I posted another thread up a while back with my very first ever shots in macro taken using a reverse ring and a 50mm lens...today on this fine Sunday I got out in the dirt to try it again...

The bug was maybe 1mm long (maybe)... I am guessing... small though..

The shots below were taken with an extension tube and a 50mm lens... This time I selected my lens more carefully...one of the other lenses I have only goes to f16..... the one I chose for this went to f22...so I tried that so it could give me a thicker DOF and be a little more forgiving...

The first shot is the full shot, not cropped (except one small edge that was distracting), just resized for the most part... the second shot is a crop of the first shot...






The bugs were tiny... smaller than a mosquito and were sitting on the petal of a small orange flower....

I did try to mojo with the brightness and colors and such but I still don't know what I am doing in that department. I just played with it until it looked good...

[alamo5000]

Here is a 100% crop of the photo above...

[eaglem]

Good attempt and something there to work with. Although lighting/colour and contrast are important to having a good shot another important step is the removal of noise you get when cropping the shot. If you google Noise removal in Photography I'm sure you'll get a lot of methods and proceedures for doing this. Keep up the good work.

[alamo5000]

I put up the 100% crop to show the focus....I felt like I was WAY better at focusing this time around...

The shot was taken at ISO 1600 and 1/40...

One thing is for sure... the difference between f16 and f22 is HUGE in the macro world... that is my lesson of the day...

I do not own a macro ring so this was all done with 100% natural light... when I tried to do it slower and lower ISO I was getting too much shake....

[alamo5000]

Good attempt and something there to work with. Although lighting/colour and contrast are important to having a good shot another important step is the removal of noise you get when cropping the shot. If you google Noise removal in Photography I'm sure you'll get a lot of methods and proceedures for doing this. Keep up the good work.

I call post processing 'witch doctoring'... if there is some way to witch doctor the noise I will do it...

BTW these were shot straight to JPEG...I will work my way up to using RAW eventually...my brain is overloading with info that I need to know....and my bank account is getting lower and lower since I bought the camera...

[eaglem]

I call post processing 'witch doctoring'... if there is some way to witch doctor the noise I will do it...

BTW these were shot straight to JPEG...I will work my way up to using RAW eventually...my brain is overloading with info that I need to know....and my bank account is getting lower and lower since I bought the camera...

I shoot all of my shots in jpg so that won't be a problem for you.

[hangman43]

Get creative ring flash is not necessary I use a homemade diffuser on 99% of my shots hardly ever get my ring flash out.
I also shoot 90% in jpeg only

[alamo5000]

Those are awesome pictures!!!

I didn't use any kind of flash at all on my pictures...but I am learning!

I am using the old tried and true method of trial and error

If I break out the flash in one way or another I should be able to bump my ISO back down...My photo was taken with sunlight only.

What the heck is that on your camera and how did you make it????

[hangman43]

Those are awesome pictures!!!

I didn't use any kind of flash at all on my pictures...but I am learning!

I am using the old tried and true method of trial and error

If I break out the flash in one way or another I should be able to bump my ISO back down...My photo was taken with sunlight only.

What the heck is that on your camera and how did you make it????

It is actually one of the resealable container that lunch meat comes in lined with aluminum foil and a coffee filter under the lid. I also have one made out of a pringles can that works pretty good too.



Here is a couple with the Pringles can diffuser.

[alamo5000]

Those are awesome shots!!!

I might invest in some pringles LOL!

I also assume you are using a dedicated macro lens...I have only owned a DSLR at all for a month maybe...

I am brand new...so I am experimenting.

My shot was done using a Pentax A series 50mm f1:1.7 lens and some extension tubes...

The problem with trial and error in photography is it gets pretty dang expensive after a while...

"I want to try that lens and find out if I like it..." can get real costly real quick, especially for the curious. (like me)

[hangman43]

Those are awesome shots!!!

I might invest in some pringles LOL!

I also assume you are using a dedicated macro lens...I have only owned a DSLR at all for a month maybe...

I am brand new...so I am experimenting.

My shot was done using a Pentax A series 50mm f1:1.7 lens and some extension tubes...

The problem with trial and error in photography is it gets pretty dang expensive after a while...

"I want to try that lens and find out if I like it..." can get real costly real quick, especially for the curious. (like me)

I went through a bunch of trial and error myself started with homemade ext.tubes and reversed lens then I got a Pentax M100F/4 macro which is 1:2 with tubes is a little over 1:1I now have a Lester A. Dine 105mm macro and still a lot of trial and error to get what I want out of the pics.
Try to get some better light on your subject and you should get some decent pics with the 50mm and tubes there are some how tos on the internet for a flash diffuser for the pop up flash they work pretty good. There is a guy on another of my forums that uses it with good results.