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Pinwheel - 09A_3449_Heart-of-the-matter.jpg
This is a small single dahlia flower just starting to open. It was
probably about 1-in across. I had two objectives here, the first was to see how close I could get to a flower using both the 12mm extension-tube and 25mm extension-tube stacked together with my 50mm lens. My second objective was to experiment with an off-camera flash cord I bought recently. One of the problems with macro photography is that you often have to be so close to the subject (my glass was about 1-in from the flower for this) that a traditional camera-mounted flash won't work because the lens itself blocks the light and casts a shadow. If you are really serious about macro photography then in addition to a "real" macro lens, you get a special-purpose macro flash unit that attaches to the front of the lens. That whole get-up can be quite expensive, however, and I am not prepared to spend that much money on macro yet (note that dangerous little word at the end). What I did buy was a coiled "extension cord" for my flash that attaches to the camera and then to the external flash unit that I have so that I can hand-hold the flash away from the camera body and light the subject without any shadows. This cord itself cost $70, but that is better that the $450 for the "cheap" ring flash or $700 for the "good" macro flash. Anyway, I still need to mess around with this concept more, but for a first attempt, it isn't bad. I was using Av set to f22 for the best DoF possible, and a high-speed flash-sync at 1/300-sec. The camera was on a tripod using a 2-sec shutter delay and I was holding the flash (with a diffusion cap) camera-left and high, an inch or two behind the plane of the lens-front. Canon 1DmkIII; EF50mm f1.4 + 12mm ET + 25mm ET + off-camera flash; ISO-200; f-22; HS-sync @ 1/300-sec e-mail: blissful-wind(at)usa.net Additional images at; http://www.flickr.com/photos/john-pa/ |
#2
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Pinwheel - 09A_3449_Heart-of-the-matter.jpg
In article , John - Pa.
wrote: This is a small single dahlia flower just starting to open. It was probably about 1-in across. I had two objectives here, the first was to see how close I could get to a flower using both the 12mm extension-tube and 25mm extension-tube stacked together with my 50mm lens. My second objective was to experiment with an off-camera flash cord I bought recently. One of the problems with macro photography is that you often have to be so close to the subject (my glass was about 1-in from the flower for this) that a traditional camera-mounted flash won't work because the lens itself blocks the light and casts a shadow. If you are really serious about macro photography then in addition to a "real" macro lens, you get a special-purpose macro flash unit that attaches to the front of the lens. That whole get-up can be quite expensive, however, and I am not prepared to spend that much money on macro yet (note that dangerous little word at the end). What I did buy was a coiled "extension cord" for my flash that attaches to the camera and then to the external flash unit that I have so that I can hand-hold the flash away from the camera body and light the subject without any shadows. This cord itself cost $70, but that is better that the $450 for the "cheap" ring flash or $700 for the "good" macro flash. Anyway, I still need to mess around with this concept more, but for a first attempt, it isn't bad. I was using Av set to f22 for the best DoF possible, and a high-speed flash-sync at 1/300-sec. The camera was on a tripod using a 2-sec shutter delay and I was holding the flash (with a diffusion cap) camera-left and high, an inch or two behind the plane of the lens-front. Canon 1DmkIII; EF50mm f1.4 + 12mm ET + 25mm ET + off-camera flash; ISO-200; f-22; HS-sync @ 1/300-sec e-mail: blissful-wind(at)usa.net Additional images at; http://www.flickr.com/photos/john-pa/ begin 644 09A_3449_Heart-of-the-matter.jpg [Image] end Remarkable photo! That would make a great wall poster. -- 8^)~ Sue (remove the x to email) ~~~~ http://www.umbrellahatsociety.com/ http://www.suzanne-eckhardt.com/ |
#3
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Pinwheel - 09A_3449_Heart-of-the-matter.jpg
Wow!! This is truly up close & personal. Great work John.
Cheers Wendy "John - Pa." wrote in message ... This is a small single dahlia flower just starting to open. It was probably about 1-in across. I had two objectives here, the first was to see how close I could get to a flower using both the 12mm extension-tube and 25mm extension-tube stacked together with my 50mm lens. My second objective was to experiment with an off-camera flash cord I bought recently. One of the problems with macro photography is that you often have to be so close to the subject (my glass was about 1-in from the flower for this) that a traditional camera-mounted flash won't work because the lens itself blocks the light and casts a shadow. If you are really serious about macro photography then in addition to a "real" macro lens, you get a special-purpose macro flash unit that attaches to the front of the lens. That whole get-up can be quite expensive, however, and I am not prepared to spend that much money on macro yet (note that dangerous little word at the end). What I did buy was a coiled "extension cord" for my flash that attaches to the camera and then to the external flash unit that I have so that I can hand-hold the flash away from the camera body and light the subject without any shadows. This cord itself cost $70, but that is better that the $450 for the "cheap" ring flash or $700 for the "good" macro flash. Anyway, I still need to mess around with this concept more, but for a first attempt, it isn't bad. I was using Av set to f22 for the best DoF possible, and a high-speed flash-sync at 1/300-sec. The camera was on a tripod using a 2-sec shutter delay and I was holding the flash (with a diffusion cap) camera-left and high, an inch or two behind the plane of the lens-front. Canon 1DmkIII; EF50mm f1.4 + 12mm ET + 25mm ET + off-camera flash; ISO-200; f-22; HS-sync @ 1/300-sec e-mail: blissful-wind(at)usa.net Additional images at; http://www.flickr.com/photos/john-pa/ |
#4
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Pinwheel - 09A_3449_Heart-of-the-matter.jpg
John - Pa. wrote:
This is a small single dahlia flower just starting to open. It was probably about 1-in across. I had two objectives here, the first was to see how close I could get to a flower using both the 12mm extension-tube and 25mm extension-tube stacked together with my 50mm lens. My second objective was to experiment with an off-camera flash cord I bought recently. One of the problems with macro photography is that you often have to be so close to the subject (my glass was about 1-in from the flower for this) that a traditional camera-mounted flash won't work because the lens itself blocks the light and casts a shadow. If you are really serious about macro photography then in addition to a "real" macro lens, you get a special-purpose macro flash unit that attaches to the front of the lens. That whole get-up can be quite expensive, however, and I am not prepared to spend that much money on macro yet (note that dangerous little word at the end). What I did buy was a coiled "extension cord" for my flash that attaches to the camera and then to the external flash unit that I have so that I can hand-hold the flash away from the camera body and light the subject without any shadows. This cord itself cost $70, but that is better that the $450 for the "cheap" ring flash or $700 for the "good" macro flash. Anyway, I still need to mess around with this concept more, but for a first attempt, it isn't bad. I was using Av set to f22 for the best DoF possible, and a high-speed flash-sync at 1/300-sec. The camera was on a tripod using a 2-sec shutter delay and I was holding the flash (with a diffusion cap) camera-left and high, an inch or two behind the plane of the lens-front. Canon 1DmkIII; EF50mm f1.4 + 12mm ET + 25mm ET + off-camera flash; ISO-200; f-22; HS-sync @ 1/300-sec e-mail: blissful-wind(at)usa.net Additional images at; http://www.flickr.com/photos/john-pa/ Beautiful picture. I would say that your experiment was a roaring success. I love ultra close up photography and your approach is probably better than a using a ringlight. Ringlights give very flat lighting, which in some cases is exactly what you want. But in this particular picture, off camera lighting gives more "depth" and shows texture better than a Ringlight. Bob Williams |
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