Practical lighting for close-up photography

mk2pop

this is almost 1:1, ill try and dig up some closer shots

D90, 40mm micro, sb400 on hotshoe

spraynpray

Thanks for that. So that's what a bare SB400 looks like. Not too shabby at all.

mk2pop

yep i was pretty impressed, makes a great handheld macro rig
my sb400 stays glued to my camera, only comes off for one of my 900's when i need big power

kyoshinikon

I use 300 luimen LED flashlights as they are portable. I don't do studio macro work however and work exclusively on the field. My sb900's or 700's are too large.

spraynpray

Hi kyoshi - got any suggestions on makes/models we can look at?

Msmoto

This has been modified so as to be more diffuse and move the light more to the camera left.

spraynpray

Lookin' good Tommie! How is your softbox secured to your flash (if it is at all)?

Is that a Custom Brackets bracket?

Msmoto

Velcro...the box rests on the lens hood as well. I will be placing a small Velcro piece on the hood as wellto help keep it secure.

I think for a home made unit, using things I had around the house, including a GPS bracket, old flash bracket, and then adding the ARCA Swiss connection to the bottom of the bracket, it works quite well.

The bracket is by Stroboframe http://www.adorama.com/SB310635KITN.html and the flexible mount is by RAM Mounts.

The primary reason for doing this project was to get a light source which was able to fit "around" the lens, somewhat, and be very portable. And, this is so easy to carry around by the handle, it is working well, IMO.

spraynpray

Cool. That bracket looks like a bargain considering it comes with a lead too.

Msmoto

I am still learning, and here is the latest test. Manual focus, minimal aperture (f/51) SB-800 in custom softbox. This is a 1:1 on the full frame, os the image even on this page is maybe 5X life size. I have applied sharpening in LR4.3 My next shots will be at about f/32, VR turned Off, and we will see if improvement is noted.



3000px size: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fantinesfotos/8615935199/sizes/o/in/photostream/

spraynpray

So - that is with your 105? If yes, the working distance must be quite far so I would have expected the lighting to be more even top to bottom no?

f51? Now that is showing off - who needs stacking software!

Msmoto

OK, the lens was set at 1:1. This gives about 5 inches from the front element to the subject. The soft box is now putting out more light higher up, and thus is lighting from overhead and to the camera left.

This position is better for objects about seven inches away...not as good for the 1:1.

However, this is a work in progress and I have ordered some more brackets from RAM Mounts, so I can have the flash actually closer to the subject and more camera left. This will use a different softbox, much smaller, but actually a bit like a ring light on the upper one-third of the lens hood, maybe 6 inches across and 2 inches deep for and aft. We will see.....

Remember, I am still in the steep learning curve. Oh, as to the f/51....if one uses an f/16 lens at f/16 and is at 1:1, like a reversed 50mm, the f/stop will actually be f/32. The Micro Nikkor simply does the calculations for you.

donaldejose

The Nikon SC-28 or SC-29 or the third party unit below will each allow you to get the flash off the hot shoe so you can achieve more modeling on your subject. Just use the small stand which came with the flash unit to stand the flash relative to your small subject as you would use a lightbox relative to a person when setting up a portrait. You can use a piece of typing paper taped to cardboard as a fill reflector. You can put some tissue paper over the flash head (held in place with a rubber band) to soften the light. When your subject is very small your normal flash head is large enough in comparison to the subject to about equal the ratio of a softbox to a person for a waist up shot. Thus, you don't really need to buy or create a softbox. You can puff up the tissue a bit if you want more area. Since you are so close to your subject even a small flash produces plenty of light.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=NIKON+SC-28+Cord&N=0&InitialSearch=yes

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/300478-REG/Nikon_4766_SC_29_TTL_Off_Camera_Shoe.html

http://www.amazon.com/Vello-TTL-Off-Camera-Flash-Cord-Nikon/dp/B005GMWKAU

You can also place your subject into a soft box like this and place your flash outside the soft box. While these softboxes come with only one side open you can easily cut a second side open so you can place the softbox over your flower, or other subject, to get it inside and then let the flash fire outside the softbox on one side. A small tripod or light stand or assistant or even long bracket attached to the camera can hold the flash.

:http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-Large-New-Photo-Softbox-Light-Tent-Cube-Soft-Box-/261134398923?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cccd2b5cb

Finally, you could use cool fluorescent lighting softboxes to replicate placing your object into a softbox although such a set-up is not a one handed deal. But they come in packed sets you can easily transport from location to location.

I used this set up in my living room


to produce this photo


and this one


and this one


and this one


and a larger view of the last set up


Here is an example of such a set: http://www.amazon.com/ePhoto-Photography-Continuous-Lighting-H9060SB/dp/B005NJNY9M/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1365027839&sr=8-27&keywords=cfl+lighting+for+photography
Warning: they are not as powerful as you expect.

Just some ideas for different lighting set-ups for close up photography.

spraynpray

@Msmoto: Great stuff, there is some useful info there. Thanks for sharing your learning curve with us so we can follow and learn from the improvements.

I am expecting more severe problems than you as I have the 60mm micro so my lens is smallerand working distance is shorter than your 105 and so softbox shape and placement is prolly going to be more critical. I am thinking now that having it wrap round the lens a little more will help even out the lighting a little and maybe (food for thought) put some slight 'baffles' inside to ensure the light gets evened out so enough gets down the bottom of the subject.

I haven't yet sourced any useful materials to make mine from so may have to just buy a larger softbox and cut it up.

