Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I REALLY am envious of the sheer amount of amazingly beautiful fauna that live in your country! These pics make me want to leave dirty NYC but then I start thinking and always come to the same conclusion. Half of the things there make you stop and stare in awe just long enough to give the other half enough time to poison/eat you. Perhaps one day I'll get over this just long enough to come check it out over there!

Mikeym,

Thanks for your kind comments on the last page. The Dragonfly pic was taken with an old Olympus C-750 point and shoot. Just about everything else is taken with an Olympus E1, with either a 14-54 f/2.8-f/3.5 or a Tamron 300mm f/2.8 manual lens. The Tamron is known as Big Bertha, if you've ever used a 300mm f/2.8 lens then you will know why.



Picking macro photography to learn on is setting yourself quite a challenge. I had a look at your pics, and you have a great eye, there are some really nice shots in there, some give a really interesting perspective you don't normally see, which in most cases why people can get hooked on macro. If I had any advise to offer it is watch your depth of field. In many I feel it is too narrow, more of the image needs to be in focus; and thus we have hit the reason why macro photography is hard to start on.

In a normal photo, say a portrait, the subject is a couple of meters away, so for every f number you reduce, the depth of field is going to change by a small amount. An f/2.8 shot in this circumstance could have an in focus area of say 5cm (I am not going to do the maths here.... too hard, but for the example just assume I am right). When you are taking macro photography, especially with a high magnification lens, the total frame size can be quite small at maximum magnification, say 15mm across. So now when you change the f/ number, the difference can by huge. So using a greater depth of field (bigger f/ number), will also help you make sure the desired focal point will be in focus.

Obviously having a bigger f/ number will let in less light, so the shutter speed has to be longer, so it makes fast moving things harder to get..... welcome to the addictive world of macro photography.



My DSLR has 3 choices, A, S, and M. Honestly, it spends 98% of the time on A, or Aperture priority mode. I suggest you try this mode for a while. Basically, you want to look at something, and work out what you are looking at is the focal point, and therefore, you need that portion to be sharp, and the rest of the background slightly blurry so the focal point stands out (unless it's a landscape, then you want everything in focus, so large f/ number). After some time, (with many mucked up shots in between), you will soon start to instinctively learn what setting you need. And hey, it's fun learning.



Try this, set the camera to A. In bright light, ISO 100 or 200, if darker, push it out to 400 or 800. Take several shots of the subject, but change the f/ number, soon you will start to get an understanding for depth of field. Basically, low f/ number, less of the image is in focus, but more light is let in so faster shutter speed (good for getting fast moving stuff). High f/ number, more of the image is in focus, but slower shutter speed to achieve this (bad for getting moving stuff). The beauty of using A mode is you get to choose how much of the image is in focus, and the camera automatically sets the shutter speed for the given light conditions (upping the ISO makes it more sensitive, so faster shutter speed, but being more sensitive can introduce noise, it's a fine balance).

I really enjoyed looking at your images. I will be keeping an eye out for more, but have a play with changing the aperture, it can be really tough to nail for macro. Have a good look at my lizard pic, I went too small and his nose is slightly out of focus. Had I backed off slightly, his rear legs would still have been slightly blurred, but his nose would have been sharp. Oh, he was cold so standing still making it easy for me, I got several shots off and still didn't nail it......... did I say welcome to the world of macro photography, it can be addictive.

Happy to talk photography anytime. Watch out, if you get hooked, it is a never ending learning process, stuff we have talked about here has not even scratched the surface...... but it's fun learning.

Cheers

Wazza

not quite sure how to do this but here's the link to my photo on my system page
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/download/file.php?id=24597

matt

Like this:

Nice pic and nice tomatoes KP

dr, they're matty's... I just posted them so you could see 'em :-)
But I'm sure he'll appreciate the compliment

Yep thanks kuda

Regards
Matt

Nice growing Matty and nice posting KP
Look good enough to eat

This one has something to do with aquaponics, after shifting a ute load of blue metal for grow beds and flooring about 60 metres each way by wheelbarrow and washing, with our staffy Marley,s watchfull eye following each load, she decided it was time for a break and curled up in the wheelbarrow for a nap.

My humble offering:
Cheeky little frog sitting on one of the bamboo supports in my mini system.
Local name "Kiaat Dabaah"



Nikon D70, Nikkor 18-70 lens.

Dui

the first shoots in my system. taken from the trusty iphone

Thought of sharing some of my point and shoot too..

More to come...

Our hardworking "BEE/S Man"

I proudly present (As EB so eloquently put it): Bug Porn


Jaymie can I have identification confirmation please?