Assignment #47: Dew
Nikolai
Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
No, I'm not talking about popular club soda brand. I'm talking about the water droplets resting comfortably on grass blades, branches, leaves, cobwebs, roof racks, etc.
In case you have hard time finding the real dew (which usually forms as a result of a condensation), it's OK to use the results of a rain, sprinklers, or even your own hosework, as long as it looks like real thing:-) :wink .
Try to get close. Dew droplets are small, yet you want them to look as big and prominent as possible. Macro lens and/or extension tubes are highly recommended.
For samples and technicalities please see wonderful macro exercises by Lord Vetinary, since most of his advices will suite our case perfectly. :bow
Another useful thing is the book "Light: Science & Magic", esp. its glass section.
Fresh pictures only. Moderate post-processing OK. For the rest of the rules please consult this sticky.
Let's get us some dew!
In case you have hard time finding the real dew (which usually forms as a result of a condensation), it's OK to use the results of a rain, sprinklers, or even your own hosework, as long as it looks like real thing:-) :wink .
Try to get close. Dew droplets are small, yet you want them to look as big and prominent as possible. Macro lens and/or extension tubes are highly recommended.
For samples and technicalities please see wonderful macro exercises by Lord Vetinary, since most of his advices will suite our case perfectly. :bow
Another useful thing is the book "Light: Science & Magic", esp. its glass section.
Fresh pictures only. Moderate post-processing OK. For the rest of the rules please consult this sticky.
Let's get us some dew!
"May the f/stop be with you!"
0
Comments
I can't get closer because I don't have macro ring, macro lens, or any equipment for that kind of pictures.
I think this is not very good, indeed.
You may ask then, why do you post it ?
Because it's the best I can do (is it ?) for now with the available lens.
And I was not going to miss this assignment, not now that I have been participating in all of them.:D
Thank you for the entry and braving this one up for all of us!
Interesting take :-) I guess, a condensation is a form of a dew (or vice versa:-), and a film is as good a media as the ones I mentioned..
Funny: looks like Europe (and Russia) has one way of dealing with storing veggies, while in US it's a bit different:-)
For those who have not got any closeup lenses, You could try:-
a) reversing a lens around 50mm directly on the camera body- you can do this by simply holding it there and shooting in Av,Tv or M modes. You can also on most DSLRs preset the aperture by mounting the lens normaly set an aperture in Av mode (say F8) and then remove the lens whilst keeping the DOF preview button depressed (assuming you do not have an old manual lens handy).
b) Reverse a lens on the front of another normally mounted lens- Normally either the same focal length or the reversed lens smaller focal length than the main lens and either literally temporarily tape the lens on with duct tape or make a temporary connecting tube out of butyl rubber sheet or some foam material (camping mat is good for this)
In both cases it's best then to focus just by moving the camera. The kit lens you typically get with a camera is fine for either method.
Couple of example shots using the dewdrop as a lens. I place a flower behind the drop.
Brian V.
Natural light
Flash
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/
http://www.lordv.smugmug.com/
Thank you very much, I do appreciate your input!
You gave us all a reason to shoot / re-shoot !:D
Important small tutorial.
Thank you
Man, more amazing photos AND he's a Pratchett fan. If only you didn't have a creepy bug blowing bubbles for your avatar, you'd be perfect.
Thank you so much for these tips! I'd read elsewhere about "reversing the lens" but had no clue how to go about doing that while focusing, et al. Thank you for giving me that clue.
Thanks!
Thanks are great, but I wanna see some pikchas!
I tried many times yesterday, and failed many times.
Will try again today. I'm determined to figure this whole "macro dew" thing out.:pissed
brian V.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/
http://www.lordv.smugmug.com/
Can you please describe your setup for this shot?
:jawdrop :jawdrop :jawdrop :jawdrop :jawdrop
Was using my MPE-65 macro lens with flash- camera in manual,1/200th ISO200, F9. magnification about 2.5:1 I think. The natural dew is on a sedum spectabile seed I noticed in the grass. Flower placed about 2cms behind it and series of 5 shots taken to cover the DOF and then focus stacked.
brian V.
