Another newbie says g'day

Arron · Post by **Arron** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:32 pm

Hi. I’m a new member and new to macro. My name is Arron and I live in Sydney, Australia – a place never short of flies, spiders and bugs. I’ve been lurking around here for a couple of weeks. I have to say this is an amazing forum – you guys do a wonderful job in terms of quality of photos and the technical resources on offer.

I took up macro about three weeks ago – in fact I’d been wanting to try it for a long time but have been put off by the fact that I don’t find hunching over a macro setup pleasant, and because my eyesight isn’t particularly good for close work. What happened to change this was that a few weeks ago I was doing some web surfing when I found a program that allows me to tether my camera to a PC, trigger the shutter from the pc, and see the results immediately on screen in Adobe Bridge. Its all quite comfortable and there is very little hunching and squinting, though it does limit me to indoor desktop setups.

My other problem with macro is that coming from a background in amateur wildlife (mainly bird) photography I can’t get past the need to get the whole subject in focus. This was solved when I discovered stacking software at about the same time.

My current macro gear is a Nikon D80, Kenko extension tubes and a Nikkor 50 mm 1.8 (the cheap plasticy one). I’ve put up a couple of my first photos - A robber fly, a cuckoo wasp and some hatching shield bugs.

I have a very small macro gallery at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45036932@N06/

And you might like to see some of my bird images, which are at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25163113@N08/

I’m looking forward to watching my macro skills learning and growing on this forum.
Cheers
Arron

augusthouse · Post by **augusthouse** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 12:08 am

Welcome to the forum Arron

I had a look through your Flickr galleries

Craig

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 2:10 am

Arron, welcome aboard!

You may have set a new record for highest quality images posted by a newbie. These really deserve to go up in the main galleries. Technical and Studio, I presume?

Also, I would be interested to hear more about your equipment and procedures. These images give the impression of being live subjects, which is a bit unusual, particularly for stacking and newbies. How do you do this??

--Rik

Ferry · Post by **Ferry** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 12:02 pm

Mmm... a newbie? You are kidding me! You did wonderful work. The bugs who emerged from the eggs are very beautiful and very sharp.

Arron · Post by **Arron** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 9:30 pm

Ferry wrote:Mmm... a newbie? You are kidding me! You did wonderful work. The bugs who emerged from the eggs are very beautiful and very sharp.

Well I said I was new to macro but never said I was new to technical photography - and I'm an old hand with Photoshop

Planapo · Post by **Planapo** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:20 am

Welcome, Arron!

Enjoyed also your bird images! The closest and best look at Australian avifauna that I have had so far! Love your Ozzie "variegated fairy wren"!

--Betty

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:46 am

What we don't get the Australian salute (right hand fly swatting) and the hat with corks hanging down?

Is the dioptre adjustment on the D80 viewfinder not enough for your eyesight then? Many camera firms provide supplementary correction lenses to fit on their viewfinders if the built in dioptre correction is not enough:-

http://support.nikontech.com/app/answer ... adjustment

http://doug.kerr.home.att.net/pumpkin/V ... ection.pdf

I wear glasses for the computer screen but can adjust my D200 viewfinder dioptre correction to screen focus OK without glasses.

Great pictures.

DaveW

Arron · Post by **Arron** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:55 pm

rjlittlefield wrote: Also, I would be interested to hear more about your equipment and procedures. These images give the impression of being live subjects, which is a bit unusual, particularly for stacking and newbies. How do you do this??

--Rik

Hi Rik,
sorry to disappoint, but the robber fly and wasp are quite dead. After death, I glued them to twigs with superglue, and took the photo of the fly upside down to provide the leg extension. I've been trying hard to find ways to photograph live bugs as I generally dont like killing things that mean me no harm and dont look good on a dinner plate - but with very limited success so far. If anyone is holding any secrets on using live subjects then please let me know.

This is a picture of my desktop macro setup. Its really quite crude, just a prototype at this stage. I made the box from offcuts of melamine coated pineboard I was using to make some cupboards at home. The sides and top have cut-out panels which are covered with thin plastic tablecloth which makes good diffusers. The lamps are just cheapies from KMart. These are fitted with inexpensive halogen 'natural light' bulbs, which provide a light that is quite well balanced. The rear of the box has a slot through which I can slide various different backgrounds. The base of the box has several layers of pineboard, the top one of which slides backwards and forwards when you turn the black triangular knob visible on the left. One full turn = 1.1 mm. This provides the movement when doing stacking shots. At this stage the camera position is fixed, beyond what the tripod head allows, something I'll probably fix on the next version.

To get some good shots, all I need to do is set the subject up, connect the camera to the PC, start the tether software, choose time lapse and an interval of a couple of seconds, then turn the knob the estimated right amount between each shot, stopping when the shots continuously downloading to the PC show me that I've stopped capturing anything in useful focus (or the subject has moved).

I expect everyone who does indoor macro has a setup something like this, it did seem hard to find any information about what others have on the web though.

cheers
Arron

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 2:35 pm

Arron,

Setups vary. Yours has some details that are different from any I've seen before. Thanks very much for showing us. I'd like to link it into the FAQ on stacking rigs. Any chance of getting just a bit more detail how that screw adjustment is put together, for the benefit of folks who might like to duplicate it?

I had already guessed that the wasp was dead and glued. The fly had me puzzled. Superglue and upside-down had not occurred to me, and now that I know, I still can't tell. That's a nice job of micro-taxidermy.

Regarding techniques for live subjects, the forums contain discussions regarding cold, chemicals, and naturally passive beasts. Having tried 'em all, I'd have to say that naturally passive is the only one that works very well for me. Every time I try to stop a critter that wants to move, it's likely as not to die anyway despite my best efforts.

--Rik

homestar455 · Post by **homestar455** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:17 pm

Welcome Arron.

That's some beautiful work. You could have fooled me with those first two.

Arron · Post by **Arron** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 4:04 am

rjlittlefield wrote:Arron,

Setups vary. Yours has some details that are different from any I've seen before. Thanks very much for showing us. I'd like to link it into the FAQ on stacking rigs. Any chance of getting just a bit more detail how that screw adjustment is put together, for the benefit of folks who might like to duplicate it?

--Rik

Hi Rick. I'm currently remaking my setup, so I'll take some photos on the way through - and maybe we can do something with them. Incidently, I'm currently chopping up some white Carera marble to make the bases out of as I have a lot of trouble with vibration as the only place I have for macro photography is also the television/rumpus room and there are people walking around and cats always climbing over the table. I may be working on a misunderstanding thinking that a heavy stone base is the best way to prevent vibration, but even if it doesnt work it will make us look a bit classy

.

DaveW, my eyesight is well within the range of the built-in dioptre correction, and I get my glasses checked regularly, but it still doesnt stop me getting headaches and tired/sore eyes with close work. Thanks for the input though. And by the way, I've been out west for the last couple of days and would have done anything for one of those hats with the corks.

cheers
Arron

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 7:55 am

Glad to here it Arron, I hope Santa brings you all the macro equipment you want.

Merry Christmas:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1eu3oGGKEY

DaveW

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:41 am

Arron wrote:thinking that a heavy stone base is the best way to prevent vibration, but even if it doesnt work it will make us look a bit classy

Heavy stone bases on squishy supports are great for isolating cameras from external vibrations.

For squishy supports, Lefkowitz uses "four inner tubes from go-kart tires inflated to 3 lbs (1.3 kg) of pressure" (page 157, The Manual of Close-Up Photography).

Sorbothane supports are the high-tech version.

--Rik