First Attempt at Macro C&C

dakar · 17-07-2008 8:27am #1

Hi all,

Have been lurking for a while and started dipping my toe in the water with some of my own C&C lite, but now its time to take the plunge and throw a couple up here for your consideration!

Inspired by Ghost's fly shots yesterday, I pulled out some close up filters (screw-on jobs) that had been sitting unused in the bag for ages (well forever actually!).

All taken with D300 and 50mm 1.8, all at 1/60 flash sync, diffused flash off camera. Aperture Priority f14, f5.6 and f1.8 respectively. These are straight out of the camera except for crop and a gradient map for the B&W.

I am here to learn, so feel free to be frank. I have my own ideas about what I'd like to achieve differently next time I have a go at this, but I'd like to see what you think.

Thanks in advance:)
D

rgiller · 17-07-2008 9:18am

Very nice! The colour scheme and focus in the first is great and the clarity of the second is amazing. This was done with a nifty fifty? The third isn't quite as good: it's difficult to make out what the photo is of. If you didn't have it in a set with the other two, you wouldn't know it's the stamens of a flower. But the first two I like

l pearse · 17-07-2008 9:20am

So glad you were inspired by Ghost's fly shots as a result I'v been inspired by ur pictures. Ur so clever.

:P love them all. :P

dakar · 17-07-2008 9:46am

Thanks for that, I agree completely with you on #3.

It's the one that came out least like what I wanted. I was hoping for that dreamy cloudy kind of flower shot. At smaller apertures though, I was getting too much detail, and wide open, I was getting such a tiny area in focus, in this case just the very tip of the stamens, that the rest became an unresolved blur (not in a good way!).

I'm sure there's a happy medium, just need more practice.

dakar · 17-07-2008 9:49am

rgiller wrote: »

This was done with a nifty fifty?

Yup, and some of those cheap screw on closeup filters (diopters?) that I picked up on eBay ages ago.

rgiller · 17-07-2008 10:47am

dakar wrote: »

Yup, and some of those cheap screw on closeup filters (diopters?) that I picked up on eBay ages ago.

Oh and what kind of cheap screw on filters are they? Sounds like they might be worth a look...

dakar · 17-07-2008 11:03am

I can't remember exactly which one I got, but if you put in 'macro filter' and your lens thread size into eBay, dozens of them will pop up. They shouldn't cost more than about €20 inc postage.

I'm not suggesting that they're a substitute for a proper macro lens, but for me, they were a cheap way to experiment and have a play with macro, and if I get into it more, then I can invest in some nice glass.

As you can see, they gave me some nice results on the nifty fifty.

First Attempt at Macro C&C

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