11th September 2008 - Macro Shooting

I'm totally wiped out today ... so exhausted I felt like going for a nap again and I'm hungry =='
Took a bath then grab my camera and went outside the house ... thought of taking macro shoots again while the weather is good :) Well, it's the usual again ... spiders, ants, butterflies, flies and more spiders ... thought of getting a new tripod with a stretchable stand ... coz normal tripods are fix and that LAME for me ...for macro shootings, subjects won't be on the same height as you will be so we need to consider that all subjects are flexible too ... with shaky hands like mine, I need one reliable tripod to serve me :D

Now this is what I call a tripod :D ... last saw the price was RM180.00 and now it's up to RM200.00 ... wahhh... should have bought the other day ... damn!!! Ryan and my brother even got the same tripod like this ... hmmmmmmmmmm ... maybe later, I'm totally broke at the moment ...

Was bored of taking the same spiders over and over again, so maybe I'll change to something more nature like shots? Arghhhh who cares!!!

Obvious noise.

The hard part of taking macro shots are you need to consider:
1) Lighting
2) Shutter speed
3) ISO
4) Aperture
5) Composition


Lighting

If you're taking shots in the morning, then you won't have any problems with lighting coz you'll have allllll the amount of light to use unless you're somewhere in a cave or something ... then you'll need to consider having an external pop up flash...

Shutter Speed
- shutter speed is a cover over the film or CCD that controls the length of time that the light reaches the film

If your subject is moving or there's wind blowing then you might consider tuning to a fast shutter but the faster it goes the less lighting you'll be harvesting. Faster shutter speeds helps prevent blurred images due to camera shake.

ISO

In a low light situation after using fast shutter speed, we tend to use higher ISO - higher ISO allows you to turn off your flash when shooting in dark areas ... but the higher the ISO the more obvious your 'noise' will be in your shots.

Aperture

Aperture will be the one that lets more or less light through the lens, the lower you tune your aperture the more light there is and vice versa.

Composition
Composition will be how you present your subjects to you audience or how you portray your shots.

If you managed to master the first three items, then you won't have any problems unless your camera suddenly breaks down. But the again, it doesn't means that each time you shoot during the morning there will be efficient lights to use coz it all depends on your location too.