Macro photography by HeavyD

[Heavyd]

I finally got all my gear together to take macro photography. Bits were were coming from all over the world. I had a chance to sit down this evening to experiment with the lense and the flashes I'd bought. I've attached a few photos below as my first attempts. I'd also like to thank Watfish and Nogi for the advice they have provided about what gear to buy and tips on how to use it.

I intend to keep adding to this thread, and I hope over time my photos will improve beyond beginner and I will start to understand better how it all comes together.

Feedback is welcome.

Cheers,

D

[Brado]

man let be the first to say AMAZING! i cant wait to get a new camera..

may i ask how much it cost roughly for all your macro gear??

[Sprae]

Nice work! I'm getting my macro lens soon too. Can't wait

[fishmosy]

Nice shots. Keep them coming.

[Dean]

wow, first time macro's !!!! very nice pics already mate.

all you people taking sweet pics of your shrimp and i still dont own a macro lens dam it ........... need to buy one :)

[watfish]

great first attempt heavyd! :)

a little bit of CC (i hope you don't mind...)

- with macro photography, the DOF is very thin, so try to get your subject as parallel to the lens as possible so that most of it can be in focus. eg in the 4th photo, most of the shrimp is in focus, while in the 1st, only the head is.

- try to isolate your subject.. extra shrimpies in the background can be distracting.

- are you taking photos in RAW, and if so, did you use any post processing? if you aren't, that can be your next step :) some of the noise in the photos can be removed in pp, and also the shadows and exposure can be improved.

keep them coming! it's great to see more people getting into photography.

[wayne6442]

Hey watfish what is CC, DOF,? remember some of us have no idea about photography, but would like to learn please!!! spell it out for us dummies,

Regards

[BlueBolts]

CC = Constructive Criticism

DOF - Depth of Field

I would definitely appreciate CC watfish, as I know there's many of us willing to learn and follow this thread by Heavyd. Gread post !

Heavyd, do you mind listing the equipment and setting for the pics ?

[Trav80]

Nice first time macros Heavyd. All these macros make me want to get some macro gear for my 50D.

[Heavyd]

@Brado: Thanks mate. Not including the camera body, about $1400-$1500.

@Sprae: Thanks. It's great fun. Looking forward to seeing your shots.

@Fishmosy: Cheers mate.

@Dean: Yes you definitely need to buy one considering you probably have the most photogenic shrimp!

@Watfish: Your criticism is most welcome. That is one of the main reasons for this thread.

In respects to your comments: .

> getting the shrimp parallel to the lens make complete sense and the photo above is a great example.

>Trying to isolate the shrimp is great if they are not feeding :) I think I'll need a lot of patience to get the perfect solo shot.

>I didn't take these photos in raw. I will probably give that a go down the track. I did do some basic post processing. I cropped, adjusted levels slightly, brightness, contrast, saturation and sharpness. Just playing around really.

@Bluebolts: I'm using a Canon EOS400D with a Canon EF 100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM. I have a Hakuba LH1 flash bracket. 2 x Yongnuo 565-EX flashes and 3 xYongnuo RF 603 receiver/transmitters for remote triggering of the flashes. Also from memory, the camera was in Manual mode, F-stop around 9-11, shutter speed 128 maybe, Auto white, ISO 400, manual focus.

@Trav80: Thanks mate. I've been wanting a macro lense for many years. Pretty excited at the potential!

[Loach]

Good job for a first go! Your skills will defenitely improve as time goes :)

[NoGi]

Great start mate. What's your equipment list?

[wayne6442]

Envious as hell about your euipment, I am getting to old to comprehend all this new gear Absolutly love the pics, I recon they are perfect but I am not a connoisseur of these things, I just love to get this result someday.

[Heavyd]

@Loach: Cheers mate.

@Nogi: Pretty much what we discussed earlier.

I'm using a Canon EOS400D with a Canon EF 100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM. I have a Hakuba LH1 flash bracket. 2 x Yongnuo 565-EX flashes and 3 xYongnuo RF 603 receiver/transmitters for remote triggering of the flashes.

@Wayne: Thanks. I think you'd be right with the gear. You just keep everything on manual settings and away you go.

[Heavyd]

An update:

Played around some more with the camera today. Also finally got around to taking a few shots using the lens extender. Good fun!!

Couple of things I learned today (no laughing please......I dont know much about flashes);

Firstly, I didn't realise last time that I can adjust the strength of the flash output. It is default to the minimum. Wow they are bright!!

Secondly, I played around with the flash positioning to see the effect on the subjects.

Thirdly, I discovered that if the shutter speed isnt synchronised with the flash speed, you end up with a black bar down the bottom of your photos. Let me tell you, I thought my camera was broken for a little while lol

Anyway, some of the better shots I took:

Anyone ever wonder what seed shrimp looked like up close? Well here they are....I used the lens extenders on these shots.

[Jess]

Wow! All those photos are amazing :congratulatory:

It is so awesome to see those seed shrimp up close!

[NoGi]

They are great shots. Are these with the Kenko tubes?

[Heavyd]

Thanks!

Nogi, only the seed shrimp are with the kenko tubes. I used all three tubes for those 2 shots.

[Heavyd]

A couple more shots today of my yellows. Very happy with the way my selective breeding is going with the yellows. Managing to get stronger colours, thicker shells and coloured legs. I also started using new software to post-processing: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Seems like a great program and has everything I need to process the RAW shots.

My favourite yellow male:

One of the females:

[NoGi]

Very nice mate. LightRoom and Photoshop are the only apps I use. :thumbup:

[northboy]

Very nice, sure you are a beginer, well it dont look like your a beginer.

Bob

[Dean]

some amazing photos mate, you should be very happy with yourself :applause:

[Heavyd]

Thank you for the positive feedback. I really enjoy sharing this journey with you.

@Northboy: I am a beginner. It has really helped me to be pointed in the right direction regarding equipment and I do a lot of reading online to get a better understanding of how it all works. Really helps to have a good lens though

[northboy]

Yep the lens makes the difference between a good shot and a great shot.

I do a lot of under water video (freshwater) and the lens makes or breaks it.

Bob

[planted]

awesome shots there mate, especially like the yellow...