First macro shot

Hi,

I got a Tamron 90mm f2.8 over the Christmas period and had a little spare time today to mess around with it. I have only been doing photography for about 15 months so still relatively new to it all. Just looking for your feedback and some hints and tips im missing.

Thanks in advance.

Cool post! I am in the market for a macro lens and would be very curious in your opinion/comments on your Tamron. I am looking at the Tamron 90mm and the Nikon 105mm.

actionward said:

Hi,

I got a Tamron 90mm f2.8 over the Christmas period and had a little spare time today to mess around with it. I have only been doing photography for about 15 months so still relatively new to it all. Just looking for your feedback and some hints and tips im missing.

Thanks in advance.

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Good try, but you did ask. Depth of field (good focus on both near and far points) is very difficult to achieve in macro pictures. Macro distances simply have very little depth of field. However, I do think your picture could have been stopped down more, towards f/16 or even more. This increases depth of field (which is very tiny in macro pictures). Even f/22 can help. Stopped down this much certainly does increase diffraction (unsharpness), but the increased depth of field can sometimes be worth the tradeoff. A bit of practice can show this.

Also, to maximize the depth you have, you can consciously focus at a point about half way into the depth of the scene, so that available depth of field will extend both behind and in front of that selected focus point. If you focus on either a near point or a far point, it wastes half of your depth of field, which is never much to start with.

To add to what Wayne said, you will need more light or longer shutter speed to get that f stop up to f16. Longer shutter speed will require a tripod. Bright sun might get you there without a tripod. Use aperture priority and keep an eye on the shutter speed the camera selects. if necessary, drop the aperture down until your shutter speed comes up to a safe level for hand holding.

You could try your onboard flash [I feel Wayne cringing]. It will make some harsh shadows, but you will get a feel for using a higher f stop. So try this: onboard flash popped up... iso set to 100, manual exposure mode: 1/200 and f16. Auto focus should work ok for this. Use a single point. Focus at a mid distance point. If the whole flower does not come out sharp with this, back up a few inches.

My experience is that you will never get a whole flower or anything to come out sharp taking a single photo. (see focus stacking) I suggest picking a part of the subject that you want in focus and going from there. If you're shooting handheld, shoot a burst of shots while moving the camera slightly closer and farther from subject. Here's a handheld shot D7000 & Tokina 100 2.8 macro 200 ISO, f/5.6, 1/60 sec. I always use manual focus on macro.

actionward said:

Hi,

I got a Tamron 90mm f2.8 over the Christmas period and had a little spare time today to mess around with it. I have only been doing photography for about 15 months so still relatively new to it all. Just looking for your feedback and some hints and tips im missing.

Thanks in advance.
View attachment 66052

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A very simple observation from me. Your focus point seems to be on the outer petals (some ageing and bruising on our rh side) whereas I think it would be nicer to see all those younger petals forming in the centre of the flower. Cheers, Brad

I am not sure that shot is actually macro as much as it is close up. Macro is 1:1 or greater.