Ugliest model ever... but I think he's smiling...

[Kbaby]

HI all,

I recieved my new Tamron 90mm Macro yest and whilst giving it a good work out I found this little guy sitting happily on my green waste bin. I think I got lucky on my first day playing with my new lens and am pretty stoked with how this picture came out. My focus seems pretty spot on on his eyes (to my bad eyesight anyway), my only slight problem with the photo is that the focus then falls back towards his back instead of further on his face... does it take away from the photo overall?
Also, I think its dust at the bottom of the image, forgot to clean that up in PP, will get onto that later =)

And ofcoarse any other CCs you can find are welwome too,

Thanks Guys.





Nikon D90
Tamron 90mm 2.8 Macro
f20
1/250th
ISO 1000

[Stryker]

Good one there, Kbaby. The focus fall off is mildly affecting the photo, especially towards the back near the wings which are almost totally blurred. Maybe you should consider cropping this to show only the head and part of the back?

I have the same lens with me as well, I can attest to its sharpness and quality. But macro work is very difficult if you rely on auto focus. Were you in auto focus or manual focus?

[Kbaby]

Thanks Stryker, yeah I was in Auto... as I'd only had the lens for about 4hours when I took this shot I wasn't game enough to take it off auto without my tripod and I didn't think I'd have enough time to run inside and grab it and him still be there, and it was also shot in just natural daylight, hence the high ISO. I noticed I get ALOT of shake when that close too, can see why a tripod, flash and remote is all essential macro tools, hehe!

Would there have been any other way to capture it without getting my tripod? Say if I had of closed down my aperture a bit more to about f28? (I've noticed this lens goes all the way down to f/40), Any idea how far I can stop it down before it affects IQ?
Sorry for the questions, just want to get to know my new lensa =)

[Stryker]

Not intending to hijack your thread, here is one I shot of a fly some time back (about a year ago) with the same lens. Notice that the aperture is f/8, which is about optimum for this lens. Most of the fly is in good focus mainly because I was directly above it and shooting straight down:




EXIF:

Shutter: 1/125 sec.
Aperture: f/8.0
Exposure: 0.0 EV
ISO speed: 200

So a smaller aperture doesn't necessarily get more into focus, it is more dependent on what angle you are to your subject.

/Edit: This was a handheld shot, so a tripod is not an absolute necessity.

[Kbaby]

Great shot! I don't consider that hijacking...It's a a good example.

I understand how being straight ontop of it would bring it all in focus even at f/8 due to all its back being on the same focal plane ensuring you had it crisp when your working with such a narrow Dof yeah?

But if I wanted to get another shot at that same angle I took this one at then there would be no way to get it all sharp unless I either a) Stopped down further to increase DOF, which may only give me another mm b) Move further back from the fly to increase DOF and crop in closer later or c) Try my luck at a composite image and hope the bugger sits there long enough for me to focus at different parts of his body and merge them together later?

Thanks for your help too =)

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by Kbaby

I understand how being straight ontop of it would bring it all in focus even at f/8 due to all its back being on the same focal plane ensuring you had it crisp when your working with such a narrow Dof yeah?

You got it in one!

Originally Posted by Kbaby

But if I wanted to get another shot at that same angle I took this one at then there would be no way to get it all sharp unless I either

Let me try and answer this point by point:

Originally Posted by Kbaby

a) Stopped down further to increase DOF, which may only give me another mm

Stopping down further will not give you much more DOF, especially at 1:1 macro. At most, you may gain a millimeter as you have pointed out, but the down side is higher ISO and / or slower shutter speed, both of which are not good for the image.

Originally Posted by Kbaby

b) Move further back from the fly to increase DOF and crop in closer later

This is probably your best bet, but note that cropping in too close will result in a very soft image.

Originally Posted by Kbaby

c) Try my luck at a composite image and hope the bugger sits there long enough for me to focus at different parts of his body and merge them together later?

All the very best when you attempt to do this! The bugger might sit there, but can you?

[Kbaby]

Exactly all the same downsides I came up with while thinking of those options thismorn. Think I may have to throw this in the too hard basket for now but atleast I now know what needs to be done in future and understand a bit better the limitations on macro, so a BIG thankyou for the help!

As for me sitting there long enough to take a composite image, to answer honestly, nope, no way could I manage it LOL! Not to mention I've never attempted to stitch/mask photos together, but might be something for a rainy day =)