Post your macro photos here

[Blue439]

A parade of plugs (2020)

I must have been at a particular loss for inspiration in May 2020 when I shot those... They are Quies ear plugs that I sometimes use to not be woken by the garbage truck early in the morning, when we sleep with the window open. Our neighborhood is normally very quiet and I swear the trash guys are on a mission to take revenge on everyone around for their having to be up and running so early in the morning!

Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 50mm, ƒ/1.8 S “Nifty Fifty” lens, 15–mm Fotodiox Pro extension tube. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Single exposure.

 

[BF Hammer]

A couple of recent additions to my other hobby, collecting watches.

Z5, Z MC 105mm f/2.8, plus 2 Z-mount extension rings.

And a time-lapse of another watch without the extension rings.

 

[Blue439]

Inside a Pentium (October 2020)

Super-macro shot (close to 10:1 ratio) of part of the insides of an Intel Pentium microprocessor. Lots of minuscule grains of dust in there!

Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 50mm ƒ/1.8 S lens, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Composite shot made of 35 focus-stacked exposures, set manually using the Novoflex Castel XQ II focusing rail on the bellows. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.

 

[Blue439]

Charms (2020)

Some of the charms on my wife’s bracelet, collected over time. The gold mask is from Venice, the coral “tooth” from Sardinia, and the miniature gold ingot from, I think, Switzerland.

Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z “Nifty Fifty” 50mm ƒ/1.8 S lens, Fotodiox Pro 35-mm extension tube. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Composite shot made up of 12 focus-stacked exposures, set automatically using the built-in function on the camera. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.

 

[Blue439]

The groove of music (2020)

The groove of a vinyl record (which I thought clean!) , seen very up close (about 5:1).

Nikon Z7, Laowa 100mm ƒ/2.8 2× macro lens, Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Composite shot made up of 85 focus-stacked exposures (and the DoF is still razor-thin!), set manually using the Novoflex Castel XQ II focusing rail on the bellows. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.

 

[Blue439]

Inside a (clean) Pentium, the i7 (2020)

A couple of pictures before, I showed an ugly, dirty Pentium after years of good service... Now, here is a brand new one ready to get fired up (and since then, has been working every day faultlessly for four years).

Nikon Z7, Laowa 100mm ƒ/2.8 2× Ultra APO macro lens, manual focus, Fotodiox Pro 35–mm extension tube. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Composite shot made up of 35 focus-stacked exposures, set manually using a NiSi NM-180 focusing rail. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.

 

[Blue439]

In a row (2020)

Pins and cushion purloined borrowed for a moment from my wife’s workshop.

Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 85mm, ƒ/1.8 S lens with 15-mm Fotodiox Pro extension tube. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Single exposure.

 

[Clovishound]

 

[Blue439]

Cute old car !


A glass-encased USB key (2020)

Absurdly lovely example of a protective casing more fragile than its content!

Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens, FTZ adapter. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Single exposure.

 

[wev]

 

[Blue439]

Bee in the lavender (2020)

I know I’m a shabby macrophotographer compared to you guys, but I like the “You talkin’ to me?” attitude of this one.

Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR, FTZ adapter, handheld. Natural light.

 

[Blue439]

A humble Cabbage White on the lavender, however a resounding success (yay! the eye is in focus!) for a novice macrophotographer like me.

Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens, FTZ II adapter. Handheld.

 

[Blue439]

Busy bee (2020)

Another busy guy that was nice enough to stay more or less still long enough for me to take a shot...

Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens, FTZ adapter. Handheld, natural light.

 

[Blue439]

A walk in the park (2021)

The second fortnight of March 2021 was unusually warm, with record–breaking high temperatures all over France. Then, the cold came back at the beginning of April, with record–breaking low temperatures mere days afterwards. This caused a lot of damage on fragile plants that had began to burgeon, such as fruit trees and vine. Thus, in the Tête d’Or park in Lyon, many flowers that had bloomed early, like this peony (is that right?), were wilting...

Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens. FTZ II adapter. Flash lighting, handheld.

 

[Blue439]

One last bee (2020)

Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR lens, FTZ adapter. Flash lighting, handheld.

 

[Blue439]

Encore bees !

Darn ! I do have more bees in the lavender...! I post them because it may be interesting to some to see what can be achieved when shooting insects with the help of a carefully positioned cobra flash. You can obtain an interesting light and nice reflections that make barely passable macro photos look marginally more interesting... I can imagine what some of you guys who are experts at this thing would do with such a technique... not to mention freezing of the action even if there is a breeze!

Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 85mm, ƒ/1.8 S, 15–mm Fotodiox Pro extension tube. Flash lighting, handheld.

 

[Clovishound]

How are you positioning your flash? Are you using any diffusion?

This was taken with my Godox 685. It was mounted on camera and diffused with an AR macro flash diffuser. I can remove the flash and diffuser as a unit and position it where ever I like and then trigger with a wireless trigger. I don't do that often, as it is difficult to juggle everything and deal with fast moving insects. Not only that, the on camera position gives good results, IMO. If I want something lit more from the side, I can rotate the camera to portrait mode and the flash will come from the side.

 

[Blue439]

How are you positioning your flash? Are you using any diffusion?

This was taken with my Godox 685. It was mounted on camera and diffused with an AR macro flash diffuser. I can remove the flash and diffuser as a unit and position it where ever I like and then trigger with a wireless trigger. I don't do that often, as it is difficult to juggle everything and deal with fast moving insects. Not only that, the on camera position gives good results, IMO. If I want something lit more from the side, I can rotate the camera to portrait mode and the flash will come from the side.

I tend to position the flash to one side or the other, depending on where I am versus the vegetation, and with some backlight if I can manage it. I do use a softbox, a Lastolite Joe McNally Ezybox model by Manfrotto (see description here). It looks like this and is the best softbox I ever used on a speedlight:

That softbox is fine on something like a Manfrotto Nano light stand (I think the current model is called 5001B). I sometimes use a Godox Propac PB960 battery pack to weigh down the light stand, with the added advantage of very fast recycle times on the flash, much faster than with batteries, which allows me to fire off at least 5 or 6 shots in Continuous High mode.

Of course, carrying all that stuff makes one less mobile than with an on-camera flash, and setting up takes more time as well, but personally I think the results are worth it. If however you are happy with the results you currently get, you shouldn't change anything.

 

[Blue439]

Flash-lit bee (2020)

Snooted flash to camera right, up above subject. I was lucky that particular bee decided to go back and visit that clump of flowers again! The flash allowed me to overpower the Sun (this was taken in the morning) so that the only light illuminating the scene was the flash’s.

Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 85mm, ƒ/1.8 S, 15–mm Fotodiox Pro extension tube. Flash lighting, handheld.

 

[Blue439]

Flash-lit butterfly (2020)

Cabbage White lit from the left side.

Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens, FTZ adapter. Handheld.