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10-10-2016, 01:29 AM   #1
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645z Macro Newbie - Asking for comment and suggestions
Lens: fa 645 120mm macro Camera: Pentax 645z Photo Location: Shanghai ISO: 400 Shutter Speed: 2s Aperture: F32 

I am new to the macro world and took a couple of test shots of a tree seed (no idea what type or name is), these are busy falling in our back yard at the moment.

The picture is minimally cropped, and instead of a tripod, I stabilized the camera and lens on the garden table. I also tried several shots with a bellows extension, and found I could get much closer and more magnification, but was disappointed at the loss of detail.

In post (using PS RAW Editor) I mostly adjusted WB and color balance, but did not have to do much. Actually the more I adjusted the worse it looked, and eventually went back to minimal touch up.

Surprising was depth of field which became really shallow. At f4.0 the dof was about 1mm, which would be impractical in this composition. Eventually I settled on f32 and found sweet spots at iso 400 & 1,600. ISOs 100, 200 and 800 made the colors look very harsh.

Comments and suggestions will be appreciated.

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11-24-2016, 03:23 AM   #2
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Hi

Lots of good details and colours. I think you are on the right track. Your main issue as I see it is depth of field which you recognise ans being of concern. One method of increasing DoF is to move back from the subject. This would mean you would have to crop especially if a nasty background is present. Background is so important in macro.

F32 while certainly increasing your DoF can lead to some loss of detail. I tend to shoot in TaV mode and use f11 at 1/250th as a starting point. ISO I let run right out even if I do get some noise.

There is an excellent You tube video produced by B+H that I find most helpful

Keep shooting.

I would look for a more interesting background or at least a smoother transition from white to black.
07-10-2018, 01:22 AM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by TDvN57 Quote
I am new to the macro world and took a couple of test shots of a tree seed (no idea what type or name is), these are busy falling in our back yard at the moment.

The picture is minimally cropped, and instead of a tripod, I stabilized the camera and lens on the garden table. I also tried several shots with a bellows extension, and found I could get much closer and more magnification, but was disappointed at the loss of detail.

In post (using PS RAW Editor) I mostly adjusted WB and color balance, but did not have to do much. Actually the more I adjusted the worse it looked, and eventually went back to minimal touch up.

Surprising was depth of field which became really shallow. At f4.0 the dof was about 1mm, which would be impractical in this composition. Eventually I settled on f32 and found sweet spots at iso 400 & 1,600. ISOs 100, 200 and 800 made the colors look very harsh.

Comments and suggestions will be appreciated.
You have caught a lot of details in your photo of this tree seed. Well done.
07-10-2018, 02:30 AM   #4
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The closer you get the shallower is the focal plane at any given aperture. Nothing optically can be done about that. Selecting the optimal focal point becomes critical, and without a tripod that is really difficult.

The good news is that with digital photography, focus stacking software can be used to massively increase depth of field without putting your aperture into the diffraction zone.

07-16-2018, 03:34 AM - 1 Like   #5
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Here are a couple of follow up pics. Thanks for all the good advice.
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07-16-2018, 06:29 PM   #6
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Now you are cooking! Love the later efforts! Good work.
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