Graham Thirkill Loc: Idylic North Yorkshire, England UK.

Thanks to you good people with your help, tips and encouragement.My latest effort is this dead moth, oh! god no, I hear you say. How can a dead moth be interesting, sorry folks. Goodness knows how long it's been dead but my wife is away and the cleaning up, as we call it, isn't quite what it should be, so I'm able to find a bug or two, here and there. I was advised about fused lighting. For this I used a hand held desk-top lamp with a spotlight type bulb covered with, as someone suggested a sheet of paper kitchen towel. I tried to get the shadow under the object, best I could. I concentrated best I could as well, on the focus. My previous efforts were kindly and generously described as soft. I hope this focussing is hard or whatever the opposite of soft is in a focussing sense. Love the thrill of this Macro, it's not easy peasy but it's very challenging, interesting and rewarding. Critique please. I think it is my best so far but it will be great to hear what you folks say. Like someone who is no longer with us I know your constructive criticism
will be based on the image factors and not the image taker.The charts and graphs that Nikonian put in a mesage on my previous thread left me gobsmacked, I look forward to the day when I will be able to understand what they all mean. Thanks Nikonian72, A-Peer, jrb1213, colo43, Blurryeyed, BobEssner, amehta, Wahawk, I hope I don't drive you crazy. Is it OK to crop the
pics, no other editing at all was carried out on this image, just the cropping, now added.

Graham
098

Dead Moth, cropped (Please Download)

(Download)

Dead Moth, uncropped

(Download)

A-PeeR Loc: Houston, Texas

Looks ok Graham, what size do you estimate the moth to be?

Focus is a bit off. Looks like you have angled the shot a few degrees from the bottom to top and left to right. Look in the lower left portion of the frame and you'll see a white bit the appears to be in focus. Notice how the grain of the paper is sharp and continues to be up to the moth. It starts to go out of focus (OOF) at the bottom of the moth and extends to the top of the frame. Squaring the camera to the subject matter will correct this problem. Remember depth of field (DoF) in macro is measured in mm and slight skews in the shooting angle will effect the plane of focus.

Graham Thirkill Loc: Idylic North Yorkshire, England UK.

About three eighths of an inch or 10mm The lens is also set to 1:1 and as you say it is 24mm

Graham
098

A-PeeR Loc: Houston, Texas

Graham - I owe you an apology, Canon cropped sensor is 22.3mm, Nikon is 23.7... So you should see 22.3mm across, like the metric ruler photo illustrates. Looking at the uncropped picture, you aren't shooting 1:1. Moth is 10mm in length, frame is 22.3mm tall in portrait mode. Moth appears to be 1/4 of the frame length. The moth in your picture is represented by 5mm on the sensor when in fact it is actually 10mm. So you are shooting at 1/2 life size or 1:2 in macro speak. If you were shooting at 1:1 the moth would have a length equal to ~45% of the frame height.

The crop is well within the realm of macro. It looks to be ~2:1. Problem with cropping images to achieve macro proportion is resolution and detail are lost. To what extent depends on how great the crop is. Your crop is a factor of ~200%. Loss of resolution/detail is to be expected with a crop of this magnitude.

jrb1213 Loc: McDonough GEorgia

You're not at all a bother. We love to get new macro-ists here. It is actually part of the enjoyment of macro. You are getting better each shot. William just gave you some good advice for you next target, so I won't duplicate it.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Your image Exif info:
Camera Model: Canon EOS 7D
Lens: EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Image Date: 2014-01-19 13:56:21 (no TZ)
Focal Length: 100.0mm
Aperture: f/4.0
Exposure Time: 0.017 s (1/60)
ISO equiv: 400
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: program (Auto)
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: Yes (Auto, return light detected)

You already know that your lens will allow you to move closer, but that also narrows your DoF, which is already shallow at f/4.

This is where brighter illumination can really assist you (eventually). With my speedlight & softbox diffuser, I routinely shoot at ISO 200, 1/200-sec at f/16.

Using available light (sun or lamp), is a good way to practice macro technique on stationary subjects. See how close you can get to subject, both hand-held and tripod-mounted. Your new personal experience will help clarify recommendations from other macro-photographers.

Graham Thirkill Loc: Idylic North Yorkshire, England UK.

Oh dear, I'm sorry. I have thrown you off scent by rotating the other images. I wondered why my maths were worse than normal. Portrait and landscape, right, two images Iv'e uploaded and titled them accordingly. The poor moth fell apart and has gone to meet his maker. I have used a centimeter length of a dressmakers pin instead of the poor threadbare moth RIP. The lens was set on 1:1.

Why are they so different in size when they have come from the same camera and same settings


Graham 098

Landscape, the pin is 10mm long

(Download)

Portrait, the pin is 10mm long

(Download)

Graham Thirkill Loc: Idylic North Yorkshire, England UK.

I have two speedlites that I have had for years for a Canon EOS 1N. They are the Canon 540EZ and the Canon 430EZ. Will these be OK for the digital cameras. I will have to have a look on Canon's Web site for the manuals.
They have nearly as many buttons and switches as the bloomin camera.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Both of your Canon speedlights are excellent. We have macro-photographers who use one or the other.

A-PeeR Loc: Houston, Texas

Graham - Portrait and landscape modes are different because the sensor is rectangular not square, 22.3mm x 14.9mm. So when you shoot in the landscape position (natural camera orientation) the the frame is 22.3mm x 14.9mm. When you shoot in portrait position (camera rotated 90 degrees from the natural orientation) the frame is 14.9mm x 22.3mm.

Graham Thirkill Loc: Idylic North Yorkshire, England UK.

Nikonian

Told me: "Both of your Canon speedlites are excellent, we have macro-photographers who use one or the other.

That's good news. Thanks for for the info.


A-PeeR: Explained Portrait and landscape modes are different because the sensor is rectangular not square, 22.3mm x 14.9mm. So when you shoot in the landscape position (natural camera orientation) the the frame is 22.3mm x 14.9mm. When you shoot in portrait position (camera rotated 90 degrees from the natural orientation) the frame is 14.9mm x 22.3mm.

I have a ringlite that my Jeannie gave me, it's a Canon ML3, It was used by her on the 100 mm lens, the predecessor to my new one. Unfortunately it will not fit the 100 mm USM lens. I am trying to find out if there is an adaptor available for it. Has anyone heard of this, there are adaptors but they, appear, to be all screw in, where as the lens fits onto the ML3 by releasing two push buttons and pushing the ML3 on to the camera lens.

Thanks Gents,

Graham

A-PeeR Loc: Houston, Texas

Graham - Canon makes an adapter:

http://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/macrolite-adapter-67

Amazon UK sells it for 30 Pounds:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-Microlite-Adapter-100mm-Macro/dp/B002NEFLGO#productDescription

Graham Thirkill Loc: Idylic North Yorkshire, England UK.

I contacted Amazon but they couldn't confirm whether or not the 67C adapter fitted the Canon ML3 Ringlite so I ordered it with the promise they would refund if it didn't fit. I then went and dropped the main battery and switch box part of item, not the actual light. That is packed up waiting to go for repair. I also ordered another complete ringlite lite exacty the same as the one I have. So if the one I broke does repair I will have a spare.one. I have had an email from Amazon from their agent who dealt with my question about the adapter, she was as helpful as she could be, she says she will phone me on the 31st January to see if the adapter fits, if not she will arrange the return and refund, wonderful firm in my eyes always helpful and generous. Thanks again to A-PeeR.