Newbie Macro shots with my Nikkon D5000 any advice?

[sks4613]

Newbie Macro shots with my Nikkon D5000 any advice?
So I laid out the cash (not a lot) for what I thought was a decent camera for taking macro shots with. Here is the best I have been able to get with the 18-55 stock VR lense. I also have the 55-200 VR and some magnifying lenses 1x,2x,4x,5x, and 10x however they don't seem to do much.
I think the pictures are ok however I know think the camera is capable of much more. Any ideas on the best macro lense to buy? Any tips on being able to get closer and have the camera function. I can focus at closer distances however it will not take picture. Like I said I am a total newb.
Anyway I think the photos are cool. One of a RR mini colony, and one of an acan frag I had been growing out. I flipped it over and there they were all line up lol.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks
Shannon

 

[mwladdicted]

What are your camera settings? Are you using your manual mode? For macro shots you want a fixed focal lens such as a 105mm, 60mm ect. I personally use the Nikon 105mm for my macro shots.

 

[Brett9917]

Here is the OP from beer guy from the "What Macro Lens Should I Buy?" I trimmed some of the fat for you so here is the part that is useful to you... I also posted the link to thread because it is very informative on buying macro lenses too.

Also, before the article, a few quick things about aquarium photography
1. Tripods are a must. The less your camera moves around, the sharper the pictures will be.
2. Clean glass. Your mag-float and favorite glass cleaner can go a long way.
3. Turn off all powerheads and pumps. If you do this and wait a couple minutes, all your corals will calm down and all the little bubbles and debris should stop moving too.

Macro photography, strictly speaking starts at 1:1 magnification. The 1 to 1 ratio means that the image that gets projected onto your camera sensor is the same size as the object in real life. Anything less than 1:1 isn't truly macro but rather a "closeup."

A number of zoom lenses include the word macro in their titles and descriptions but that's mostly marketing. Any true macro lens will be a fixed focal length; i.e. 100mm not 28-300mm. Macro lenses can also be used for non-closeup work. What distinguishes them from non-macro lenses of the same focal length is their minimum focusing distance. For example, a non macro lens of 100mm focal length has a minimum focus distance of about 5-6'. The macro version about 1'. The magnification is due to the camera being closer to the subject. We call that working distance.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1762095

Hope this wasn't too much to begin with, because there is always plenty more to learn

 

[Hawkdl2]

I have the same camera. You need to turn off the VR if you are using a tripod (which you should be using). VR and tripods don't mix well and usually result in slightly blurry pictures.

 

[IslandCrow]

We'll need a little more information on your settings and methodology. EXIF data would be helpful for a start. If you don't know what that is, just right click on your original picture and look at the advanced properties. Whatever photo editing program you're using should also display your EXIF. The big things I'd be interested in are shutter speed, ISO and aperture.

Other than that, Brett covered the big stuff. A true macro lens is going to be your best bet. Many of those magnifying attachments are poor quality. As far as the pictures you've provided us with, the first is obviously out of focus. It looks like motion blur to me. I'm guessing you hand-held the camera and did not use a fast enough shutter speed. Either that, or you used auto focus and your camera bit off on the wrong focus point. For stationary objects, you're generally going to want a shutter speed of no slower than 1/60. For macro images, I'd recommend no slower than 1/125 for hand-held shots. With a tripod, you can go pretty much as slow as you want, assuming your subject really is perfectly stationary (for example, the water isn't blowing the tentacles around). Your second picture looks pretty good. I'd probably stop down your aperture a bit, and it looks like there may be a little bit of motion blur in that one as well. It could also use a little post processing, but I wouldn't worry too much about that until you get the basic concepts down.

Anyway, as you're no doubt finding, although a higher end camera like the D5000 is a good tool for taking quality photographs, it's the photographer who takes great photographs, and not the camera. The second secret is quality glass (i.e. lenses). I can take a far better picture with a consumer grade camera with professional glass than I can with a professional camera and cheap glass. Now, I'm not saying you need to spend $1000 on a lens to take a good picture, but that's where your primary investment should be when it comes to SLR cameras. A friend of mine once asked a professional wildlife photographer how he took such amazing pictures. His answer was "a $5,000 lens". He was obviously being a bit modest about his own skills, but the point was otherwise quite valid.