Macro Hydrangeas

Blue Hydrangeas

I'm pretty new to macro photography and I've got a fair bit to learn. The Hydrangeas are in bloom and  since they make good macro subjects, I took the opportunity to practice a little. The hardest part of taking these photographs was the lighting.

More photographs inside.

 Pink Hydrangeas

In order to achieve a greater depth of field, relatively small apertures are used in macro photography. The photographs on this post were shot at around the f14 mark. Because of the small apertures, artificial lighting and a tripod are pretty much essential.

Blue Hydrangeas

I used a Canon 430 EX II to light these images. The flash was handheld and triggered via the 7D's flash trigger system. I think I fired the flash at around 1/8th power. I'm still not too happy with the dark areas on the image and I will probably look at using a second flash to light up those spaces. However, I do think the shadows give the photograph a bit more depth and I'd have to figure out how preserve them.

Pink Hydrangeas

I used the Canon 100mm macro lens and the 7D for these photographs.

Pink Gazania

A Pink Gazania

I played around with the macro lens and the extension tubes over the weekend to get used to using them. I found this Pink Gazania in the garden and decided to use it as a subject. It's actually quite a small flower and I was relatively happy with the results of my first macro shoot. However, I must admit, it took me a lot longer to find the name of the flower than to photograph it!

More photographs inside.

A Pink Gazania

I used a tripod for these shots but didn't have a light stand for the flash and had to hold it with my right hand while releasing the shutter with my left. It wasn't the best position to hold the camera steady but a shutter speed of 1/250th helped. These were taken at an aperture of f/11 and the flash was fired form very close to the lens.

A Pink Gazania

I'm not sure if I actually needed the extension tubes for these shots but I wanted to use them anyway. In the coming weeks I want to use the macro a fair bit and really familiarise myself with apertures, lighting and when to use extension tubes! In other words, watch out for a whole bunch of macro shots on this blog.