First attempts at a macro ...

NewCreation517

So I was lurking around here looking at macro shots and thought they were amazing. Never tried one before, so I thought I'd attempt a few. All I can say is ... wow, you macro guys have it tough! So much patience involved, and nearly all my shots were focused wrong. I just used my standard 18-55mm lens with the 20D's macro mode. Hopefully these turned out half-way decent ... let me know how I can improve! :dunno

Lord Vetinari

Not mad on #1 but #2 is excellent - lovely colour/composition.
Not sure what macro mode does but I've never used it. You are normally fighting for light and DOF in macro which with natural light shots can mean upping the ISO to 400 or even 800, trying to keep the aperture around F8 to F11 whilst maintaining a reasonable shutter speed. So I use AV mode for natural light shots unless it's a fast moving bug when I might use Tv mode. When going to higher mags there just isn't enough light so I shoot manual, 1/200th, F11, ISO200 with ETTL flash.
Brian V.

NewCreation517

I must say I am honored that Brian liked one of my shots! I was just looking at all of yours, and they are breathtaking! Particularly your panorama dragonfly ... wow!

What sort of camera/lens do you use Brian? Thanks for the tips!

Skippy

NewCreation517 wrote:

So I was lurking around here looking at macro shots and thought they were amazing. Never tried one before, so I thought I'd attempt a few. All I can say is ... wow, you macro guys have it tough! So much patience involved, and nearly all my shots were focused wrong. I just used my standard 18-55mm lens with the 20D's macro mode. Hopefully these turned out half-way decent ... let me know how I can improve!

Hi there..........ahhhhhhh good for you for having a go I say
Your right it's not easy to do Macro, as you have found out for yourself.
Your second shot is Great........

If your really serious about Macro, you might need to think about a different lens.

Lots of practice, I get heaps of failures with mine, but when you get that one special shot it's worth all the failures

Keep practicing Skippy (Australia)

Awais Yaqub

Your angle of 2nd is great for me these are great even without macro lens .Are these crops ?

Lord Vetinari

NewCreation517 wrote:

I must say I am honored that Brian liked one of my shots! I was just looking at all of yours, and they are breathtaking! Particularly your panorama dragonfly ... wow!

What sort of camera/lens do you use Brian? Thanks for the tips!

Hi,
I started with a 300Dand a 105mm EX lens (still use both of them) added extension tubes and now frequently use a 20D and a MPE-65.
You can get more info on rigs and methods here
http://www.flickr.com/groups/topic/66514/

Brian V.