig of himself’ is one of my personal favorites because the grasshopper looks so comical when viewed large. Like one of the animation characters in ‘A Bugs Life’.

Photo above posted by smooveflava: I was walking down the steps to one of the beaches on the Central Coast and I saw a whole bunch of bees flying around the flowers. I stopped to take a quick pic, trying to stay steady as I was capturing it without a tripod and I also had two very scared kids attached to me pulling at my leg screaming (they absolutely hate bees!) and I got this shot…very proud considering how difficult it was.

To see more favorite macro shots photographed by members visit: Your favorite macro shot.

3. Photographers who use a Canon Twin Lite Flash for their macro work might be interested in this post called, Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite Flash.

The discussion has some really helpful tips on how to use Canon’s MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite Flash, how to tame down the harshness of the lighting, as well as the effectiveness of diffusers with this macro setup. Macro images taken by two of our members, Dalantech and mplonsky in particular, are a must see for inspiration.

Flickr Group – SLR Macro Photography (digital)

If you love macro photography, we’ve started a new Flickr group called SLR Macro Photography (digital), where members win REAL prizes! To start the group off, this month we will be giving away a free book from Amazon called, ‘Close up shooting: A Guide to Closeup, Tabletop and Macro Photography’. The winner will be announced on the 27th of March to celebrate the groups first month anniversary.

More details over at: SLR Macro Photography (digital) Group

Who is this flickr group for?

This group is mostly aimed towards those photographers who own an SLR/DSLR camera and enjoy taking macro or close up photographs of smaller objects, insects and flowers. I say mostly, because we do also have members that enjoy taking macro shots with their compact camera’s as well. The reason it’s initially been called ’SLR macro photography’, is that much of the groups discussions and RSS feed will revolve around SLR camera’s and settings.

You don’t need to own a dedicated macro lens to join. The idea behind this group is to inspire and encourage a love for macro photography. Many photographers first start enjoying close up photography with the use of macro filters on the end of their lens, or with a telephoto lens and the macro setting on their SLR. Once the enjoyment sets in, it usually doesn’t take long before they are looking at purchasing a real macro lens.

Whatever equipment you use to photograph your macro’s with, we ask only that the image appears to be a detail shot of smaller subjects.

To help give you an idea, acceptable images would include insects, flowers, small birds, frogs, leaves, coins, water droplets etc. On the other hand, unacceptable images would include a closeup shot of a horse or cat and similar larger objects.

Group News

SLR Macro Photography (digital) Group is off to a fantastic beginning. Since starting 5 days ago, we’ve had 476 members join, who have posted a total of 732 macro images into the group pool. The most popular discussion in the forum is titled, ‘What do you love about macro photography?’

Here is a sampling of answers so far:

I love entering a world that i cannot see with my naked eye. The detail, the beauty, flowers, bugs, inanimate objects, it doesn’t matter, just macro! … (posted by belle’sbeauties)

Of all types of photography, macro has always been no.1 for me. Seeing an insect or bug at a higher magnification reveals such amazing details of that bug. “1:1 will let you see a bug’s nose.. but at 3:1 or higher, you’ll see what’s inside the nose!!” … (posted by Lordmint)

When I shoot macro,I feel like i’m an Alice in the wonderland, everyhing is real, but kinda unreal … (posted by Moczkos)

I love the ability of showing people things that most never even realize are there. Or have never given a droplet on a flower or blade of grass much thought. I love showing them that there is a whole other world they are missing out on … (posted by farmmommy5)

More over at: SLR Macro Photography (digital) Group

Introduction to shooting macro’s or closeups with a telephoto lens

While not all photographers own a real macro lens, most do have a telephoto lens. By telephoto lens, I am referring to one has a 200 or 300mm focal lenth. Hard core macro photographers often refer to these types of shots as being closeups and not true macro’s. However, it’s hard to argue with the fact that telephoto lenses definately do a great job in photographing objects at close range.

Quick tips for photographing macro’s with a telephoto lens

• Use a firm tripod whenever possible. This is an important tip for all telephoto photography. The more you have your lens zoomed out (longer the focal length eg. 200mm) the more prone your shots are to camera shake.
• Using a remote release will also help with camera shake, which is often one of the main causes for unsharp results. For the same reason, look in your camera manual for a setting called mirror lockup.
• Choose to photograph your subject against an uncluttered background, so the main focus is on the subject. In other words, simplicity is the key.
• If you can’t choose an uncluttered background, ensure it’s positioned a long distance away from the subject you are photographing. Next, zoom the lens all the way out (eg. 200mm) and take the shot as close to the subject as you can physically stand, yet still be able to focus properly. This will result in a nicely blurred background like the photograph of the dragonfly seen at the top of this post.

