Lighting for Studio Style Macro Images

[vetnurse]

Okay, I have developed a liking for studio style macro still life's - I'm really a novice (only got my first camera for about a year ago) and the SLR is on my christmas wish list (come heck or high water - that Nikon D70S is gonna be mine!).

At the moment I'm fiddle-faddling with Fuji S5600, and the flash is next to useless, so I have improvised with halogen lighting. See some of my attempts in my PaD galleries

http://www.pbase.com/vetnurse/pad

Here's an example



My question to those of you in the know - and keeping in mind I will have the Nikon in a few months time (and be fairly broke as a consequence) - what are your thoughts and suggestions for lighting set-ups for this type of work?

Cheers
Ruth

[dang]

Here's something you might like to try. It's made from a toothpaste box, or something similar. I use these on both P&S & my 300D at times. I picked up this tip from Chun Lo, another pbase member.


It puts the light right above, and allows you to stop down enough so you'll have excellent dof. It works best with a P&S since the dof is greater to begin with, but still does okay with a DSLR. This was taken with my A2 in the shots above, and it's flash IS usless without it for macro work this close:


It works even better with flower macro work, and can give some very dramatic results. And it saves a lot of time in Photoshop too since the background is dark, and clean.

[alexphotos]

http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/light_box_light_tent

Check this out, this is how to make you a light tent under 15$
I did not make mine but i guess for 15$ you can't lose that much.
Note that next weak i plan to build mine.

[vetnurse]

I must say this site rocks!

Thanks Alex and Dang for your great pointers - and others that have taken the time to write to me.

Dang that's what I've been looking for to solve my flash issues - Thanks!

So many ideas that I wouldn't have thought of in a million years - simple techniques many of them, but so effective

By the way Alex you are right about Bills light box, I'm going to build mine this weekend too

Cheers
Ruth

[vetnurse]

Well thanks to all the good folks here at PBase - I was given a host of ideas and simple solutions to try out. And I did.... It's amazing what results you can get from relatively inexpensive gear like halogen lamps and baking paper (for soft lighting), I even managed to find an old sheet of white/opaque x-ray viewing screen from work. I'm chuffed with my early results.

Tonight I had a second attempt at photographing Filbert (my tree frog), he wasn't co-operative at all last night and every image was a disaster, but a large feed of crickets and a cool day has slowed him down enough to sit still for about 10 seconds. (He's a very active frog normally). He hates lights, period! So the challenge was to keep the lights very soft and cool, keep him still for brief moment and get a reasonable composition.

All in all, I am happy with the results. My camera isn't the best quality (soon to be replaced) but I am learning a great deal about what makes a good image in other ways.



http://www.pbase.com/vetnurse/image/61409397



http://www.pbase.com/vetnurse/image/61467222



http://www.pbase.com/vetnurse/image/61409395



http://www.pbase.com/vetnurse/image/61409393

[rjyates]

Great results - looks like you've got the technique perfectly.

I use halogen lamps with just sheets of card to get the light where I want it and that seems to have worked reasonably well for most of my macro shots.

The gallery is here: http://www.pbase.com/rjyates/macro

[vetnurse]

Thanks RJ, I'll try the card trick. I have a small collection of inexpensive halogens now (various wattage), the bakers paper, light box and x-ray screen are all working very well. Love your galleries and thanks for showing us what your macro lens can do.