In my previous post I mentioned the challenges of crisp focusing, the flatness produced by the flash directly above the camera (it should be to the side), camera shake and the need for a tripod. I discovered among our possessions an old tripod (a Velbon VE-3, >30 years old) and today I returned to the field. When using a macro lens the slightest jarring of the body blurs the image. One answer could be to increase the speed of the shutter. But then less light reaches the sensor. So I could open the aperture of the lens to allow more light to reach the sensor but depth of field (clearness of image in front and behind the point of focus) is sacrificed. Or I could increase the sensor ISO speed but this results in “noise”. So if I want to shoot with a small aperture (say f22) and a slow film speed (say ISO 400) on a cloudy day (to avoid bright sunlight bleaching) I have to use a tripod.
- flower with some depth of field
I also have to choose a time when there is no wind since the slightest movement of the flower produces blurring.
Now I am looking at flowers more carefully, I am noticing lots of small pollinators I had not seen before.
I continue to be attracted to patterns – here the pattern of a fig leaf.
I took several snaps of small red bugs which are teeming around a vegetable growing area. Never saw them on the plants but they parade everywhere else. They gather in clusters and one of my pics reveals why.
This flower stood out from the others so I had to take a snap.
I notice that my tripod, which is sturdy, is still unsteady – this is because the tripod feet rest on mulch and soft soil. So the slightest touch can move the platform – I may need a shutter release cable in due course. Also the pics on my website are compressed, typically as in those above, below 100 kilobytes. The original pics are >3 megabytes so the compression is more than 30 times and yet the pics look decent, but there is an inevitable loss of definition.
Rich, I really enjoy looking at your photographs. The colours you have captured are amazing. Nature is transcendent. One extra thought is setting the timer on your new camera so that it only exposes 10 sec after you trigger the shutter.
Steve – great idea about the timer. My camera has a 2 second delay setting and I wondered what this was for but realize, as you suggest, it is great for taking a pic without holding and nudging the body. The camera does not have a fold up mirror so there should be no vibration from that and hopefully the shutter movement will not cause any shake.