My First Macros

NaH2O

NaH2O

Contributing Member
Yippee! I finally took my first macros. Just want to say a special thanks to Witfull for PSing them for me ;) .

All these pictures were taken with a Canon G3 on Aperture Priority - no flash - aperture set to smallest aperture value (?? on terminology :) ) - in Macro mode. I customized the White Balance using a coffee filter technique (and I don't know if it made the pictures better, as I didn't compare it to anything..lol). Constructive criticizm is greatly appreciated, but could you explain terminology a little bit....if you start saying f-stop, I might think you're swearing at me :) . I couldn't get the focus thing down on some of these. I probably should have used manual focus, but I'm still trying to figure out the camera. Oh well, hope you like them, and if you have problems with PS, then yell at Wit...lol. No really, he did awesome, you should have seen the pics before. Hey...maybe I didn't take these after all??? LOL!

Here's the first one...and my personal favorite. The yellow tang eating plate coral:
62LTPlate2_PS.jpg
 
Gina

Gina

Moderator
RS STAFF
Nikki!
These are wonderful pictures!! Then again, I did just have surgery and Mark has the letters resized on the puter so that I can kinda make out the words! J/K!!!!!!!LOL

Seriously, I think they are wonderful pics. I also don't know all the terminology. I let Mark worry about that stuff!LOL Just show me how to take the pictures!!!
 
NaH2O

NaH2O

Contributing Member
Thanks everyone - Gina, whew - good thing you had the surgery. You are the only one saying they look nice. Let me know what you think when you can see again ;) Just like a magician...it's all in the photoshoping
 
T

tankgirl

Active Member
Hi Nikki, Those are beautiful!!! How'd you get the frogspawn red? Was that a photoshop change or ? Great pics, I especially love the plate coral
 
Witfull

Witfull

Well-Known Member
thanks for the kinds words Nikki, i just did a few things Travis taught me bout PS, and the rest of the credit is on you.

ya'll want more,,,took me a few days to get around to doing these,,,,lol

yes the LT plate is also my fav,,,outstanding shot!

TG- nope thats the pic she sent me,
 
Maxx

Maxx

Well-Known Member
Great Pics Nikki!!!
Aperture value refers to the opening in the lens which "sees" the image and allows light to hit the film/chip of the camera. The apeture affects many things. If you hear someone refer to depth of field, thats a reference to the area in focus.
Travis likes to take macro photos (generally) with a good depth of field, meaning a larger area in focus. If someone wants a shallow depth of field, they want a smaller area in focus.
The aperture determines the depth of field. The only confusing part of that is that the numbers run backwards. Say your camera has aperture values, (or F-stops) that range from 2.8 all the way to 22. 2.8 will be the largest opening, and have the shallowest depth of field. Where as 22 will have the smallest opening and the deepest depth of field. This is generally where people get all confused.
Aperture also affects light and exposure time. If an image is overexposed it can be too white or hot...meaning that too much light has hit the image, this can be caused by using to large of an aperture, (f 2.8 for example) if an image is too dark it is generally caused by underexposure or not enough light hitting the film/chip. Such as using f 22. There are many ways to get around all of that under/over exposure stuff, but in order to tie all of this together I'm going to attempt to skip over it.
So we have f 2.8 which is a large opening and allows a lot of light to hit the image and gives up a shallow depth of field...but how do you remember that? Think fast.....
No really....fast is what you want to remember.
If a lens or a camera is refered to as being fast, it means it has a lens which will open really wide, like 2.8. Why does this mean fast? If the aperture allows in alot of light, (f 2.8) then the shutter doesnt have to open as long to get the right amount of light to properly expose the image..(think about taking wrasse pics here...if the shutter isnt open long, the camera doesnt have time to shake). So we have our fast aperture (f 2.8=lotsa light, quick exposure) but it sacrifices our depth of field...things are going to be out of focus behind our subject. Just like a fast car racing by that can hit 60 mph in 2.8 seconds, you're not gonna be able to get all the little details of it in focus. So fast lens = wide aperture, and shallow depth of field, and lots of light. So slow would be the exact opposite right? f 22= narrow aperture, less light so we have a longer exposure time to get the image right, but we have a greater depth of field which allows us to get all the little details of the image in focus...just like a car driving slowly past us taking 22 seconds to reach 60 mph.
Make sense?
I hope so, cause I know this can get confusing....
Travis and Wit, if you guys feel you can clarify this any more feel free to step in and explain.
Nick
 
NaH2O

NaH2O

Contributing Member
Nick, that is probably the best explaination I've ever read. I just need to re-read it everytime I go to take a macro. Really, well done.

Thanks for the kind words everyone....Karma to all

EDIT:Oops, I forgot, TG....I don't know why the frogspawn turned out that way :confused: ....lol. It's cool, isn't it?
 
Last edited:
TDEVIL

TDEVIL

Well-Known Member
wow, great shopt Nikki, that plate is awsome

thank you Nick, that explains why i could not get things in the background in focus when i finally got a pic of my wrasse


when are wee going to see some more, Nikki;)

TD
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top