Macrophotography Trick

[Luke McLeod]

I had a little trouble shooting images of my flies, even with my Olympus E-520 which has Macro settings, so this is what I came up with. It's a desk lamp, the style with the magnifying glass in the middle and a ring fluorescent light around it. The lens must be close enough to the glass so as not to reflect the flash. It must also be centered in the magnifying glass and the lenses should be as paralell as you can get them. This is what it looks like (no comments on the desk please):


And these are the results:


Tomorrow I will try it with the two other cameras I have and see if I can replicate the results with cheapo cameras too. Luke

[melk]

What!! The desk looks great!!
Mike

[lastchance]

Hey Luke. I wonder how that would work with a point & shoot camera? Did you try it?

[ScottP]

Bruce,

I bet it would. I just have an older Canon P&S with a nothing special macro function and it takes decent pics without shooting through a magnifier.

Regards,
Scott

[Silver Creek]

Try this simpler method:

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...ly-Photography

To get photos like this:

[Luke McLeod]

I guess I should have been clearer earlier, the main problem with the macro function on my camera is that the built-in flash often comes from an unflattering angle as well as shadowing the lens. The added magnification is just a minor bonus to the halo of light provided by the ring lamp. I could buy a ring flash for the camera, but not without taking out a second mortgage. The lamp was found while dumpster diving at the local airport.

On a side note, I cannot get either of my point & shoot cameras to shoot through the magnifying glass. I believe that removing the glass (just 3 screws on my old timer) will remedy the situation and hopefully allow use of the P&S cameras.

Silver, I prefer the representation of details and colors afforded by a black background (in this case my black canvas coat.) It's just a personal preference. I do like how the styrofoam cup method presents translucent flies, I could not accomplish the same with a black background. It will definitely go in my "great ideas" file. Luke

[AlanB]

Using the Styrofoam cup method doesn't provide a background! You are shooting from the "closed end" of the cup towards the open end. Just point the whole rig at something black and you'll have a black background. The only reason I don't use this is that I can't get a cup big enough here to accommodate my lens. (72mm filter)
Cheers,
A.

[Luke McLeod]

OOPS! Thanks for the clarification, I didn't catch that while looking through the cup post. That being said, I still like my results. I don't think I can find a cup big enough for my Olympus either.

[lastchance]

OOPS! Thanks for the clarification, I didn't catch that while looking through the cup post. That being said, I still like my results. I don't think I can find a cup big enough for my Olympus either.

Hi Luke. I like the black background myself. It looks much more professional. I have access to a Digital Nikon D-50, but I do not have a macro lens with it. I have Nikkor 70-300mm and Nikkor AF 28-80mm lenses. Did you use a macro lens or a regular lens? I have the same kind of lighted magnifyer as you.
Bruce

[hap]

As the cup shows good soft light is important to quality photos. I am getting very close to starting a photo shoot for a book we are writing on AK fly patterns. There will be well over 200 flies I need to shoot and some are far too large for the cup... I will use a series of strong lights (LED120 Plus x2 as primary sources http://www.cameralandny.com/camerage...ed120pluslight ) reflected through a diffuser and probably use a secondary diffuser also.

The flies will be in a Nor-Vise and the primary problem righ tnow is the fact many of the flies are articulated, tubes, or stingers... Supporting the flies from behind to make them float invisibly... and being able to change them quickly will be tough. I usually use a metal tube with a loop of fine mono hidden in the dressing and anchored through the backdrop...

Just pointing out how much easier it is to do one quick, simple shot in a Dixie cup!