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Adventures in macro photography (pic heavy)

Fiske

Fiske

Member
Joined
5 Oct 2016
Messages
437
Location
Denmark
So, initially I just wanted a camera to get some nicer pictures of my fish. But behind that lurked an urge to do some macro photos. It's a field with a steep learning curve, and at least some substantial initial cost; but it's also (for me at least) incredibly relaxing and almost meditative. Plus you learn a lot about the critters just outside (and sometimes inside) your doors.
I'm going to post some of my shots here, in no particular order; I will provide info on species if I got it.
I shoot .raw and end up with some fairly large files; and I really don't like to compress them more than necessary. Apart from that, I usually don't do much editing apart from cropping and occasional correction of brightness/gamma. Some are stacked of multiple images. Needing to resize images to forum specs might keep posting down.
In reality, bug season in these parts are over, and I'm just waiting for spring. Any constructive criticism is of course welcome.

Also, if you suffer from arachnophobia; or dislike critters with more than 4 legs, you'd be well advised to not continue😅

We'll start with something agreeable:

Anthocharis cardamines. Not as common as it used to be, photo from may

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Ischnura elegans (I think), from july

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I love weevils, here's one of our bigger species. Otiorhyncus sp. I've been putting this guy down as sulcatus, but there's a good chance I'm wrong. Anyway, from may, and he was a darling about letting me get close

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Also Otiorhyncus, also from may. But another day, and another dude...

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Edit for speeling
 
MichaelJ said:
Really nice @Fiske, What gear did you use for these shots (Body/Lens) ?

Cheers,
Michael
Click to expand...
Thanks :)
Body on all these are a Canon M6 mkII, Lenses are Sigma 105mm Macro, and Canon EF-M 28mm Macro for the close up (which is why you can spot my shadow in the lower right corner; working distance is only a few centimeters). I've gotten myself a R7 body, because the big drawback on the M6 is that you can't use both the detachable viewfinder and a flash simultaneously; but I haven't really tried the R7 much for macro work yet, I do have a few for another day, though.
I also have the Canon MP-E 65mm, which is manual focus and has up to 5x magnification. It is a bit cumbersome (although a great lens!), and so I mainly use the Sigma. It has a good foot of minimum focusing distance, doesn't weigh a ton and as it doubles for a short tele: great for hunting butterflies.
 
Fiske said:
Thanks :)
Body on all these are a Canon M6 mkII, Lenses are Sigma 105mm Macro, and Canon EF-M 28mm Macro for the close up (which is why you can spot my shadow in the lower right corner; working distance is only a few centimeters). I've gotten myself a R7 body, because the big drawback on the M6 is that you can't use both the detachable viewfinder and a flash simultaneously; but I haven't really tried the R7 much for macro work yet, I do have a few for another day, though.
I also have the Canon MP-E 65mm, which is manual focus and has up to 5x magnification. It is a bit cumbersome (although a great lens!), and so I mainly use the Sigma. It has a good foot of minimum focusing distance, doesn't weigh a ton and as it doubles for a short tele: great for hunting butterflies.
Click to expand...

Excellent, yeah that really works out for you. I got the MP-E 65 mm as well and the 100mm Macro 2.8L IS USM (stabilized) which I use the most for macro photography by far - the lens is stellar (I also got the old 100 mm Macro, but thats collecting dust now). I am using it on my older EOS 5DSR (full frame as well) which is not ideal IMO. For macro I actually like the 1.6 crop factor (I believe the R7 is cropped) - makes it easier to get good DOF and your in the sweet spot of the glass due to the smaller image plane. I used to be an avid photographer, but I haven't done much photography lately.

Cheers,
Michael
 
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MichaelJ said:
Excellent, yeah that really works out for you. I got the MP-E 65 mm as well and the 100mm Macro 2.8L IS USM (stabilized) which I use the most for macro photography by far - the lens is stellar (I also got the old 100 mm Macro, but thats collecting dust now). I am using it on my older EOS 5DSR (full frame as well) which is not ideal IMO. For macro I actually like the 1.6 crop factor (I believe the R7 is cropped) - makes it easier to get good DOF and your in the sweet spot of the glass due to the smaller image plane. I used to be an avid photographer, but I haven't done much photography lately.

Cheers,
Michael
Click to expand...
Yeah, both the M6 and the R7 are crop sensors, more or less the same sensor I think. I'm eyeing the Canon RF 100 mm, but it's expensive, so it will be a while. I don't really need more glass, I need time 🤣
 
Hi @Fiske

Stunning photography! :thumbup: Do you also extend your macro photography skills to underwater creatures - fish, shrimp, Daphnia, etc? I suspect that requires highly specialized equipment?

JPC
 
jaypeecee said:
Hi @Fiske

Stunning photography! :thumbup: Do you also extend your macro photography skills to underwater creatures - fish, shrimp, Daphnia, etc? I suspect that requires highly specialized equipment?

JPC
Click to expand...
Thanks 😀
Just an happy amateur really, I'm nowhere near what some of the really skilled folks create. Although I'm super stoked about the above series from a few weeks ago, it did feel like a bit of a breakthrough.
Ironically, I've taken astonishing few pics of my fish and shrimp. Unless you're talking actual underwater photography, my gear works fine for aquarium photos, but I need to do a bit of setup in advance. And honestly it works best if you do it in a dark room with only the tank light ime, reflections are problematic. I do have a few in my Aquascaper 600 thread.
As for smaller inverts, like daphnia, we're moving into microphotography, which does need a bit of specialised equipment. So far I've decided to stay out of that rabbithole 🤣
 
Butterflies and dragonfly can be hard to get decent macro photos of, since you need to get very close. I struggled a bit, until I read that a short tele lens is sometimes preferable. Good thing my 105mm Macro doubles as a short tele :)
Now actually deciding what part of a larger insect you want in focus (and actually getting it in focus) can be tough with the very shallow depth of field you're working with. Do you want the eyes tack sharp? The body? The wings? Plenty of room for getting awful shots. I probably have a few gigabytes of worthless pictures.
Anyway; here's a bunch of my more fortunate results, none of which will win any awards...

Inachis io, one of the most spectacular butterflies here. Sadly not as common as it used to be, at least not around these parts. I did spot a bunch of caterpillars so maybe next year... This shot from july.
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Sympetrum sp., probably sanguineum, July.
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We have a lot of these around. Aphantopus hyperantus, july.
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Celastrina argiolus, I believe. From june.
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Another Sympetrum (vulgatum, possibly). fairly common. From june.
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Same specimen, close up. She was not in a hurry
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Fiske said:
Well. Ample warnings given and all.

I really like salticids.

S. scenicus and Marpissa muscosa

EOS M6II and Canon 28 mm Macro

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That’s my favourite spider, who doesn’t like a cute little jumping spider😀
I use The sigma 105 too. I can see you used a ring flash and can almost see your reflection. Do you shot manual focus? I tried the ring flash but got better results using an on camera flash with a home made defuser ( Pringles tube with thin white packing material) it really helps to tame the highlights. Looking forward to the summer so the little beasties come out to play. Nice images!
 
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