First time with my Macro

[Yarrow]

Hey all..I have been uber busy and havent been able to shoot much but I got out to my garden the other day with my new macro attachments and this is what I got..
I dont think I did it right at all, but I was having troubles trying to figure it out. It was the first time I ever shot macro :blush2:
Excuse the horrid edit job but I am still learning.






Everyones favorite weed..( I love them)

[Knight]

Well i would say you did pretty good for a first attempt Well done
Tell us about the settings you used . Im sure someone will give you a few pointers on Macro photography , theres quite a few members in this section that do Macro on a regular basis.

[Louis1]

I think those are a great first attempt at using your macro lens, Yarrow

[Yarrow]

Thank you knight and louis1.....


I use a Olympus e300..all my settings are on auto as I am still getting used to my camera and shooting with SLR digital. I am branching out a bit but not to much especially not for this first attempt at Macro.
I have 4 macro lens attachments (attach to regular lens). I used the +4 attachment with my 45mm lens.

[Loupey]

I think you did great for being your first time.

I actually find flower shots to be difficult subjects - especially the larger flowers. Difficult to get enough depth of field, difficult finding the "right" angle, difficult to find the right background, difficult to capture a different aspect, ...

[Yarrow]

Thanks Loupey..

That was what gave me the most issues was getting right angles and depth. I must have knocked into those flowers half dozen times.
I would have liked to get much closer....Maybe next time.

[payn817]

Again, as a first attempt, not bad. What I try to do with flowers is study and hopefully find something interesting about it. With flowers, macro is usually going to be more toward abstract so when you find the interesting part, focus there. That will overcome the issue of depth. If you do want depth and to fill the frame, you can try using a 1:4 macro setup for larger flowers. For smaller flowers, try to find a group and make your composition there, keeping the foremost in focus and allowing the others to slowly fall out of focus. If neither of these do it for you, stop down and shoot it with the flash.

Of course, I don't make much money at this either so take it with a grain of salt.

[Yarrow]

Thanks Payn817

I did some more experimenting a little while ago, by just looking through the lens and trying out different focal points and angles. I will certainly add your advice here with what I fiddled with a bit ago and see if I can come up with something better.
Im going to be planting more this week so I'll have some different flowers to work with ..LOL.
Thanks

[Loupey]

What I try to do with flowers is study and hopefully find something interesting about it. With flowers, macro is usually going to be more toward abstract so when you find the interesting part, focus there.

Payn hit the nail on the head with this comment. Too often people try to capture the whole flower and the result is often "snapshot-ish". Like all images, try to direct your viewer to seeing only what you want them to see. Perhaps a specific part/shape/color of a flower. Perhaps a single drop of water on a flower, patterns, etc.

I recommend going to a botanical garden, and just observe for a while before making a single shot. Study the subjects and then pretend you have just one frame to shoot - which shot are you going to take?

[Yarrow]

Again thanks Loupey for added advice.

I am actually going to a botanical garden in a few weeks just for this purpose...I hope to have some great shots to show then