DCStep
04/08/10 18:26 Filed in: Guest blog
Thank you for another fantastic post from DCStep.
Macro Photography with Birding Equipment
I recently demonstrated how the birder photographer’s tripod, ballhead and high quality camera could be used for night photography if you just add a remote release and know how to deal with the low light. Now I’d like to discuss using the same tripod, ballhead/gimbal, camera and super telephoto lens for “macro” photography.
First, let me talk a little about what macro photography is actually. To me, macro is all about “life sized” images. So, if you view an image of a bug or flower, the subject is around as large as it is in real life, if not bigger. In the beginning, and I’m talking way back in the 1800s, a “life sized” or “1-to-1” image was an image where a bumble bee was the same size on the photographic plate as it was in real life. In those days, most prints were made either directly from the photographic glass or a contact print method, where the print was the same size as the plate (negative).
Soon, enlargers and film were invented and the prints stayed large and even got larger, but the definition of “life sized” still meant that the subject was life size on the negative, not the final print. This was a consistent definition, but didn’t relate to the final viewed image, which was usually a print. Today, the sensors for many point and shoot cameras are smaller than a bumble bee. Hence, the magnification ratio cannot physically be 1-to-1 to capture a whole bumble bee at the sensor on a P&S camera which is more likely .1-to-1 when producing a “macro” image. Yet, many of those cameras will produce pleasing “life sized” bumble bees on 4”x6” prints.
Canon makes a macro lens that can produce an image at the sensor with a 5-to-1 magnification ratio. If you think about a bumble bee and a sensor size of 35mm or smaller, you could only use such a lens at its maximum magnification to shoot part of a bumble, like the eye, and that would fill the image. I’ll call that “extreme macro”, which is a topic I’ll not cover today.
What I will demonstrate is how to use your birding lens to produce pleasing, “life sized” images (when viewed as 4”x6” print or “internet size”, for instance) that are stunning in detail when viewed full screen on a large computer monitor or a large HDTV.
I shot this bumble bee with my Canon 7D with a 500mm f/4.0 lens and a 1.4x teleconverter and 25mm extension tube. Just like when shooting birds, I shot in Aperture Preferred mode at f/11.0, 0EV, resulting in a shutter speed of 1/1250. That’s exactly the same set up as I was using to shoot humming birds and goldfinches about 25-feet further away, except for the extension tube. This bumbler was at around 15-feet when I shot this particular image, but it’d been slightly closer, where the ET was needed. I’ve learned to take the ET quickly off and on the lens and hold it in my left hand while I shoot songbirds and hummers. An extension tube will prevent you from focusing your lens at infinity. In the case of my 500mm lens the maximum focus distance is reduced to around 10-meters.
This image is cropped some for composition purposes, rather than to get the bee large enough.
Technique for shooting bumble bees, song birds and humming birds is almost the same. I left the auto focus on because of the constant movement of the subject and the shallow depth of field. I was using f/11.0 for both birds and bees in an attempt to get the whole animal and some surroundings in focus. You can see that, even stopped down like this, the bokeh is creamy smooth behind the bee.
I use my tripod for steadiness and a relatively high shutter speed to stop movement of the subject. Because the subject is constantly moving I cannot use mirror lock up and a remote release like in my night photography demonstration, so I damp the shutter vibration by putting my left hand on top of the lens and pressing down. That and the fast shutter speed makes for a sharp image.
If I were shooting something static, like a flower, I’d use Live View (a Canon term for using the LCD on the back of the camera) to lock the mirror up and I’d use my remote release. This will allow a much longer shutter speed and smaller aperture to increase depth of field even further. Also, with a static subject I’d lower the ISO to further reduce noise. (My Canon 7D has excellent noise performance at ISO 800, so it’s not a huge issue). Also, be aware that static subjects are not always particularly static if there’s any breeze. Generally shooting a 500mm lens, you don’t want to go below 1/500th second, but it’s possible to do quite well at much slower speeds with a locked down tripod, mirror lock up and remote release. Just take the wind into consideration.
One key to using your telephoto and super telephoto lenses as macros is to get as near to the minimum focus distance as the subject will allow. Getting closer increases the size of the subject in the final image. Yeah, I know, duh, but that’s what macro is about so I thought that it was worth repeating.
If you have trouble focusing and you’re near the minimum focus distance of the lens, teleconverter and extension tube combination, try physically moving the camera toward and back from the subject. If you’re right at the minimum focus distance and go just a fraction under it, then the auto focus gets lost. At the extreme limit of focus distance, where you get the maximum magnification, focus gets harder to achieve and you might even elect to go to manual focus. One advantage to telephoto lenses is that’s less likely to be an issue than with something like a 50mm lens, where the range of focus will be very small when an extension tube is attached. I’ve seen people write on forums, “This thing doesn’t work and I’m going to send it back” when they didn’t really know how to operate it by physically moving the lens/camera in and out from the subject.
