Macro shots of eye

[AkIndigo]

Hello everyone, I am new here at DPS. I am also pretty new at Photography and began to take a lot of pictures and carry camera with me everywhere just recently. I have just been doing any type of Photography that comes to mind, such as macro, potraits, landscape, etc. At this point I pretty much only have a broad idea of Macro, Rules of Thirds, Depth of Field, composition and a small knowledge about lighting in photography. I have absolutely no knowledge with it comes to all those manual and technical settings of a camera. Anyways, lately I've been fascinated by macro shots of the human eye where it's highly detailed with the eyeball having a strong color and very beautiful reflection. I assume that the best way to do these types of shots is using maybe PortraitProfessional and a SLR camera and maybe some good lighting equipment. The thing is, I don't have any of those tools. I have Photoshop CS3 and a regular 5.1 megapixel digital camera. Anyways, is there an easy way to do these types of shots with the tools that I have and any other tips? Thanks very much!

[clockdoc]

The eye can present unique challenges because of its curvature and highly reflective surface. Catchlights will be your biggest challenge. All I can offer is to experiment with different light sources and positions remembering that the larger the light source, the larger will be the catchlight. Good luck with your project.

[wpgreer]

I actually just did a shot of my own eye like that, but i don't think it's quite as close up as you'd like it to be. I had to pick a spot a set distance form my camera, focus in, change to manual focus and then do an auto timer shot while I positioned myself in the right place.

For a P&S, there's going to be a limit to how close you can get, but I'm betting you can zoom and fudge it a little bit. In this case, though, I wouldn't recommend my admittedly overly-complicated method. Shoot someone else's eye. I actually used one of those lamps with the paper shades -- it's does great for a poor man's softbox: even light, no catchlight if you hold it in the right spot.

After that, just crop it like crazy to get what you want! hoep this helps!

[Duluoz]

Why not check out the Raynox DCR-250, Macro-Scan 2.5x Super Macro Conversion Lens (Amazon has them). It's a small lens that might fit your P&S that will allow you to focus much closer than currently with a 2.5X magnification. You can search Flickr for the Raynox groups and see samples of people with P&S taking some amazing macro shots.

[SarahN]

When I shoot my eyes (a favorite subject of mine!) I shoot from the side looking into a light source--most often the sun. I don't have an SLR, and I've gotten some really good shots. The hardest part is making sure that your camera doesn't overshadow the eye. Shooting from below, the side, etc. is the best.