Eden Photographers Club Meeting - Tuesday, October 18th @ 7 pm EDT (Topic: Macrophotography)

Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
I'll give y'all a few minutes to digest all that, and while I'm waiting, I'll give out our first EdenFantasys gift card of the evening.

I'm going to give everyone a minute or two to catch up before posting the trivia ... more
Sounds good.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Starkiller87
Sounds good.
Unless Antipova catches up soon. You may be the de facto winner, Starkiller87.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Unless Antipova catches up soon. You may be the de facto winner, Starkiller87.
There might be someone silently lurking waiting to jump in on it.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
I'm glad you're here, Antipova! I'm so sorry I missed your meeting last night. I promise I'll be there next month. I'll be submitting an entry for Iron Chefs of Eden as well - probably on Thursday.
I'm excited to read about it! Cranberries are my favorites, and you always have such great ideas.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
OK, the first person to answer this question correctly will win a $25 EdenFantasys gift card.

Last month I asked about the camera that currently resides the greatest distance from Earth. This month, I want to know: where is the deepest part on Earth where a camera has gone?
10/18/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Unless Antipova catches up soon. You may be the de facto winner, Starkiller87.
Such a shame I can't win these things
10/18/2011
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
OK, the first person to answer this question correctly will win a $25 EdenFantasys gift card.

Last month I asked about the camera that currently resides the greatest distance from Earth. This month, I want to know: where is the deepest part ... more
I'm gonna throw Mariana Trench out there on my way to do some actual research...
10/18/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
I'm gonna throw Mariana Trench out there on my way to do some actual research...
I was gonna say that after I googled it. You know your shit!
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
I'm excited to read about it! Cranberries are my favorites, and you always have such great ideas.
Aw shucks.

It will be turkey breasts stuffed with a apple-cranberry compote, and topped with a cranberry and a apple reduction. Accompanying it will be toasts with chanterelles sauteed in butter and garlic and pureed squash with candied apples, dried cranberries, and hazelnuts.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
I'm gonna throw Mariana Trench out there on my way to do some actual research...
Congratulations, Antipova! Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench off Guam in the South Pacific Ocean is the deepest a camera has ever gone. That depth is 35,814 feet (10,916 meters )
10/18/2011
Contributor: oldman oldman
The USNavy took a pic at more than 35M feet below sea level with a mini sub in the early 60's
10/18/2011
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by Starkiller87
I was gonna say that after I googled it. You know your shit!
Is that the answer, though? I was assuming there was some sort of photography down some exploratory drilling shaft, but google's mostly talking about the trench.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Aw shucks.

It will be turkey breasts stuffed with a apple-cranberry compote, and topped with a cranberry and a apple reduction. Accompanying it will be toasts with chanterelles sauteed in butter and garlic and pureed squash with candied ... more
Aaaand I'm drooling three days in advance of even seeing the pictures.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
OK, back to our macrophotography discussion. This will be a particularly long post, so get comfortable. It is crucially important information for macrophotography using any camera system, though.

Getting so close to your subjects changes quite a bit about how you can take your photos. Without getting into specifics, the closer you get to your subject - either physically or with the focal length on your lens- the less light will reach your camera's sensor (or film, for you dinosaurs out there ).

What this means for you is that the closer you are or the closer to a 1:1 ratio you are, the longer your shutter speeds will need to be, the larger your aperture (lower the f-stop) will need to be, the greater your ISO, or the more light you'll need to shine on your subject. I personally don't like using a flash - that's my preference and not a commentary on those that do - so most of my macro shots are with a low f-stop or long shutter speed. In fact, frequently with my macro shots, even with my camera stopped down as far as it will go (decreasing my f-stop as much as possible), the shutter speed will still be too slow for me to hand-hold the camera. This is even frequently the case when I raise my ISO to 800 or 1600 and/or with moving subjects such as a crawling insect or a flower swaying in the breeze.. As such, a tripod is absolutely crucial for my macrophotography.

|Even if I did dump a bunch of light on my subject, a tripod would still be necessary because hand -holding and keeping a specific part of the image in focus is extremely difficult. On distant shots, being off on your focus by a millimeter or two will make no difference whatsoever in the resulting image, but in a macrophotograph, it can mean the difference between getting what you want in focus and having it be an out-of-focus mess. This is because as you get increasingly close to your subject, the depth of field at a given aperture or f-stop will decrease. At a 1:1 ratio, the depth of field at your lowest f-stop will be razor thin. Even at your largest f-stop, your depth of field will be measurable in only centimeters if you are very close to your subject. A tripod will hold your camera where it needs to be to get the image you want, whereas hand-holding takes a lot of patience, skill, and - mostly - luck. There is a way around this using specialized computer software that composites multiple shots to create an image where a greater amount is in focus, but this is the only way I know of to get around this issue with today's cameras. From what I've seen of camera research, this may be an issue of the past in 10-20 years.