Another key is realizing that adding a 1.4x, 1.7x or 2x teleconverter is not going to change your minimum focus distance much, if at all, and you gain magnification on your sensor and in the resulting image. Teleconverters are quite commonly used on super telephoto lenses to increase the “reach” of the lens to bring small, distant subjects closer. They’re also useful to simply magnify a close subject in the viewfinder and on the sensor, which is the usage that I’m describing now.
Also, if you have a choice between a high quality crop sensor camera and a full-frame camera body, the crop sensor will give you a larger subject in the final image. However, you must consider the final image quality of each. For instance, a brand new full-frame Canon 5D MkII will yield a better image, even after cropping to bring the image up to the same size, compared to a several generations old crop sensor camera, like the Canon 20D. With the current 7Dcrop-sensor model and the 5D MkII, image quality is very, very close. I prefer my 7D for this use because what I see in the viewfinder is closer to my final print for most of these type shots.
I’m not advocating that anyone go out and buy a very expensive 500mm lens just to use for macro photography. What I’m saying is, if you already own a super telephoto lens for birds and/or nature, consider using it as a macro lens. The bumble bee was shot from around 15-feet away, which is luxurious working distance for macro shooting of moving subjects. An extension tube is not a primary requirement, but it will allow you to get closer, or keep shooting as the subject moves closer to you. I’d do suggest that a teleconverter is a key to getting satisfactory magnification, such that your subjects might actually be larger than life, depending on your particular camera and lens combination.
I was using a 500mm lens for this demonstration, but 400mm, 300mm and even 200mm lenses work very well also, you just need to get closer for the same image size. Bumble bees, butterflies, dragonflies and other bugs are all quite tolerant at the working distances that any of these lenses allow.
If you want to see this bumble bee at full image size (way larger than life sized) and have a reasonably fast internet connection, you can see extremely fine details at the following link:
View the above image Original size
For comparison below is an image taking with a 105mm Macro lens. The below image is taken handheld. Both the above image and the below are Milkweed. Both images show incredible detail. While you don’t need to go out and purchase an expensive lens like the 500mm or the 105mm, equipment does greatly help you in getting the shot that you are after. If you don’t have the newest camera or the best lens then the best camera is the one you have with you. Learn to use it and push it to its limits and you too can take great photos.~wr~
Macro Photography with Birding Equipment
I recently demonstrated how the birder photographer’s tripod, ballhead and high quality camera could be used for night photography if you just add a remote release and know how to deal with the low light. Now I’d like to discuss using the same tripod, ballhead/gimbal, camera and super telephoto lens for “macro” photography.
First, let me talk a little about what macro photography is actually. To me, macro is all about “life sized” images. So, if you view an image of a bug or flower, the subject is around as large as it is in real life, if not bigger. In the beginning, and I’m talking way back in the 1800s, a “life sized” or “1-to-1” image was an image where a bumble bee was the same size on the photographic plate as it was in real life. In those days, most prints were made either directly from the photographic glass or a contact print method, where the print was the same size as the plate (negative).
Soon, enlargers and film were invented and the prints stayed large and even got larger, but the definition of “life sized” still meant that the subject was life size on the negative, not the final print. This was a consistent definition, but didn’t relate to the final viewed image, which was usually a print. Today, the sensors for many point and shoot cameras are smaller than a bumble bee. Hence, the magnification ratio cannot physically be 1-to-1 to capture a whole bumble bee at the sensor on a P&S camera which is more likely .1-to-1 when producing a “macro” image. Yet, many of those cameras will produce pleasing “life sized” bumble bees on 4”x6” prints.
Canon makes a macro lens that can produce an image at the sensor with a 5-to-1 magnification ratio. If you think about a bumble bee and a sensor size of 35mm or smaller, you could only use such a lens at its maximum magnification to shoot part of a bumble, like the eye, and that would fill the image. I’ll call that “extreme macro”, which is a topic I’ll not cover today.
What I will demonstrate is how to use your birding lens to produce pleasing, “life sized” images (when viewed as 4”x6” print or “internet size”, for instance) that are stunning in detail when viewed full screen on a large computer monitor or a large HDTV.
I shot this bumble bee with my Canon 7D with a 500mm f/4.0 lens and a 1.4x teleconverter and 25mm extension tube. Just like when shooting birds, I shot in Aperture Preferred mode at f/11.0, 0EV, resulting in a shutter speed of 1/1250. That’s exactly the same set up as I was using to shoot humming birds and goldfinches about 25-feet further away, except for the extension tube. This bumbler was at around 15-feet when I shot this particular image, but it’d been slightly closer, where the ET was needed. I’ve learned to take the ET quickly off and on the lens and hold it in my left hand while I shoot songbirds and hummers. An extension tube will prevent you from focusing your lens at infinity. In the case of my 500mm lens the maximum focus distance is reduced to around 10-meters.
