Macro Photography: I shoot with a Canon 40D and use a 100mm lense for macro. I shoot handheld and alway have a nice soft effect to my photo which I like but, lately I have wanted to...

suzie123

I shoot with a Canon 40D and use a 100mm lense for macro. I shoot handheld and alway have a nice soft effect to my photo which I like but, lately I have wanted to achieve the crisp, clean, max detail picture. What is the trick other then a tripod? Is it a photoshop thing, do I need a better quality lense, is it the aperture not open enough. Would appreciate any help. I will switch computers and send a picture along.

tulips

gmcase Loc: Galt's Gulch

Hand held is most likely the problem or first to eliminate from the list you gave to resolve the problem. Is the whole shot soft or just parts of it?

suzie123

gmcase wrote:

Hand held is most likely the problem or first to eliminate from the list you gave to resolve the problem. Is the whole shot soft or just parts of it?

Here is the shot. But have you ever seen a picture of money or more specific coins and you see every coin clear and in great detail. That is what I'm after. I send me trying the coins. It is really bad.

Failed at coins

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

When you do micro shoots up close, the DOF is really shallow. Only way to get good DOF is focus staking. And you need software to do it. A tripod will help with just regular micro shots that are 1:1 or larger. You can use an aperture that will get it a little better.
Erv

suzie123

Erv wrote:

When you do micro shoots up close, the DOF is really shallow. Only way to get good DOF is focus staking. And you need software to do it. A tripod will help with just regular micro shots that are 1:1 or larger. You can use an aperture that will get it a little better.
Erv

Thanks for your help.

gmcase Loc: Galt's Gulch

Most of the coin shots where everything is in perfect focus are basically perpendicular to the lens. That eliminates shallow depth of field problems. You can get greater dof by raising your f stop to a higher number (smaller opening).

It does appear a small slice of your shot is fairly well in focus. Could improve it by steadier camera and turning the coin to be closer to perpendicular to the lens.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Just for fun put your pennies in a row and shoot down the row focus on the center of the row. Then change your F stops and see what happens to the DOF. I think you will be surprised. You can do this with any lens to check the DOF you can get. The farther away you are the better the DOF.
Erv

chapjohn Loc: Tigard, Oregon

I would suggest taking this discussion to the Macro portion of UHH.
I have some questions:
Are you using a Macro lens or zoom that has "macro" as an option?
Are setting your camera to its "macro" setting?
Unless you are using a true macro lens you may always get the soft look.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

As asked above, exactly which 100-mm lens are you using?

Also about tulip example photo: what ISO? what shutter duration? what aperture? All this info is available on your Exif data.

And to keep this thread from being buried on page 2 or 3, you should start again in the True Macro-Photography Forum.

effrant Loc: New Hampshire

You can also take multiple shots, move the focus point in each and stack in post......
http://www.pixel2life.com/publish/tutorials/1036/focus_stacking_in_macro_photography/
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/focus-stacking.htm

Patw28 Loc: PORT JERVIS, NY

The coins are a wonderful demo of DOF(depth of field) Seriously.
The DOF leaps out like a banner.

What to do about it? Go to the top of this screen and enter "DOF" in the SEARCH field. Seriously.

And may your quest be frustrating and fruitful!

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

Here is a good series to read on macro DOF.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/3064907237/depth-of-field-in-macro-photography?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=generic

Jim D

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Patw28 wrote:

The coins are a wonderful demo of DOF(depth of field) Seriously.
The DOF leaps out like a banner.

What to do about it? Go to the top of this screen and enter "DOF" in the SEARCH field. Seriously.

And may your quest be frustrating and fruitful!

Un Oh....here we go....another grumpy gomer who suggests that a person actually use the search function instead of starting another redundant DOF forum thread...

Put on your asbestos suit...the flame throwers are coming out.

Patw28 Loc: PORT JERVIS, NY

Erv wrote:

Just for fun put your pennies in a row and shoot down the row focus on the center of the row. Then change your F stops and see what happens to the DOF. I think you will be surprised. You can do this with any lens to check the DOF you can get. The farther away you are the better the DOF.
Erv

Great! And a board or chain link for longer reach lenses.

Jim Plogger Loc: East Tennessee

suzie123 wrote:

I shoot with a Canon 40D and use a 100mm lense for macro. I shoot handheld and alway have a nice soft effect to my photo which I like but, lately I have wanted to achieve the crisp, clean, max detail picture. What is the trick other then a tripod? Is it a photoshop thing, do I need a better quality lense, is it the aperture not open enough. Would appreciate any help. I will switch computers and send a picture along.

In addition to your tripod use mirror lockup and a smaller f-stop. f8 should work well.