@Donald: Yeah, I am more interested in portable at the moment. I can get there OK with table-top subjects with studio lights or natural light, it is insects that I am after right now. The vid on page one of this thread is the standard I strive for. I wonder what the inside of his softbox looks like....

paulr

Nikon do produce a Diffuser
http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product/Flash-Diffusers/4907/SW-12-Diffuser.html
However, You could make one cheaper, this placed in front of the Flash gun head softens the light and works really well.

Msmoto

@spraynpray

The new unit I make will work with shorter lenses as well. I may start on this within a week. The idea is to provide a light source for objects up to roughly 10 cm which will be the equivalent of a large soft box for other subjects. We will see how this all turns out.....

Correlli

Oh, as to the f/51....if one uses an f/16 lens at f/16 and is at 1:1, like a reversed 50mm, the f/stop will actually be f/32. The Micro Nikkor simply does the calculations for you.

Actually it will still be f/16 I think. Remember that the f-stop is simply the ratio between focal length and diameter of the entrance pupil of the lens (the entrance pupil is the image of the aperture as seen from the front). These parameters do not change with focus distance.

If you attach a lens reversed the image of the aperture (the entrance pupil) will be different as the lens elements in front of the aperture are different. This will really result in a different f-stop.

But if you are at large scales (e.g. like you mentioned ratio 1:1) the light that is emitted from your object is spread onto a larger surface (more pixels on the sensor). This means each pixel receives less light. Because of that you need to use an exposure compensation that can be calculated as e = (1+m)^2 where m is the scale factor. So if you are at an scale of 1:1 and use an f-stop of f/16 you will get as much (or little) light as if you would use f/64. Another way to calculate this (expecially with rail-cameras) is e = (d/f)^2 where d is the distance from the front element with the lens to the rear element with the film holder and f is the focal length.

Now this does not really mean that you are shooting at f/64, which would give you a different depth of field than f/16.

This is definitely true for rail cameras or if you use extension rings. With Macro lenses it might be a little different if the focussing mechanism of the lens is used. As far as I understand Nikon uses IF on the 105 mm Micro. This means that when you focus to a close distance not the entire lens is moved in one unit but the front and rear elements are moved differently. This might actually change the focal length and/or the diameter of the entrance pupil (because the distance from lenses to aperture changes) and therefore the f-stop value. To what extend I don't know. As the lens tells the camera it is using f/51 I assume that this is actually the real value it uses (instead of f/32 which is the smallest f-stop as far as I know).

The extension factor has only practical value if you use an external light meter. If you use the TTL meter of your camera it will automatically be taken into account

donaldejose

For insects you could consider something like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/O-Flash-F160-Ring-Light-Adapter-for-SB-800-600-580EX-II-/400454612549?pt=Camera_Flash_Accessories&hash=item5d3cf47645

It just directs your SB-600, 700, 800, 900 flash down and around the lens. I ordered one to try it but have not yet had the time to do so. I figured the light fall off would make this more directional than a regular ring light and I could always cover one side with tissue or paper to make a lighting ratio side to side.

spraynpray

Ring flashes - either tubed or LED are the standard and easy way to do it Donald, but they don't necessarily give the nicest lighting - they can look flat and boring. The idea of what we are trying to do is get a more pleasant lighting ratio above/below the subject.

donaldejose

I know spraynpray. My comment and suggestion was that perhaps such a device could be adopted to any lighting ratio as easily as two small flashes mounted on the front of the lens. Just use layers of tissue or paper over one side of the ring light to create a lighting ratio. I have not yet tried the idea. Another thought would be to tape a 4x6 recipe card to one side of the ring flash to bounce the light into the subject to create more directional light. I have not yet tried that either. The advantage of such a unit would be that it is cheap since it uses your existing flash and it brings the light down to the level of the lens for very small subjects such as insects. The issue would be whether or not adaptations could be made to create more directional light and a lighting ratio. If so, you have everything attached to your camera and don't have lots of appendages hanging out on the side. When I get some time this spring I will get mine out and try these different things to see if it works.

spraynpray

OK, I see where you are coming from now Donald. It would be good to see some results from it when you get round to trying it, because maybe it will work.

JJ_SO

Watches can also be done by focusstacks. As long as their batteries are deactivated.



Or bigger here. I prefer natural light for shots like these.

Using ringflash made this ice-structure a flat, chaotic thing

Msmoto

Nice...JJ

As to f/stops... maybe we are talking about the focal length of the lens at infinity. When focused closer...the focal length changes...thus, the actual ratio between where the lens is focused and the front element changes and we have f/51 or whatever... At least this is the way it was explained to me.

Correlli

With a lot of older manual focus lenses the focal length does not change when you focus as you simply move the entire lens "pack" further away from the film/sensor plane. With modern lenses that use IF or RF for focussing I am pretty sure the focal length does change. We did have a similar discussion about the 70-200 mm f/2.8 VRII changing focal length at closer distance. So with a different focal length the real f-stop will change as well.

JJ_SO

@Msmoto: You're familiar with focus stacking? If not, you might find some interesting things on heliconsoft.com

The good thing with focus stacks:
You can use the best aperture in terms of resolution without disadvantages of very small aperture numbers.
You can limit the zone of sharpness and blurr the background very accrately

Downsides:
Need to be done with a laptop or desktop, connected to the cam
Moving objects are not possible to shoot
below a certain contrast the software gets problems to recognize sharp parts
time consuming.

Bad example (because of the zones in background):


But the DOF is outstanding and sometimes one needs to take care not to make the pictures look too artificial:



Usually, I use f/4 - f/8 max., sometimes even f/2.