My macros........suck!

jhildebrand

New member
LOL.

Wow, got all excited when my Tamron 90 came for the Nikon D5000. But being a newb at this, I found out just how hard it is to take nice macro pics. Any tips/settings are appreciated. If you stare at these they'll make you nauseated. :hmm3:

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Stability apparently a huge factor. Best I could get:

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More info would help such as what you are shooting with and if you are using a tripod. But first impression is that the depth of field is to small and try using manual focus.
 
Nikon D5000 and Tamron 90 lens. Braced on chair, but that surely doesn't work. Will be playing with a tripod tonight.
 
LOL.

Wow, got all excited when my Tamron 90 came for the Nikon D5000. But being a newb at this, I found out just how hard it is to take nice macro pics. Any tips/settings are appreciated. If you stare at these they'll make you nauseated. :hmm3:

Since you have the equipment, try to do the following:

- shoot at 90 degrees angle against the glass
- open the aperture as much as you can (2.8)
- increase the ISO - the more, the better
- increase the speed as much as possible
- use tripod if possible
- you may stop any pumps during the shot
- adjust the white balance
- show us the results :spin3:

Good luck!
 
Since you have the equipment, try to do the following:

- shoot at 90 degrees angle against the glass
- open the aperture as much as you can (2.8)
- increase the ISO - the more, the better
- increase the speed as much as possible
- use tripod if possible
- you may stop any pumps during the shot
- adjust the white balance
- show us the results

Good luck!

Wow, that is really nailing it!
 
You're macro's do not suck.. they are just technically challenged... they have a wow factor for sure, just not a wow those are amazing factor...

hehe... just jabb'n you in the ribs... looking forward to your new shots with tripod and tips.

Tim
 
Since you have the equipment, try to do the following:

- shoot at 90 degrees angle against the glass
- open the aperture as much as you can (2.8)
- increase the ISO - the more, the better
- increase the speed as much as possible
- use tripod if possible
- you may stop any pumps during the shot
- adjust the white balance
- show us the results :spin3:

Good luck!

Yupp, couldn't agree more with those suggestions. The most underrated suggestion is definitely turning off the pump and waiting a couple of minutes for all the bubbles to stop and keep the coral movement to a minimum.
 
The tripod will be here tomorrow I believe. The one I have now doesn't work with this camera. I'll take some shots of the same coral with pumps off and tripod and we'll see how she goes. Thanks for the help :)
 
open the aperture as much as you can (2.8)

Although this is going to help you shoot at a higher shutter speed and/or lower ISO, realize this is going to give you a very narrow depth of field. Case in point, even if you're photographing something a foot away, you have less than 1/2" depth of field with that focal length and f-stop. At six inches away, it's around 1/10" depth of field. I don't think I've ever taken a macro shot of anything in my tank at f/2.8. I'm usually stopped down to f/11+. . .it obviously depends on the subject of course. For shooting fish, shutter speed is important, but I'd rather sacrifice my ISO or use flash. For the OP, you may want to look into off camera flash.

Corals are generally easier, because many of them don't move. You can also shut off your pumps (which I almost always do when taking tank shots) to help out with this. Now, you're not so limited with shutter speeds, but a tripod is an absolute must. Of course, you can use off-camera flash here as well, but I generally prefer to just use the aquarium lighting whenever possible.

Lastly, search online for a depth of field chart. It's extremely important in macro photography to determine the depth of field you need and set your aperture accordingly.
 
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Most cameras also have a depth of field preview button. The frame will be dark but it can help you see how much of the scene is in focus. There also needs to be some sense applied to choosing the aperture. Most cameras start incurring diffraction above f/13. Using a higher than necessary f-stop will actually make your images less sharp.
 
OK, now that I'm at home and can see your EXIF, I'd say aperture is probably your biggest issue. You can see that there are small areas of the coral that are actually in pretty good focus, but your aperture is around 3.5-4.0 in most of those pictures. The tripod should help you out immensely. Given what you're photographing, try an aperture around 16. For everything other than that sexy shrimp, you shouldn't have to worry very much about shutter speed, so you'll be able to drop your ISO down as well. It looks like your well on your way, because otherwise, those are actually pretty decent pictures.
 
OK, now that I'm at home and can see your EXIF, I'd say aperture is probably your biggest issue. You can see that there are small areas of the coral that are actually in pretty good focus, but your aperture is around 3.5-4.0 in most of those pictures. The tripod should help you out immensely. Given what you're photographing, try an aperture around 16. For everything other than that sexy shrimp, you shouldn't have to worry very much about shutter speed, so you'll be able to drop your ISO down as well. It looks like your well on your way, because otherwise, those are actually pretty decent pictures.

Yep! There IS point in the above, completely agree. When there is enough light, you start increasing the aperture until you get the best shot. Even slightly underexposed and with noise from the high ISO there is good chance to recover data from the image.
Of course all the above recomendations are general and it depends of the current conditions, i.e. if you try to shoot fish which swims on the top of the tank, where the light is strong.
One more thing that we forgot to mention - always to shoot RAW.
jhildebrand, i hope your front glass is not curved? This would make things almost impossible.
 
jhildebrand, i hope your front glass is not curved? This would make things almost impossible.

I can vouch for the difficulty there. I owned a 46g bowfront, and although I loved the look of the bowed front, I'll never buy one again. You can still take some very good pictures through it, but there are definitely limitations, and certainly challenges.
 
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