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Photography Comments by Chad
I'm in the middle of feeding spiders - trying to get spider chores done before the long weekend. I have a few things to quickly add to Jacobi's great posts on photography.
Aperture size: I do normally use f/18 for anything 1:1 or high magnification. I have tried f/22 but notice too much diffraction at that point and usually trash those images. As I get further away from the subject to get a specimen shot (this is all relative to the size of the subject), I normally shoot at an aperture between f/8 and f/14. Be aware that depending on the size of your subject and where it is, sometimes a 100 mm lens is a tad too long for "specimen" shots (portraits). I normally shoot on my bed (with a moat system to contain the spider) so if I'm shooting an adult female pushing 6" or larger, I'm on my tippy toes trying to not cut off the spiders toes in the shots.
Lens for macro: I do recommend the Tokina 100mm as a great dedicated macro lens at a great price. Even though you want to be shooting manual focus during all macro work, the autofocus is not that great if you chose to use for portraits, like many people do (the AF is slow and screwdrive so if you have one of the entry level DSLRs they tend not to have the screwdrive AF controls that higher end models will).
Saving your pennies for a macro lens? Why not first buy a $10 reverse ring and reverse your kit lens (see the image at end). I did this for a while and, while it is a big pain in the ass, it is great for learning the ins and outs of macrophotography (lighting, focus, depth of field, etc.). If you have, say, a 50mm prime lens, you can reverse that, buy extension tubes (to allow for closer focusing) or buy a Raynox magnifier and clip it on to the front.
Lighting: This could be a whole article itself. I'll just touch on a few things that need to be noted. Use diffusers! You can buy soft boxes or make your own with foam, paper or even yogurt containers! Diffusers bring out the detail in flash photography and help eliminate hot spots. Never overexpose! You will never get that information (detail) back! It is always better to underexpose when you are shooting and then bring your exposure up in post-processing. You won't lose the detail as you would if you tried to dial back your exposure in post.
White balance (WB): There is a standard and then there is personal preference. All cameras are different, but it is better to get your WB right in camera so you don't have to mess with it in post*. We are taking flash photography here (notice in MJ's chart how close flash temp is to the sun?). I have found on my camera, the "direct sunlight" setting is my preferable WB. I sat and shot at a piece of corkbark with all the auto saved WB settings and that was the closest looking WB to what my eyes were seeing. *** This is my eyes and my specific camera! Your mileage may vary ***
That's all for now. I'll write some more at some point when I have time. Cheers! - Chad
Aperture size: I do normally use f/18 for anything 1:1 or high magnification. I have tried f/22 but notice too much diffraction at that point and usually trash those images. As I get further away from the subject to get a specimen shot (this is all relative to the size of the subject), I normally shoot at an aperture between f/8 and f/14. Be aware that depending on the size of your subject and where it is, sometimes a 100 mm lens is a tad too long for "specimen" shots (portraits). I normally shoot on my bed (with a moat system to contain the spider) so if I'm shooting an adult female pushing 6" or larger, I'm on my tippy toes trying to not cut off the spiders toes in the shots.
Lens for macro: I do recommend the Tokina 100mm as a great dedicated macro lens at a great price. Even though you want to be shooting manual focus during all macro work, the autofocus is not that great if you chose to use for portraits, like many people do (the AF is slow and screwdrive so if you have one of the entry level DSLRs they tend not to have the screwdrive AF controls that higher end models will).
Saving your pennies for a macro lens? Why not first buy a $10 reverse ring and reverse your kit lens (see the image at end). I did this for a while and, while it is a big pain in the ass, it is great for learning the ins and outs of macrophotography (lighting, focus, depth of field, etc.). If you have, say, a 50mm prime lens, you can reverse that, buy extension tubes (to allow for closer focusing) or buy a Raynox magnifier and clip it on to the front.
Lighting: This could be a whole article itself. I'll just touch on a few things that need to be noted. Use diffusers! You can buy soft boxes or make your own with foam, paper or even yogurt containers! Diffusers bring out the detail in flash photography and help eliminate hot spots. Never overexpose! You will never get that information (detail) back! It is always better to underexpose when you are shooting and then bring your exposure up in post-processing. You won't lose the detail as you would if you tried to dial back your exposure in post.
White balance (WB): There is a standard and then there is personal preference. All cameras are different, but it is better to get your WB right in camera so you don't have to mess with it in post*. We are taking flash photography here (notice in MJ's chart how close flash temp is to the sun?). I have found on my camera, the "direct sunlight" setting is my preferable WB. I sat and shot at a piece of corkbark with all the auto saved WB settings and that was the closest looking WB to what my eyes were seeing. *** This is my eyes and my specific camera! Your mileage may vary ***
That's all for now. I'll write some more at some point when I have time. Cheers! - Chad
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| Chad took this image of a Psalmopoeus reduncus spiderling with an entry level Nikon D3100 with the 18-55mm kit lens reversed. This is done with an inexpensive adapter that allows you to put the lens on backwards. |
*MJ: Since Chad and I use basically the same rig I will try using the "direct sunlight" setting as he suggested in his cork bark example. However, you may have noticed that we differ in our approach to WB. As I wrote in my last blog, I prefer to use neutral WB in RAW and adjust WB "in post" (I use the very powerful Lightroom, which Chad doesn't). This can be a problem if I am also saving each image to my second memory card as JPEG for quick use since the WB would be poor without post-processing, but I rarely do that. However, I do set a specific WB when I am doing photography other than my mainstay spider portraits. I tend to stay away from the presets like "direct sunlight" or "fluorescent" and actually dial in the color temperature by using WB cards (white or grey) made for that purpose or taking test shots and adjusting for the room or outdoor lighting. But I still like to be able to tweak after the fact as I don't like either overly cool or overly warm images. The finished H. pulchripes portrait in my white balance blog shows the crisp and slightly cool background bark color that I want to see. Finally, as Chad wrote, lighting could be a whole article in itself and it will be the topic of my next installment of Photography 101. However, first I want to return to some TALES FROM THE FIELD, CASA DE TARANTULA and other subjects. Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!
3 comments:
Thanks to Chad for a very informative posting on "shooting up close". I hope to start photographing my own collection in the near future and the macro tips are very much appreciated.
Yes, I'm glad Chad offered to chime in with some additional comments to my two photography posts. Last night I texted him about writing an arachnid photography article for the BTS Journal. He wrote me a very quick one. This is it in it's entirety: "QUIT USING YOUR CELL PHONE AND PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. END." He's nothing if not concise. MJ
Kudos to Chad! Spot on. There are pic takers and there are photographers. ;)
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