Phoenix Park Photography Group: The Newbie

ISO 800 43mm f/6.0 1/80 sec

So Eileen brought along her macro equipment for a session shooting macro photos. We were to take close up photos of the items that we brought from home for the session. I am not expecting great things here but I have a collection of precious family mementoes that I want to record so I bring them along.

Tripods are a must - shaky hands ruin these photos. The tripod allows the camera to be held in place for the time that the photo is recording.

We also had an assortment of torches to play with lighting angles and shadows. We have been advised that flash will not be as successful as side lighting - the camera is too close to the subject and the flash will overexpose the object. So torches it is - we have an assortment that have been bought at various camping stores and two dollar shops.

My Olympus camera has a macro function - it's enabled by holding down a Macro button and then sliding the lens outward to engage the action. It took me a while to work this out and I continue to wonder why I just don't read the manual, but there it is.....

With the lens in macro mode I can select aperture settings from 6.0 to 22.0. Of course I can still set the camera to Aperture priority and let the camera do the work while I worry about the composition.

Tripod setup is as usual - I fiddle with the levers until I get the camera fixed into the holder and then align the legs and horizontal orientation until the camera is pointing at the objects and the composition is reasonable. Wish I had time to fiddle with this more but tonight I have limited time.

Which aperture setting to use? Well I remember a few hints from blogs that I read recently http://digital-photography-school.com/seeing-in-depth-of-field-a-simple-understanding-of-aperture/ and http://www.davewilsonphotography.com/tutorials/a-beginners-guide-to-macro-photography/.
"the closer you get to your subject, the shallower the region of sharp focus becomes"

ISO 500 43mm f/22 1/60 sec

So the choice of aperture is dependant on what you are trying to focus on. I played around with a couple of different settings and some of the shots are clear and I can send them to family members who might be interested.

Eileen also has a shadow box with white sides to contain the object to be photographed. It allows a softer and more even light on the objects. I have to leave early but some of the group take photos in this shadow box.