Nature Macro Photography with minimum equipments.

[ruchai]

I started using D-SLR for macro photography since Christmas last year. Over 3,000 shots now. Attached are some of the pictures.

My equipments include;
Nikon D50,
Nikkor 60mm macro lens,
Manfrotto 055PROB tripod,
Manfrotto 484RC2 ball head,
Velbon Super Mag Slider.

I use lowest ISO speed of 200; built-in flash, set the aperture at between f:22 to f:32.

The most essential is the 60 mm macro lens. It is about right for small insects. I feel no need for special macro lights as I believe the pop-up flash is more natural as in nature we also have the sun as the only one source of light.

Tripod is not always possible as insects not always standing still. I start shooting hand holding first. After that I may use tripod if possible. With tripod and slider I could get closer to the object. I always use auto focus, especially for flying insects. The D50 will automatically activated when in focus in the burst mode.

[Don Hoey]

A super set of pictures Ruchai.
Any chance of posting a pic of your Velbon Super Mag Slider as I am not familiar with it.

Thanks

Don

[Christine]

Very good shots.I am thinking of purchasing the 60mmEFS lens,if the results are as good as the nikon 60mm,then if I can find a low priced lens on e-bay,then I will give it a go.

[ruchai]

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

A super set of pictures Ruchai.
Any chance of posting a pic of your Velbon Super Mag Slider as I am not familiar with it.

Thanks

Don

For more details see: http://www.velbon-tripod.com/accessories.htm

[Nogbad]

Fantastic images. I too use the Nikon 60mm micro and can vouch for its superb qaulity.

Cant wait for spring to arrive so I can get out and take plenty of insect pictures.

Nogbad

[John N]

This is an area of photography that I have become really interested in. I have purchased a sigma 105mm macro lens and am looking forward to the spring and subjects to try it out on. All my photography so far has been hit and miss,if I got a decent shot it was mainly down to pure luck, I have not said a lot on this forum but the amount of knowledge I am getting by reading the threads is fantastic. These macro chots have given me inspiration to try and do better. Thanks everybody.

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by ruchai

For more details see: http://www.velbon-tripod.com/accessories.htm

Thanks Ruchai,

That looks like an excellent bit of kit. It would certainly help with fine focussing.

Don

[ruchai]

Originally Posted by John N

This is an area of photography that I have become really interested in. I have purchased a sigma 105mm macro lens and am looking forward to the spring and subjects to try it out on. All my photography so far has been hit and miss,if I got a decent shot it was mainly down to pure luck, I have not said a lot on this forum but the amount of knowledge I am getting by reading the threads is fantastic. These macro chots have given me inspiration to try and do better. Thanks everybody.

The advantage of using digital camera for macro is that you can see the result instantly. So you can find out what mistake you had made and correct them. I used to take macro with film cameras some 30 years ago. It was not very successful. With digital cameras I can improve my skill rapidly. I took about 1000 shot per month with my D50 and 60mm macro lens for 3 months now. I am addicted to macro photography and seldom take pictures of birds like I used to. I think you do not need much equipments to achieve good results.

ttached are some more macro pictures, enjoy.

[steveps]

Originally Posted by Christine

Very good shots.I am thinking of purchasing the 60mmEFS lens,if the results are as good as the nikon 60mm,then if I can find a low priced lens on e-bay,then I will give it a go.

Christine,
I have just recently purchased the above lens and can highly recommend it for both portrait work and macro. I'm just getting into macro and I'm following the threads with great interest.

__________
Steve

[Adey Baker]

Bearing in mind the title of this thread, anyone with just a compact digital camera can get very satisfactory results from the very minimum of kit.

I've seen some very good shots from cameras such as the Nikon Coolpix 4500 and provided you don't want to make big enlargements or severe crops they may be all you require if you don't want to carry lots of kit around on a warm day. (In the UK most of the favourite nature macro subjects such as butterflies and dragonflies don't want to come out to play on cool, dull days, anyway!)

A couple of years ago I tried out a Sony W1 on a number of subjects and found that the lens did not give a very good image in macro at the telephoto end of the zoom but was much better at the wide angle end. This required getting extremely close to the subject in order to get a decent-sized image of the subject and in order to make sure I didn't over-shadow it I held the camera at arms' length.

It required a bit of practice and getting to know the limitations of your equipment is important but with practice I found it was easier to approach a lot of subjects like this rather than 'over-powering' them with your whole body behind a SLR camera.

Image below 'nabbed' from Birdforum to show a typical shot (note how depth of field is quite good over most of the wing due to the relatively small size of the aperture on a very short focal-length lens)