Attempting to Macro

[bizzime]

Hi Everyone! I'm new to photography (or my Canon T2i) and to this board and posting!! I've attached my attempt at a macro shot of water droplets on a plant near my deck. I cropped from the original photo. Just couldn't get it close enough with the 18-55 lens that I have even using the macro setting. I did some minor edits as well to try and make it look more appealing.

Tips on how I could have shot this closer without cropping would be great!! Also anything else I could have done to create a better shot?

Thanks for your input!! Greatly appreciated!!


Canon T2i6
TV 1/100
AV 5.6
no flash
ISO 1000
EF S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

[The LoKW]

TFS. I think it a relatively interesting shot based on color and composition however my comment would be that this is the way I always see this part of the world (ie top down). I may have tried a different angle, from a lower vantage point to either capture some dimension on the drops or perhaps some other undiscovered perspective that we don't typically see.

Just .02 and I am certainly no macro expert.

Thanks again!

[bizzime]

Thanks for the input!! I had wondered the same thing as I posted it. Will have to see if I'm tall enough to see this from a different angle. Appreciate your input

[SaraMWHB]

Hi bizzime - I just recently became addicted to extension tubes. They'll help you fill the frame with your subject

[mrteacherdude]

You are not likely to get any closer to your subject with that lens, unless you add closeup filters or take it off the camera and turn it around.

There are several ways you can get closer to your subject and thus fill the frame without cropping:

• Closeup filters (diopters I believe they are also called)
• Extension tubes as mentioned by SaraMWHB
• Reverse mounted lenses - the method I currently use
• Stacked lenses (one mounted normal, another reversed and attached to the normally mounted lens) - some people get great results, but it seems like it might be a bit unwieldy and also doesn't seem to be used much.
• A real macro lens - a pretty serious monetary investment

A google or dps search about any of these methods should yield numerous informative articles and forum threads.

[arlon]

Look into "close up" photography too. Macro (short for photomacrography) implies 1:1 on a 35mm slide/film. The 18-55 is a great little lens for the extension tubes mentioned and can easily make it to the real world of macro. "close up" and "macro" are just different things. You can also use "close up" filters on the 18-55 to get closer but they will not make it to 1:1 even on a crop sensor camera. The cheap close up filters are pretty poor but there are good ones out there that can open up a whole new photographic world. Good filters cost as much as the cheaper extension tubes though.

Personally I'd not hesitaite on getting a set of extension rings for your kit lens if you have any real interest in the macro world.

[corry]

interesting...would I get better results with my 18-55 and extension tubes or the reversing ring as I have currently and have just began to play with.

Like your shot...nice colors

[mrteacherdude]

@ corry - at the risk of allowing this thread to be hijacked... but I think it may help the OP as well.

I've never used extension tubes but I know that many others here do and get great results. If you get the right kind of tubes, you can maintain contact between the camera and your lens, so you will retain at least some, if not all, of the automatic functions. I don't know if you can achieve a 1:1 ratio with tubes but I suspect you can, or perhaps even exceed 1:1. You may try browsing around in the macro techniques section of this forum to see what is there.

Reverse mounting that lens can be a bit of a pain, but it can be done, and you can get pretty impressive results as far as closeup goes. By being somewhat of a pain, I mean that you will need to stop down the lens in order to get reasonable depth of field. I don't know what kind of camera body you are using so I'll just assume Canon. To stop that lens down and keep it that way, you will need to set it for a smaller aperture (I generally use f/11) while still mounted normally on the camera. Then while holding down the DOF preview button, release and remove the lens. This will cause the aperture to stay closed, and then you can reverse mount it and go on with taking pictures. What this also means is that you will be focusing manually, most likely by positioning your camera correctly. In dim light it is likely to be difficult to see because you will be looking through a much smaller aperture than you are used to.

I used this method for awhile, and then found some old manual primes in one of my old camera bags. They work out great because I can leave them mounted on my camera and then manually adjust the aperture as I need to.

[corry]

thanks, sorry to hijack....... but like you said we will prob both benefit from your advice. I have a rebel and used the kit lens reversed, manually focused, got some okay results so will experiment more with the depth of field/aperature, I prob had the camera in p mode. Thanks!!

I wanted better macro capabilities after I got my rebel several years ago and it was on here I believe I learned about reversing rings so got one off ebay inexpensively to give that a try.

[katia]

i'm going to go ahead and say my Sigma 105mm Macro is probably my FAVORITE lens, and at about $350, a very great buy.