My first Macro shots

[Hammonje]

I am a huge WWII and Korean Era US service rifle collector and sell parts, stocks, etc on the net. I bought a Nikon D7000 b/c I was tired of sub-par pictures. Mainly my issue was color reproduction in low light. I often need to take some pics on the fly and the quality has a lot to do with profit margins.

I was messing around with the Nikorr 60mm f/2.8G. The color reproduction was what is tricky. I balanced it with a gray card. The picture is an M1 Garand post-WWII stock cartouche, a DAS stamp, or US Defense Acceptance Stamp. About 1/2" square. Sometimes called chicken and stars stamp.





Give me your thoughts.

[ihsankhairir]

my humble opinion is that it is not sharp enough and the light and shadows does not show the features of the stamp well. maybe you can change the angle of your composition to a bit lower or change the angle of the lighting in a way that can make the features of the stamp more defined.

[Thunder_o_b]

Hi there,

Lighting is giving you some issues here. I am a firm beleaver that your best friend in macro (next to the lens ) is a diffused flash rig. This is the bracket that I use for almost all my macro shots.Delta Flip Flash I Bracket - 7" Flash Arm If you have one of the better Nikon hot shoe flashes then all you need is something like this and a good quality remote cable to hook it to the hot shoe. By dialing in the flash you will have complete control over the exposure and will be able to stay at iso 100 for the best picture quality.

[rengles]

First of all--do you love the lens???
I got the 60mm/f 2.8 several months ago and now use it for EVERYTHING...i love it!!!

Now, for your pictures...
I like the first one better--it has more contrast and shows the texture better in my opinion. What aperture did you use to shoot this? A smaller aperture (larger dof) might help to get more of the stamp in focus. (I always have to catch myself on this--just because my lens CAN open up to 2.8 doesn't mean I should always use this setting!)
The color on the first shot looks great to me. The second looks a little gray, like the light is reflecting off the wood..

enjoy the new lens!