Friday, 25 July 2008
Ferntree Fungi - 25th July 2008
Had a short walk today around Ferntree, finding fungi. I've got a new macro lens which, once I sort out the depth-of-field issues, will hopefully allow me to capture much better shots of the smaller fungi. There are a couple here that are attractive, but I need to play a bit with the focus and aperture to maximise the depth of field.
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4 comments:
Hi Mark.
I have depth of field issues all the time with tiny fungi and tiny Orchids. I was told to set the camera on F40, and 1/100th of a second, and use a flash - even in daylight. Generally it seems to work. Depending on whether you can control the flash intensity, you might need to vary distance from object, length of exposure, etc. It is easy to "overblow" the image - to white, if flash is too powerful. But it gives you a setting to work from.
Thank God for instant monitoring of images, on digital, otherwise we would not know for a week whether or not the image is overexposed.
Hope this helps.
Denis
Yes, thanks Denis. I'm trying to avoid carrying a small studio setup around with me. A flash would help, but I'd want it carefully diffused - the photos with flash have a different quality to them. The biggest problem I have is that my camera's minimum aperture is f11, and at this setting on my Panasonic DMC-FZ50, diffraction has a noticeable effect on image quality and needs to be avoided if possible. However, there seems to be no option but to use f11 as magnification rises. I've told my wife I NEED an EOS5D and a couple of frighteningly expensive lenses...
Hi Mark
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Well, I will stay out of the discussion re the last sentence. Best of luck!
I have been out in the field with two different groups of photographers in the last weekend. One guy uses 100 ISO film, with a dedicated 200mm Macro Lens, and then uses no flash, and sets up a little tent to give light diffusion, and then a light meter to gauge settings. In poor light, it can take 3 seconds. So, he has to steady the flower with a clamp. Special tripod which opens out flat, of course.
Estimated set-up time for each "shoot" is 10 minutes.
Other friends came with clever digitals, with fold out image screens, to monitor what they were shooting. They took hundreds of images in no time flat.
I still have to lie flat on the ground (and risk leeches) to get up close and personal with my subjects.
There is something to be said for each approach.
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I am sure the first guy's photos will be print quality. The second couple will have their photos up on the web in a few days. It comes down to what you want to achieve, I guess.
Well, it's all an interesting game. My (small-chip, somewhat noisy) camera has a flip-out screen, which is superb. I would miss it massively for some of the photos I like to take if I bought a good DSLR. I think the Olympus (4/3?) has a flip-out screen, so I might look at that.
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