For those of you who do use flash frequently, keep in mind that your lens will get in the way of your flash at very close distances and cast a shadow on your subject. This is true with both P&S and SLR cameras with smaller focal length lenses. There are ways around this with specialized flash equipment, but that is getting into a realm most of you will never go. If you are that interested in macrophotography that you want to know more, feel free to ask and I'll talk about it more later, but otherwise I'll leave it there..

I know some of this might have been confusing, so if you have any questions at all about this, please ask now.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Congratulations, Antipova! Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench off Guam in the South Pacific Ocean is the deepest a camera has ever gone. That depth is 35,814 feet (10,916 meters )
Cool!
10/18/2011
Contributor: oldman oldman
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Aw shucks.

It will be turkey breasts stuffed with a apple-cranberry compote, and topped with a cranberry and a apple reduction. Accompanying it will be toasts with chanterelles sauteed in butter and garlic and pureed squash with candied ... more
I want some!! That soundss so delish.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
Aaaand I'm drooling three days in advance of even seeing the pictures.
I still need to make it, so it's not drool-worthy just yet.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by oldman
The USNavy took a pic at more than 35M feet below sea level with a mini sub in the early 60's
Welcome! If I recall corretly, that was the only manned descent to that depth. Only two ROVs have even gone that deep.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
OK, back to our macrophotography discussion. This will be a particularly long post, so get comfortable. It is crucially important information for macrophotography using any camera system, though.

Getting so close to your subjects changes ... more
Very excellently explained... and thank you so much for giving the laymans' terms in parentheses. These concepts make sense but I don't know much of the jargon, so your explanation was really helpful for me.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
BTW, I just cleaned a milk crate full of chanterelles that a friend of ours gave us. I've been eating them as I described above all day. Even after giving away a bunch, we still have enough to completely fill a paper grocery sack.
10/18/2011
Contributor: oldman oldman
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Welcome! If I recall corretly, that was the only manned descent to that depth. Only two ROVs have even gone that deep.
I don't know, but whenI enlisted in the mid 60s and was on a sub before heading to VietNam, tat is all our Captain talked about. He was really into ocean mapping by sonar.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
Very excellently explained... and thank you so much for giving the laymans' terms in parentheses. These concepts make sense but I don't know much of the jargon, so your explanation was really helpful for me.
You're welcome. This is the most important stuff to know about macrophotography, so it's worth getting it right the first time.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
The last thing I'll bring up about macrophotography is close-up lenses (also known as close-up filters). These are more like the lens for your glasses than they are a traditional SLR lens, but they too enable you to get closer to your subject without getting inside the minimum focal distance.

Image from Wikipedia

These lenses can be used on any camera lens that has a threaded front. So, SLR lenses and the more advanced P&S cameras will have lens threads onto which you can screw these. You can find these lenses very cheap, but stay away from them. They are so poorly made that they distort your image and ruin it. The more expensive ones scarcely alter the image quality at all. They are a good investment if you don't want an SLR system or can't afford a dedicated macro lens. They aren't going to get you a 1:1 ratio, but they are a good cost-effective way to get closer to your subject. They also can be used in conjunction with macro lenses for a little extra magnification, but I'll admit that I rarely use them anymore.

There are other ways to do macrophotography, including using bellows, extension tubes, and reversal rings, but those are subjects that most of you will never have a need for, so I'll not mention them further. However, if you do have any questions about them, I'll be happy to address them later.
10/18/2011
Contributor: oldman oldman
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
You're welcome. This is the most important stuff to know about macrophotography, so it's worth getting it right the first time.
If you use a really long shutter speed, how do you stabilize the camera?
10/18/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
You're welcome. This is the most important stuff to know about macrophotography, so it's worth getting it right the first time.
I also appreciate how you laid everything out
10/18/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
My moms on the phone ughhh.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by Starkiller87
My moms on the phone ughhh.
"Can't talk, photography on sex forums. Love you mom."

10/18/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
"Can't talk, photography on sex forums. Love you mom."

lol! It is distracting!
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by oldman
If you use a really long shutter speed, how do you stabilize the camera?
A tripod, usually. I couldn't do my photography without a tripod, as about 98% of my shots are taken with one. I have a rather expensive one, but any tripod is better than none and there are some good cheaper ($50-$75) out there. Even the really, really cheap ones <$20 are better than nothing.

There have been times where my subject is so low that it needed to be on the ground, and I just rested it on the ground and propped up the bottom with sticks or rocks to get it level.

Tripods are far easier, though.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
"Can't talk, photography on sex forums. Love you mom."

LOL.

I have the same problem when my husband calls during these meetings.
10/18/2011