Here's another dewdrop shot- this time on grass - fraid dewdrops are one of my favourite subjects
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/
http://www.lordv.smugmug.com/
Thank you, appreciate the info!
Another great entry! You're the King of Dewdrops!
I'm only afraid that now nobody would dare to post here:-)
C'mon, gang, we're here to learn, it's not like you gonna get "F" and detention..
The photos I have posted make me laught of so ridiculous, looking at those from Brian.
You know Nikolai that I am not going to let you down.:D
I will post pictures of dew, yes I will !
I just need some more time.
Sweet Baby James!!!
www.feliciabphotography.com
I tried following your tips here and in your sticky in the Techniques forum, but this is my first brush with macro, dew, and flash. (I am a n00b in the extreme.
By trying to set this shot up and PP it, your advice elsewhere now makes a lot more sense. I will be trying this again. For now, I was happy I could actually see a flower in the drop (i.e., I know it's a crap shot, but I felt guilty filling this thread with so much chatter and not even an attempt). So much more to learn!
Now, how did you do it?
Oops...forgot that part, didn't I?
ISO: 100
SS: 1/200
f/9.0
300mm
Flash: +1.0 EV
I can't afford a big, fancy flash yet, so I was using my pop-up flash with three pieces of Scotch tape over it to "diffuse" it.
Macro...how can something so tiny be so danged HARD?
Rose right behind my apartment, black poster board for backdrop, and artificial dew (water dripped on slowly, mostly from fingertips). Taken with a Fuji S5Pro and Tamron SP Di AF 90mm 1:2.8 Macro 1:1 under natural overcast morning light.
Self-comment: Shoulda used a higher f-stop and pulled a bit more depth of field. Also, still working on fine-tuning the color in the camera, everything currently coming out with a bit of a yellow cast, though I mostly corrected that in development. Was set to +1 Red, +/-0 Blue but will be trying it for a while set to +2 Red, +1 Blue, to see if it helps.
Anyway, the effort:
EXIF
I was inspired by you Llywellyn-
My first try too!
I really enjoyed it, but it was hard. I got a few that I liked...
1.
http://ambience.smugmug.com/photos/181771767-L.jpg
2.
http://ambience.smugmug.com/photos/181767066-M.jpg
3.
For me the hardest thing was that I would be working so hard on getting the right focus for the dew I would bump it and knock it off the leaf- And when I tried the flower reflection thing like the "King of Macros" was telling us about, I had to hold the flower and focus the camera at the same time. It didn't work out as well as I had hoped- I would be looking through the viewfinder and get the flower too close to the water drop and bump the darn thing off. I wonder if you had a tripod for your flower.
Of course if it was easy, it wouldn't be worth working on, right?
Oh then my other excuse- there was a bit of wind.... : )
Awww.
I had a very tall (fake) orchid sitting up on my desk with the (fake) dew drop right in front of it. I wanted to be able to fully control the environment so I could understand where I needed to be versus the flower versus the dew before I tried to do it outdoors. In other words, I cheated.
What were your settings? (So I can steal them and post shots as awesome as yours!
Hey thanks! I had fun and was fairly happy with what I got, even though I didn't get an amazing picture of one of those fancy flower reflection.
I had borrowed some rings from a friend, (and I can't even tell you the magnification) Then of course tripod... I had my 3 kids and some cousins running all about me while I did this so it was a little nerve wracking, and a lot of saying "don't bump me" and "stay away, I am doing something hard."
But anyway, the settings were:
Spider web 1/25 f1.8 ISO 200
Leaf 1/60 f1.8 ISO200 flash fired
grass 1/60 f1.8 ISO800 flash
Probably not the best settings, but aaah well. Who knows!
I didn't read the tutes about it, just plunged ahead!
Here is one more that I plum forgot about, and it does have a bit of a flower reflection, just not fantastic like "the Lords":
with the kit lens reverted.
Pretty amazing that you could do that!
Heather, good evening.:D
I always try hard !
But more are coming in ! Young ones !:D
ST-E2 in action. Flash too harsh ! Same technic: reverted kit lens (18-55). I thought I would never use this thing !
May be they are too similar ... Sorry.
Nice entry, cool writeup, thank you!