Love in the Mist

Greetings! This is my first post in this part of the forum. I am new to photography and brand new to my macro lens (1 month). This is one of my first images with my macro lens. I absolutely love this beautiful and alien-like flower. There was a strong breeze that night and I was shooting hand-held so focus was a challenge. I used a strong vignette in Lightroom. Other technical details: f2.8, 1/200, ISO 100. Maybe I should have used a higher f stop.

I would appreciate any feedback - I am very motivated to learn. Thank you!

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Becky, first I would like to welcome you to NPN and the macro section of the site. What a nice shot to start off with in the area of macro. Great subject, and great composition. Yes, a higher number f-stop would have given you more depth of field (more of the flower in focus, if that was your desire). There are times when we want selective focus, just one tiny portion of the subject to be sharp, and in that case, f2.8 would be fine. You didn’t mention the type of camera, nor especially, the length of lens. If you have a 180 mm, or something like that, it can be hard to hand hold for close work like macro. Normal shooting most would consider 1/200 with a 180 mm okay, but with macro it can start to be a bit more difficult to hold it steady for a close shot like this one.
When you want everything you can in focus, you would use a higher number f-stop, which in turn you would need to either lower your shutter speed number down (in turn would definitely require a tripod) to hold the camera steady), or raise the ISO to a higher number, which in this case would be the best choice as you were only at 100, and most cameras today don’t introduce noise in your image until you get up around 2,000 or more. One could also use a bit of flash to help if the ISO would cause too much noise, or you don’t have or want to use a tripod.
I think the vignette worked nicely in this image. I don’t know what kind of flower it is, but maybe someone else does and can provide it’s name. Also, just to let you know, this image, even though you took it with a macro lens, can go into either macro or Flora.
Looking forward to seeing more of your images. Macro is like a whole other universe, when you start looking in nature at the little tiny creatures, etc. Have fun with your new lens.

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Thank you very much for the detailed feedback. Next time I will include my equipment in the original post, but I used a Panasonic GX85 with a Panasonic Leica 45 mm macro lens. I know that 45 mm is not typical focal length for macro but after doing some research and finding a great deal on a used lens, I thought this was a good first macro for me.

Good reminder about changing the ISO, I sometimes forget to do that.

The flower is Nigella damascena, nickname is Love in the Mist.

Okay, Becky, that is good to know. I am not familiar with the Panasonic family (I shoot Canon), but it is good to know that it is a 45 mm macro lens. The focal length dictates our ability to hand hold, so with 45 mm, 1/200 should be fine.

I didn’t realize that you already knew the name of the flower. Love in the Mist is a cool name for it.

You are welcome, for any help I might have provided. There are a lot of really good photographers on here, and many of them use stacking, which I haven’t as of yet. So I am sure you will get lots of great advice from others. I am just excited that you have an interest in macro, because I think you will find that you don’t even have to travel, just go in your yard, to find interesting subjects that you can practice on and learn from you successes and your mistakes. One thing that has helped me on NPN has been looking at what settings others have used and accomplished what I would like to accomplish in my photography, no matter which type (landscape, avian, flora, macro, whatever). Then I try it for myself, in a similar situation. I believe you will find this site to offer you a wealth of helps and ideas to improve your photography. I know that I have.

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Welcome to the macro world Becky. A nice subject to start with. Looks very interesting. Agree with others on a higher f-stop. if you had raised the ISO to 800, you would have gained 3 f stops to f/8, which would have given adequate depth of filed at the same shutter speed. Excellent composition and vignetting works very well, cutting out distracting elements. After I started macro work, I started seeing all the little things that I rarely used to look at. My world expanded significantly with a macro lens.

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I am just beginning, but it is a whole new world! Thank you!

Becky: Let me extend my welcome to you and thanks for a fine first post. Macro is another world and discovering it will open your eyes to things you wouldn’t normally notice or remark upon. I actually like your selective focus here. My eye goes directly to the sharp center parts and the rest supports it well. Your vignette does a lot for the presentation.
With regard to equipment/lenses, the short focal length macros (30-60mm) are easy to handle, give you an apparent larger DOF at the same f-stop but have a relatively short working distance making them generally harder to use on bugs and moving things. Medium macros (90-105mm) are a good compromise of easy handling, longer working distance and a narrower field of view. These lenses tend to be very sharp and also double as good portrait lenses. The long macros ( 150mm and especially 180-200mm) are the best for bugs, butterflies and small critters because of their longer working distances and narrow fields of view. They are heavy and hard to hand hold so generally require a tripod but also have the advantage of a tripod collar which is an indispensable composition tool for me. I probably do 90% of my macro and flora work with a 200mm and the rest with my 100mm lens or a longer zoom (70-400mm) with extension tubes. Tubes on a zoom are sometimes aggravating and you lose the ability to focus to infinity but they are an economical way to get into longer focal length macro.

It’s great to have you aboard and I also would encourage you to post images like this in Flora as well. Looking forward to more of your work. >=))>

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Becky, welcome to NPN. This is a terrific first try at macro. The sharpness is where it needs to be, on the flower center. Even at f/2.8 you’ve got enough depth-of-field to show off the petals. You’ve already been given a lot of good advice, especially Bill’s description about focal lengths and uses. 45 mm should work very well for flowers and other not very mobile subjects, including some insects. Your camera is a micro 4/3rds camera, which means that at closest focus with this lens, you’re shooting at 2X lifesize. (The macro world describes that as 2:1, image size:sensor size.) That’s a lot of magnification, which should be tons of fun to play with.

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Thanks Bill! I originally got my macro lens specifically for flowers. I wasn’t too concerned with bugs and moving things…but then I started capturing some bugs and now I am interested in that too. I can see why I might want another lens with a longer focal length in the future.

Becky: One often overlooked benefit of longer lenses besides the greater working distance between camera and subject is the narrower field of view and the impact that can have on the BG. With wider angle lenses more stuff can show up in the BG that may not complement the subject. Of course if you fill your frame with the subject that’s a moot point. My first real macro lens was a 100mm which I still have and is still a joy to use but once I got a 200mm I was completely converted to the longer lens. You’re off to a great start and hope you’ll keep exploring. >=))>

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