macro photography

Asked by Cardinal (2931

) February 9th, 2008

I noticed that quite a few of the readers have photography as an interest or hobby. Good. I have been taking pictues of (whatever) for years. I have around 14K pictures on the hard drive. Now have an intererst is wildlife and macro pictures. I can probably handle the wilflife shots using a long lens with a flash extender. My questions concern lightling and how to keep the subject still while setting up and exposing the camera on ultra closeup shots.

I will be using a Nikon D300. I have a telephoto and macro lens. What is the best light source for very close-up pictures and what is the best way to keep the subject from moving (crawling away, such as insects) w/o killing them. Chilling them may work, but pretty inconvienient.

Anyone have any experience with light rings or lens strobe rings.
Thanks in advance.

photography pictures

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3 Answers

I used the ring-lights a bit when I did photography for the Navy. They are great ways to light small objects for macro-photography (and provide softer shadows for other types of photography, though front lighting tends to flatten your subject by providing less detail). I would think one of these lights would be the solution to your problem, as it would be relatively easy to meter your subject from a distance (just far enough to keep from frightening them) and have your camera and flash set up for the shot before you move in closer. Then it would just be a matter of focusing and clicking.

Poser (7808

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I like ring flashes, too. I usually set up a glass (fish) tank with some sort of substrate – soil, leaves, branches – and give the subject time to acclimate. They usually settle down, I can shoot them, and then I release them back where I found them.

syz (35938

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