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A Close up Look at Macro Photography using the 055MF3 + 488RC2
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The world of close-up photography can be broken down into three
categories, defined by how much magnification you apply in the
photographic process.
The first is simply called "close-up" and
is defined loosely as shots that are taken close to the subject but
where the subject is less than life-size on film or on the digital
sensor.
The second is called macro photography and is defined as
close-up shots that range from life-size reproduction to 10X life size.
This is typically what we usually mean when we talk about close-up
photography with normal cameras and lenses.
The last category is
micro photography. These are images made with a microscope and greater
than a 10X enlargement of the original subject.
For this lesson we will focus on the first two, with the emphasis on the macro approach.
(Click on any image below for an enlarged view.) |
Topics Covered:
- What is Macro?
- Choosing a subject
- Choosing the right camera support (the tripod) and head
- What is working distance?
- Adjusting ambient light
- Adding artificial light
- Controlling the Depth of Field
Manfrotto Equipment Used:
Other Equipment Used:
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Introduction to Macro Photography
True
macro images are those that show the subject at a 1:1 to 10:1 ratio, or
life size to 10 times the actual size of your subject. Most of the time
we shoot close up photography it's not truly macro.
This has
been further confused by many of the manufacturers labelling zoom
lenses and digital cameras with "macro" modes that are not truly macro
either. Most of these devices get to a "close up" point or around a 1:4
ratio, or 1/4 life size on the film or digital file. When these
pictures are printed to the typical size, they are enlarged around 4x
(4X6 print) to bring them to the 1:1 ratio, the true macro ratio of
life size.
So the long and the short of it is that we are mostly talking about close-up photography when we talk about macro. |
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Constraints of Shooting Macro
Macro photography brings with it certain problems with the "working distance" and "depth of field".
As
you enlarge the subject, you must get very close to it. This means that
in some cases the subject is almost touching the front of the lens,
giving you little or no "working distance" in to adjust the lighting.
Ring lights and macro flash attachments are designed to deal with this
problem.
Again, the closer you get to a subject, the more you
reduce the depth of field. To counteract this we need to use very small
apertures to get the subject in focus.
The required tool for
macro photography is the tripod. Without this, it would be impossible
to get close to the subject to obtain the clean, crisp shots you want,
and impossible to get stable shots - given that any camera shake from a
hand-held photo will be magnified. |
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Choosing your subject
When we talk
about Macro or close up photography, the choices for subject matter is
endless. Things that are uninspiring at normal viewing distance can
become very interesting when you start looking at them close up.
Some
of the typical or traditional subjects are flowers, bugs, and the like.
For this lesson we have chosen several subjects that will help to
illustrate the different aspects of macro photography.
To start
with, we will illustrate working distances and exposure compensation
with some moss covering an old stump. To illustrate how to add or
augment the light on the subject, we will shoot some very small pine
cones and a leaf. |
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Choosing a camera support
For this
lesson we chose the Manfrotto 055MF3 tripod and the 488RC2 ball head.
The 055MF3 is one of the innovations from Manfrotto, built with
ultra-lightweight, ultra-rigid carbon fiber. The combination of the
strength and weight make the 055MF3 an ideal tripod for location,
travel and adventure photography. To make adjustments to the legs on
the 055MF3 simply release the clips on the leg, pull the leg to the
desired length and re-clip the leg into the secure position (figures 1,
2, and 3). |
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Figure 1 |
In figure 1 we extend the largest diameter leg
sections first as we set up the tripod in order to get the best
stability and support. |
| We chose the 055MF3 because it's easy to adjust and
position the camera. For example, once we have our tripod set up and we
want to lower the camera, all we have to do is simply release the
securing clip adjust the leg and re-clip the leg into position. The
055MF3's high load capacity, its great minimum to maximum height range
and its full range of professional features make it the ideal tripod
for location work. The 055MF3 has a built-in carrying handle, a two
section center column for low angle or normal shooting, a yoke that
allows for horizontal positioning of the center column and four
independent leg angle positions so you can get your camera all the way
down to the ground. (figure 4 and 5) |
Figure 4 |
Figure 6 |
Next, we need to choose the right head for the
shot. We chose the Manfrotto 488RC2 Ball Head because, just like the
055MF3 tripod, the 488RC2 is versatile, fast and easy to use. To
position the camera, simply loosen the ball locking knob on the head
and freely move the camera; then tighten the locking knob and the
camera is solidly in position(figures 6 and 7). The 488RC2 also sports
a separate pan lock. This is useful if you already have your shot
composed and all you need to do a pan without ruining your framing. To
top everything off, the 488RC2 comes with a Quick Release plate so you
can quickly remove your camera from the head. |
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Choosing a lens
There are many
options open to you when it comes to a close up lens. Applying lens
diopters to the front of your existing lens is an option. These are a
type of filter you attach to the front of the lens that allow the lens
to focus closer that it normally could.
