Macro Photography (Page 2): First - try shooting at f18 and up. That should give you depth of field throughout...

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

First - try shooting at f18 and up. That should give you depth of field throughout

docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

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.

Well this is an easy one - suzie the subject itself is soft. Flowers are soft, they grow in gardens which also tend not to have sharp edges. Yes, of course, using a tripod helps get that really crisp edge and stopping down to F8 or F11 will help as well. But the primary reason your flower photographs are soft is the nature of THE subject.

In this thread, to illustrate sharpness - coins were used. Coins are not flowers - coins have hard defined edges, and ridges and flowers for the most part do not.

docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

docrob wrote:

quote=suzie123 I shoot with a Canon 40D and use a... (show quote)

camerabuff58 Loc: Ontario, Canada,

Why not take a regular shot with good depth of field by stopping down your lensthen cropping and zooming your picture.
To some extent , you will get the desired effect.

Jim Plogger Loc: East Tennessee

docrob wrote:

quote=docrob quote=suzie123 I shoot with a Canon... (show quote)

You are quite right about the general nature of flower photography. However, there are certain shots that you do want crisp edges such as the one below.

Hibiscus Bloom
Hibiscus Bloom...

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Stopping down is the best way to extend the DOF but care must be taken. Most lenses will reach their maximum resolving or sharpness ability at 2 to 3 stops from wide open. If you have a 2.8 lens, the greatest sharpness will be atained at from around 5.6 to 8 -- probably why some respondents suggested f8 for your setting. Stopping down farthur, say to f11 or 16 will increase your DOF but degrade your sharpness. This will be slight with each f-stop you increase until it becomes unacceptable at around f22. Most macro lenses will stop down to f32 but I have not read any reviews that show excellent results at that setting. I would guess that you didn't want to use a tri-pod because of bulk and having to constantly break it down and set it up. If that is the case, try a mono-pod which will steady the camera for you. Also don't be afraid to shoot at a high ISO. Most of todays camers handle 800 just fine and I often get excellent shots with my D300 at 1250.
Good luck and good shooting,
Mike

docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

JPinTenn wrote:

quote=docrob quote=docrob quote=suzie123 I shoo... (show quote)

thanks on the sharp edge demo.

docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

Bridges wrote:

Stopping down is the best way to extend the DOF bu... (show quote)

Hi Mike, good answer in general but for flower images monopods don't work well because you can't take them down to flower level, speeding up the ISO works some of the time but also adds unnecessary noise to what are soft images to start with and should not be necessary if using a tripod and the moving about / breaking down the tripod is part of the job.

docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

docrob wrote:

quote=JPinTenn quote=docrob quote=docrob quote... (show quote)

here is one of mine with a sharp edge.

GeneS Loc: Glendale,AZ

Try aperture priorty take a few trial shots start about F8 then F11 at F16 and one more atF22 if you have enough light. That way you can see the difference the F stops make, with your DOF

Nevada Chuck

If the image is in sharp focue in the viewfinder, then the problem is camera movement. ANd the only two ways to defeat this problem is a tripod, or a shutter speed over 1/500 second (depending on whether or not your subject is moving; obviously, if it's moving then a tripod is unlikely to be the answer).

davejann Loc: Portland Oregon

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

This site might help

Dave

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

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.

You have already answered your question. Your problem is handholding your camera.

wpromine

I am certainly not an expert but when photographing coins
lighting is ultra critical. Shoot in a light box and experiment with side and filtered over head direct light. Also, to make a coin photo "pop" try using a piece of black velvet in the center of which a 'post'is inserted (small pencil or any similar item about 4" to 5" long with a flat end. Place the coin on the top of the post and set aperture at f8.

larrycumba

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.

Since I am an enabler, here is your answer.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/647011-USA/Canon_3554B002_EF_100mm_f_2_8L_Macro.html