Telephoto macro tips from nature photographer Peter Madeley

Nature photographer Peter Madeley, shares with us some of his tips for photographing macro’s with a telephoto lens. In this video below, Peter talks about what camera settings and shutter speeds you should be implementing when using a telephoto lens for macro photography. He also discusses the importance of mirror lockup and other alternatives if your camera doesn’t have this option. Towards the end of the demonstration, he shows by example, how light reflectors can be used for macro to obtain a controlled photo shoot.

To watch the video tutorial above, press the go arrow

What is the best time of the day for macro insect photography

I recently read in a photography magazine that one of the best times of the day for insect photography is early morning, before the dew dries out. This weekend I decided to get up at the break of dawn and put this theory to the test. As it turned out, early morning photo shoots certainly do put a new twist on macro insect photography.

There two main advantages of taking macro photographs early in the morning before the sun comes up:

• Lighting early in the morning is more colorful and less harsh than mid morning. With no sunshine to dull the colors, early morning macro’s look brighter and bolder.
• Insects can’t fly when their wings are covered with dew drops and they havn’t yet dried out. This also give you an opportunity as a macro photographer to show the viewer a part of nature that otherwise goes un-noticed. It doesn’t take long to realise why the early bird gets the worm, so to speak.

Note: You can click the insect macro’s below to see them in larger size

The insect macro shown above was photographed from above the dragonfly, looking down. As you can see by the dew drops on its wings, it wasn’t going anywhere too soon. As a macro photographer, this gave me sufficient time to get a good shot.

The photograph shown below is the same insect, shot at a different angle.

Now for one of my personal favorites, a damselfly covered in dew drops. The black background was created with the use of a Twin Lite MT-24EX flash.

Other times that are good for insect photography:

• I’ve found after a storm is also a good time for shooting macro’s of insects. Like most animals, they come out to play after a rainshower. Like early morning, many are also covered with water drops and can’t fly too well until they dry out.
• You’ll also find plenty of insects in the late afternoon and on cloudy days, where the lighting is perfect for really colorful shots.

In contrast, the worst time of the day for this style of macro photography seems to be hot sunny daylight hours, say between 10.30am and 3.30pm. Of course every insect is different, so it’s best to do your research.

Post production tips for macro photographers who edit their images with Photoshop

One question I’m asked on a weekly basis is: What editing or post production work do you make on your macro photographs?

While most of these types of questions come from those who use the same camera and macro lens as I own, the post production tips listed below will assist all macro photographers who edit their images with Photoshop.

It’s also important to note, that no amount of post production work is going to improve a bad photograph. Personally, a good macro photo consists of 50% photo taking and 50% post production editing. However, as I said, you do need a sharply detailed image to start with.

How to edit macro photographs using Photoshop software

1. The first editing I do to macro photographs is to crop them tightly. Not every viewer will look at the larger image (even when you supply a link), so it’s best to tightly crop the image so the details are clearly seen by a thumbnail. This also presumes the viewer prefers to see detail that isn’t normally seen by the naked eye. Which of course, is the true beauty of macro photography.

Take the two images below for example, the first shows the original photograph (resized for display purposes), while the second photograph is a cropped version showing the finest detail.

2. After cropping the macro photograph, I might resize the image, depending on how I am intending on using it. For example, if the plan is to display the image on a website, I’ll resize to no larger than 1024 width so it doesn’t take too long to download in the viewers browser. For printing purposes, I don’t normally resize.

3. Next I sharpen the image by implementing a mixture of Photoshop’s Lab color mode and the unsharp mask. I won’t go through the steps here as we already have a tutorial for this called: How to sharpen photographs in Photoshop.

This method not only sharpens, but in many cases also increases the color of the photograph.

4. After sharpening, I’ll continue on to the Shadows and Highlights adjustment tool. Once again, we already have a Photoshop tutorial for this: How to use Photoshop adjustment tool?

You will find this adjustment tool increases the detail seen within either (or both) the shadows and highlight area’s of your photograph.

5. Lastly, I use Photoshop S curves to add or reduce contrast. The S curve tool allows you to highlight the parts that are important and darken those that are not. The S curve also seems to make the colors within the photograph appear brighter and bolder. You can find a tutorial on S curves at: How to use Photoshop S curves?

Learning a few post production techniques can help improve your macro images ten fold. The steps shown above will result in more colorful and sharper macro photographs, that contain more detail than you’d otherwise have seen in the original image.