The next option is an
extension tube; this is a device that attaches in-between the lens and
the camera that changes the point of focus of that lens allowing it to
focus much closer than it normally could.
And the last option,
the one we chose for this lesson, is a macro lens. These are lenses
that are specifically designed to focus close. They generally come in a
normal focal length of 50mm and in medium telephoto length of 100mm and
will work as a normal lens as well.
For this lesson we will use the Olympus Zuiko 50mm Macro lens. |
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Camera Settings
Now that we have
found our subject and placed our camera on the tripod, we can set the
camera for the first round of shots. Since we are shooting outside in
an open daylight situation, we chose the daylight preset for our white
balance. Because we want as much control over the exposure and focus as
possible we set them both to manual. We set our resolution to the TIFF
setting for the maximum file size for later enlargements. The ISO was
set to 100 for the minimum amount of noise. |
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In figure 8 we see the camera set in its first
position, about three feet from the subject, showing the entire stump
using the 50mm macro lens in its "normal" setting. Figure 9 is the
resulting image from this camera position.
Our exposure settings
for this first shot were 1/60 @ f/16. As we move through each of the
following set ups, we want to keep the f-stop the same and make any
exposure adjustment to the shutter speed. |
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Figure 10 |
As figure 10 shows, we reduced the
camera-to-subject distance from three feet to a foot and a half. The
quick controls on the 055MF3 tripod allow this to be done in just
seconds and repositioning the head was a snap. |
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In figure 11 the red box shows the approximate area shown in figure 12.
The camera was about 18 inches from the subject. For this result shot we did not need to make any exposure adjustments. |
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| Figure 13 shows our camera even closer to our subject. We reduced the camera-to-subject distance from 18 inches to 6 inches. |
Figure 13 |
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In figure 14, the red box shows the approximate area shown in figure 15.
For
this result shot, we had to make an adjustment to our exposure from
1/60 @ f16 to 1/45 @ f16 or about a 1/2 a stop. Already the tripod is
hlping to ensure that despite these exposure times, our shots are
perfectly crisp.
As we move in on a subject and we extend the
lens out to get our focus closer, we need to add exposure. This is
because the distance between the front lens element and the "film
plane" (exposure plane) has increased. The light has to travel a longer
distance to reach the capture device.
This is called the
extension factor. The closer you get to the subject, the longer the
extension of the lens, so the farther the light must travel. |
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Figure 16 |
Once again we moved the camera closer to the subject. The lens was about an inch from the subject, within a true macro range.
We now have the 1:1 ratio that defines the macro image. The subject is the same size in the view finder that it is in real life.
As
we have moved closer to the moss, the camera has blocked some of the
light. We applied a reflector to this shot to bounce some light back
into the subject (figure 16). |
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| In figure 17, the red box shows the approximate
area shown in figure 18. Since we have moved in on the subject, we must
adjust the exposure settings to compensate for the lens extension. Our
new setting will be 1/30 @ f/16 or 1/2 a stop from our last setting and
a full stop from where we started. |
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| Figure 19 shows a review of the lens-to-subject distance for each of the results shots we have made so far. |
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Working Distance
This term describes
the working space we have to light a subject, or the space from the
lens to the subject. As we have illustrated, the closer you move into a
subject the less "working distance" you have. In figure 9 we had to add
a reflector to our shot but were very restricted as to where and how we
could place it because we had very little space to work.
To
solve this issue, there are several products available from a multitude
of manufacturers. For this lesson, we used a product from Olympus.
