So ... now I'm confused

[velvet4269]

And I'll chalk that up to being a newbie.

Everything (else) I've read says that for macro shots, you should be at f/4.5 or higher, to get the most of your subject in focus. Even setting Macro-Mode on the camera pushes the f/stop to f/4.something, with adjustments for my EV settings. However, after being here (and from playing around myself), I'm finding that's not necessarily the case - the better shots come from a shallower depth of field, and I'm better off NOT putting the camera in Macro-mode and just sticking with an Aperture priority.

Or do I have that completely wrong?

Of course, I also still get confused from time to time with "larger aperture" being the smaller number, and could completely be reading things wrong.

Hi, I'm Jen, and I'm a newbie.

Of course, from being here the last week or so, I've definitely learned that I should just ignore everything except Aperture Priority mode, Shutter priority mode, and Manual mode on my camera

[Sime]

Hey Jen!... don't ignore anything on your camera, it's alll fun... i'm mainly an Aperture Priority sorta bloke.. but you know.. whatever does it for you and all that..

I am a firm believer in "I do what appeals to me" and any macro shots I muck about with always tend to end up with a very shallow depth of field... Rules are there to be broken, shoot what you like, how you like, and build on it... try the same shot at f2.8 and f4.whatever... see what you think is best / better...

Sime

[texmex5]

I don't think there exists "one right aperture for macro", with same "models" with different apertures you can get shots that are all beautiful. Never mind the camera mode you're using, only thing that matters in the end, is the picture you took .

I like the abstractness of macro so most of my macro shots are taken at about f2.8-f4 and very few higher than f8.

[NaturesPixel]

G'day Jen

it really depends on what you are shooting... the reason you would shoot at a smaller Aperture (large number) would be cause you are not using your tripod like you oughta be or ok so my macro lens is a 2.8 like most i very rarely open it wide up unless it want that really shallow depth of field... almost abstract.. which at time can produce some beautiful colours all blending... Take Micheal Browns work (hes a member search him up and take a look at his website stunning)

ok i also shoot with smaller Aperture cause when im doing moving bugs i have a better chance of getting them in focus..

soo it just depends on you.... its your photo.. you do it how you want

[wulf]

The numbers are simply a means to reach the image you are after (or, in some cases, a barrier to capturing what you intend).

A common cause for macro shots failing is that the area of sharpness is positioned in the wrong place or that it is not deep enough to contain all the key elements; on the other hand, if you get the right bit of the picture sharply in focus it can be great to have the background blurred away into abstraction.

Therefore, you need to experiment - learn how the different adjustments affect the picture for different types of subject and then use that knowledge to create beautiful pictures.

What camera do you have, Jen?

Wulf

[Digidave]

I would just like to chime in here with a couple of examples. Last night I was out trying to capture a Cityscape of Madison, Wisconsin. I was just messing around waiting for the proper lighting when i took these 2 pics. These are by no means Macro shots, but it may help you a little to compare them. The first one is taken at f/11 at a shutter speed of 0.05sec.. The second one was taken at f/5 & a shutter speed of 0.01 sec.. The background is water. Notice how much more in focus the water & all stems are in the first shot? That's because of the f-stop difference. Bigger number, Bigger depth-of-field. But, you also have to consider that you have to slow your shutter speed down, with a bigger number. So wind & subject movement come into play. I hope this doesn't add to your confusion.

Example 1 f/11 at 0.05secs.


Example 2 f/5 at 0.01secs.

[jdepould]

Like some of the others said shoot Aperture priority with a tripod, experiment and figure out what suits you best. It would also help to know what kind of equipment you're using. Most of the automatic modes on dSLRs are useless once you learn enough.

[velvet4269]

Originally Posted by NaturesPixel

G'day Jen
ok i also shoot with smaller Aperture cause when im doing moving bugs i have a better chance of getting them in focus..

soo it just depends on you.... its your photo.. you do it how you want

When I was doing my own "Walkabout" within my city (Austin has a LOT of parks and greenbelts), I was doing mostly nature photography - mostly because I figured it'd be the best way to learn - and for the most part, left the camera at f/8.0, which enabled me, on occasion, to get shots like this. His eyes could be more in focus, but I was also using the auto-focus on an Olympus E-300 (side note for the dragon fly fans: this little guy held on in a fairly strong breeze for a good 5 minutes while I took multiple photos).

The last wandering through one of the parks here, I opted to play with nothing but manual focus & smaller apertures. I managed this one at f/11 (again, could be more in focus, and I probably need to PS out the brown spots on the leaves - the more I look at them, the more they're distracting), and this one at f/14 (again with the focus - I think a shallower depth of field might have worked better there because the grasses on the right seem too distracting). Almost everything else was too badly out of focus (some due to operator issues, some due to lighting) to really be worthwhile.

Neither really count as "macro" shots, although I suppose a tighter crop on the dragonfly might.

[velvet4269]

Originally Posted by wulf

The numbers are simply a means to reach the image you are after (or, in some cases, a barrier to capturing what you intend).

What camera do you have, Jen?

Wulf

For the last few weeks, I was using an Olympus E-300; I just got my Oly E-500 last Wednesday, but haven't been able to take it out to play yet.

[velvet4269]

Originally Posted by Digidave

Bigger number, Bigger depth-of-field. But, you also have to consider that you have to slow your shutter speed down, with a bigger number. So wind & subject movement come into play. I hope this doesn't add to your confusion.

No ... see, that makes sense.