# Macro help?



## minicoop1985 (Sep 11, 2013)

I also tried some macro shots yesterday with my wife's Sony Alpha a230, kit 55mm 18-55 f3-5.6 lens. As they are, I like them (they're unedited), but know they can be better. Numbers 1 and 2 are taken by me, and 3 is a sample of what I'd like to accomplish. What settings would you recommend in full sunlight? Or what could I do editing wise with these two existing images? All constructive comments are VERY appreciated. Thanks, everyone.

1






2





3 (sample of what I want to accomplish-NOT my work, taken from Google Images)


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## Murray Bloom (Sep 11, 2013)

What is it about #3 that you like?  It's a pretty ordinary shot, IMO


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## minicoop1985 (Sep 11, 2013)

I see much more detail. In 1 and 2, I feel like there's a lot of lost detail in the petals. I'm hoping to do something special for my wife with some of her favorite flowers. What I'm after is a higher level of detail. I should have mentioned that, sorry.


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## Murray Bloom (Sep 11, 2013)

I'm still not sure what detail you're seeing.  Is this more what you're after?


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## ontop27 (Sep 11, 2013)

Just doesn't seem very macro to me, I think of macro being with a 1:1 lense or at least 1:2

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## minicoop1985 (Sep 11, 2013)

I think you may be right,  Ontop. The lens probably has a lot to do with it.

Murray, that's an improvement, most definitely. What did you do?


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## Murray Bloom (Sep 11, 2013)

In Photoshop, I used Shadows/Highlights to recover highlight and shadow detail, then Levels to compress the middle tones and extend the brightest and darkest ones.


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## weepete (Sep 11, 2013)

I think its more to do with the thin dof and separation from the background  to get that smooth oof blur. Pic three is a single bloom where as yours have a lot of leaves from the stem. Try picking a single flower, set a short dof and get a good 3-6ft from your background (make that as green as possible, so a lawn or big green bush etc) and use a long focal length if you can


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## cgipson1 (Sep 11, 2013)

You need better lighting... diffused off camera flash, preferably... or even an external flash on camera with a small diffuser. #1 and #2... shadows are too dark, and highlights are bright.. need to even them out at a good exposure. #3 has good color... needs more DOF and sharpness.

Start leaving the metadata in, so we can see what you are doing.....


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## JTPhotography (Sep 11, 2013)

Its the lighting. Third one is nice and soft, first two were shot in full harsh sunlight, which is usually not good.


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## minicoop1985 (Sep 11, 2013)

cgipson1 said:


> You need better lighting... diffused off camera flash, preferably... or even an external flash on camera with a small diffuser. #1 and #2... shadows are too dark, and highlights are bright.. need to even them out at a good exposure. #3 has good color... needs more DOF and sharpness.
> 
> Start leaving the metadata in, so we can see what you are doing.....



I'm not sure how to do that. Should I be using flickr instead of Photobucket for that reason? Given pretty much everyone here uses flickr I figure there has to be a reason.

Ah, so it's lighting. OK. Well, currently, she doesn't have a mounted flash for her Alpha, just the stock pop up one. When my Olympus E-450 gets back, I have a T-20 OM system flash that physically fits, and I would like to use it as a remote flash. I don't yet know what I need to do that or if it would even work at all. HOPEFULLY I can get this all figured out and mount a diffuser on it, then see what it can do. Worst case I'll just suck it up and get a flash made for the EVOLT series. Thanks a bunch, guys.


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## JTPhotography (Sep 12, 2013)

I don't think that third shot had any flash.


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## minicoop1985 (Sep 12, 2013)

I started a Flickr and got Lightroom. The latest Photoshop is... well, I'm a beginner and I'm cheap. :greenpbl:. Here's some of my products from the first two... Think it's an improvement? Or should I just try and get a different photo? I think the metadata (I had to look THAT up too-but I'm glad I did) is intact now.




DSC05685 by longm1985, on Flickr




DSC05684 by longm1985, on Flickr


I'm totally new to flickr and have just basically found out that I have no idea what I'm doing with it. This may take a few tries.


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## Nervine (Sep 13, 2013)

For external flash you could look at some of the Minolta stuff. I previously used a 5400HS which cost less than $50 and worked great.   

Is macro something you really want to dabble in? There are some cheaper options than a dedicated macro lens and can achieve some good results


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## minicoop1985 (Sep 15, 2013)

I would like to, but my wife is VERY into the idea. We have a "macro" lens that isn't really a true macro I don't think... 28-80 with a little "Macro" section that converts the zoom to focus and the focus wheel still focuses... It's very strange and hard to explain. As for flash, I think I've found a perfect candidate for hers. In addition to her Sony Alpha, I have an Olympus E-450 (4/3). Do you have any (budget) lens recommendations for either of them? Thanks!

I did get this today with an OM-1n. This is more along the lines of what I'm trying to accomplish, but with a tulip instead.




R1-04325-0022 by longm1985, on Flickr


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## Nervine (Sep 15, 2013)

I personally started with the Tamron 60mm macro lens and loved it before moving to the Sony 100mm. This all depends on your budget though. 

2 options which are cheaper and you could try are a set of extension tubes or a reversing ring and you could use your existing lens.


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## minicoop1985 (Sep 15, 2013)

Perfect. Thanks, I'll look into them and show her what I find.


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## hellgap (Oct 3, 2013)

I bought the polaroid macro tubes off amazon and they are by far the best bang for the buck. They have all electrical conections too for 75 bucks . don't get the manual plain tubes  for 25 bucks they arnt nearly as good. I also bought a reversing ring and us it on either my 18/55 or 55/250 . I have my best shots with my 18/270 tamron along with the macro tubes in manual  mostly. I will show a shot of a flower using tubes. Hope this helps/ kelly


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