The
Macro Flash Controller FC-1 and the Twin Flash TF-22 lights are
attached to the outer mounting ring of the camera lens with a rotating
bracket. With this device, we can control the light on the subject by
applying a set ratio programmed into the Macro Flash Controller. |
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Figure 20 |
In figure 20, we see the set up for the next
subject, small pine cones. Our working distance for this image is about
3 inches from subject to lens. The level of light is rather low,
because we are in a forest setting with no direct sun light getting
through the trees. This presents two issues we need to address: the
low, flat lighting and the effect the light has on the color balance of
our image. |
In figure 21, we see the results. Because of the
low light level, our exposure was set to 1/15 @ f/8. The resulting
exposure was soft and flat.
We could add more exposure to open
up the light, but the shot would be even softer, because of movement of
the subject at a slow shutter speed and the loss of depth of field at a
wider aperture.
We also see in this result the shift in color to
the blue side. We could make adjustments to the camera settings and
choose the "open shade" pre set selection or perform a custom white
balance action. But in this case I would not, I feel the only thing
this shot has going for it is the interesting monochromatic feeling it
has. |
Figure 21 |
Figure 22 |
In this set up, we have applied the Macro Flash
Controller and the Twin Flash units to the camera. We adjusted the
ratio to a 1:3 level; one side is three times brighter than the other.
The
Quick Release mount on the 488RC2 made installing the macro unit very
easy. We could leave the tripod in place, remove the camera, install
the macro unit, re-install the camera to the tripod and start shooting
all in a matter of seconds (figure 22). |
In figure 23, we see the results. We made the
following adjustments to the exposure setting for this shot. Once the
macro unit was installed, the shutter speed was set to 1/60 to sync
with the flashes and the aperture was set to f/22 for the maximum depth
of field.
Since the white balance was set for daylight, we did
not need to make any adjustments as white balance for a flash is
basically the same as daylight. |
Figure 23 |
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| Figures 24 and 25 give you a side by side
comparison of our two results images, we see the improvement the macro
unit has made in sharpness and depth of field . |
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Figure 26 |
In our next example, we show how to balance the
light from the macro unit. We found a leaf toward the edges of the
forest with sunlight coming through it that would work well to
illustrate the next technique.
We set up our Manfrotto 055MF3
Carbon Fiber tripod with the 488RC2 Ball head and Olympus E-1 and 50mm
macro lens and focused in on the leaf. You can see that we still had
the macro flash unit still attached to the camera, but for this first
shot we had the unit switched off (figure 26). |
In our results image, we see the light effect
coming through the leaf, providing interest and graphic quality to the
shot. To make improvements to the shot, we need to find a middle ground
between the silhouette of light coming through the leaf and some light
on the front, revealing the intricate details.
Our exposure for this shot was 1/30 @ f/11 (figure 27). |
Figure 27 |
Figure 28 |
In this set up shot, we moved in close to the
subject, switched on the macro control unit, and set it to the auto
mode. With the flash unit on, we made some adjustments to our exposure
settings; the shutter speed was set to 1/60 to sync with the flash and
we left the aperture set to f/11 (figure 28). |
| In figure 29, we gained detail in the leaf but lost
the interesting light coming through the leaf. By shorting the shutter
speed we lost the translucent quality of light we had in figure 27. |
Figure 29 |
Figure 30 |
To fix this we did two things. First we moved in
just a little closer to the leaf for more detail and then set the
shutter speed to 1/15 of a second to allow more light through the leaf
(figure 30). |
| Now we see the best of both, we have detail in the
veins of the leaf and we have the translucent feel to the light coming
through the leaf in the shadows areas of the image. By allowing the
shutter to drag just a bit we have the shot we wanted in the beginning
(figure 31). |
Figure 31 |
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| In figure 32 we see the progression to the final shot. |
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We touched on some of the basics of close up and or
macro photography and, as you can see, the everyday things we see can
become very interesting photos when you look closely. And don't forget
the value of using a tripod for stability when shooting macro shots.
Shooting in the macro mode can fun and eye-opening as you discover the shapes and textures of the macro world. |
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Manfrotto Equipment Used:
Other Equipment Used:
Recommended Links
- To learn more about Photoflex equipment, go to www.photoflex.com
- For more tips and techniques on lighting and cameras, visit www.webphotoschool.com and sign
up for access to the Member Lessons.
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