First macros

[fpena]

Hello everyone I'm new to photography and started playing around with some macro shots. I shot this indoors still a bit shy to go outside with my equipment. Please let me know what my pictures are missing. Thank you all.

[melanie2457]

I would prefer seeing all of the rose in focus. The overall image seems really soft to me. There's not much that holds my interest and forces me to keep looking.

[fpena]

melanie,

I thought the same too but I just can't get the whole rose in focus. Any suggestions?

[melanie2457]

Try using a smaller aperture. You shot both at f/4.5 which will give you a very small DOF. Try stopping down to maybe an 8 or so.

[mysticeyesx]

hi and welcome to the group. what gear are you using?

[clockdoc]

Hi and welcome to the group. I see that you are using a Nikon D200 and the shot was at the 55mm focal length for some range of zoom lens. The f/4.5 f/stop is not going to give you much depth of field in shooting a macro of a subject with as much depth as a rose. I assume you shot this on a tripod since the shutter speed was only 1.6 seconds. Depth of field is also a function of how far away you are from the subject. I like the lighting and the background. I encourage you to post more of your work, one thread/image at a time and please provide the technical details such as camera gear/lens, shutter speed and f/stop. If you recorded distance from the subject, that also helps when critiquing a macro as does any unique form of lighting you used.

[fpena]

Yes I used a D200 with a 55mm 1:2.8 micro nikkor. I just used natural lighting. The shot was very close to the rose maybe I have a misconseption about macro photography but for some reason i think that I must be very close to the subject. Thanks.

[clockdoc]

While it is true that you are generally closer to your subject when doing a macros shot you have to consider the size and depth of your subject, the lens you are using (the shorter the focal length, the closer you can get to the subject), the f/stop (as it affects depth of field), how and where you focus to get the most from depth of field (remember that as you stop a lens down, depth of field increases 1/3rd towards the camera and 2/3rds away, from the point at which you focused), the amount and direction of light, the use of flash for 'stopping power', whether or not to use a tripod or hand-hold the shot, and the angle at which you approach your subject that determines how much depth of field you will need. In some cases you may need to resort to shooting multiple shots and 'bracket focus', later rejoining the sharp parts of several images with software to create one composite in 'perfect focus.'