This image is cropped some for composition purposes, rather than to get the bee large enough.
Technique for shooting bumble bees, song birds and humming birds is almost the same. I left the auto focus on because of the constant movement of the subject and the shallow depth of field. I was using f/11.0 for both birds and bees in an attempt to get the whole animal and some surroundings in focus. You can see that, even stopped down like this, the bokeh is creamy smooth behind the bee.
I use my tripod for steadiness and a relatively high shutter speed to stop movement of the subject. Because the subject is constantly moving I cannot use mirror lock up and a remote release like in my night photography demonstration, so I damp the shutter vibration by putting my left hand on top of the lens and pressing down. That and the fast shutter speed makes for a sharp image.
If I were shooting something static, like a flower, I’d use Live View (a Canon term for using the LCD on the back of the camera) to lock the mirror up and I’d use my remote release. This will allow a much longer shutter speed and smaller aperture to increase depth of field even further. Also, with a static subject I’d lower the ISO to further reduce noise. (My Canon 7D has excellent noise performance at ISO 800, so it’s not a huge issue). Also, be aware that static subjects are not always particularly static if there’s any breeze. Generally shooting a 500mm lens, you don’t want to go below 1/500th second, but it’s possible to do quite well at much slower speeds with a locked down tripod, mirror lock up and remote release. Just take the wind into consideration.
One key to using your telephoto and super telephoto lenses as macros is to get as near to the minimum focus distance as the subject will allow. Getting closer increases the size of the subject in the final image. Yeah, I know, duh, but that’s what macro is about so I thought that it was worth repeating.
If you have trouble focusing and you’re near the minimum focus distance of the lens, teleconverter and extension tube combination, try physically moving the camera toward and back from the subject. If you’re right at the minimum focus distance and go just a fraction under it, then the auto focus gets lost. At the extreme limit of focus distance, where you get the maximum magnification, focus gets harder to achieve and you might even elect to go to manual focus. One advantage to telephoto lenses is that’s less likely to be an issue than with something like a 50mm lens, where the range of focus will be very small when an extension tube is attached. I’ve seen people write on forums, “This thing doesn’t work and I’m going to send it back” when they didn’t really know how to operate it by physically moving the lens/camera in and out from the subject.
Another key is realizing that adding a 1.4x, 1.7x or 2x teleconverter is not going to change your minimum focus distance much, if at all, and you gain magnification on your sensor and in the resulting image. Teleconverters are quite commonly used on super telephoto lenses to increase the “reach” of the lens to bring small, distant subjects closer. They’re also useful to simply magnify a close subject in the viewfinder and on the sensor, which is the usage that I’m describing now.
Also, if you have a choice between a high quality crop sensor camera and a full-frame camera body, the crop sensor will give you a larger subject in the final image. However, you must consider the final image quality of each. For instance, a brand new full-frame Canon 5D MkII will yield a better image, even after cropping to bring the image up to the same size, compared to a several generations old crop sensor camera, like the Canon 20D. With the current 7Dcrop-sensor model and the 5D MkII, image quality is very, very close. I prefer my 7D for this use because what I see in the viewfinder is closer to my final print for most of these type shots.
I’m not advocating that anyone go out and buy a very expensive 500mm lens just to use for macro photography. What I’m saying is, if you already own a super telephoto lens for birds and/or nature, consider using it as a macro lens. The bumble bee was shot from around 15-feet away, which is luxurious working distance for macro shooting of moving subjects. An extension tube is not a primary requirement, but it will allow you to get closer, or keep shooting as the subject moves closer to you. I’d do suggest that a teleconverter is a key to getting satisfactory magnification, such that your subjects might actually be larger than life, depending on your particular camera and lens combination.
I was using a 500mm lens for this demonstration, but 400mm, 300mm and even 200mm lenses work very well also, you just need to get closer for the same image size. Bumble bees, butterflies, dragonflies and other bugs are all quite tolerant at the working distances that any of these lenses allow.
If you want to see this bumble bee at full image size (way larger than life sized) and have a reasonably fast internet connection, you can see extremely fine details at the following link:
View the above image Original size
For comparison below is an image taking with a 105mm Macro lens. The below image is taken handheld. Both the above image and the below are Milkweed. Both images show incredible detail. While you don’t need to go out and purchase an expensive lens like the 500mm or the 105mm, equipment does greatly help you in getting the shot that you are after. If you don’t have the newest camera or the best lens then the best camera is the one you have with you. Learn to use it and push it to its limits and you too can take great photos.~wr~