Remember, I am not a pro and all that I have learned is from trial and error.
The Kit I Use - I think this is essential kit for better shots
1. Nikon D90
2. Nikon 18-105mm vr kit lens
3. Screw on macro lens kit - +1, +2, +4, +10
4. Manfrotto 190cx3 Tripod and 804rc2 head
5. Nikon ML-L3 remote
6. Nikon SB-600 Flash
7. Large white artist canvas
8. Spot Light
Why I use it:
9. The d90 and 18-105mm - Have you used one - need I say more???? A great camera and excellent lens. Get one now!!!!
10. The screw on lenses are great for getting up close and personal with your subject. It shortens the focal length and magnifies the subject. Allows some interesting pictures and they can be used in different combination's to get differently framed shots.
11. The screw on lenses mess up the auto focus and also make the focus area tiny. Shooting handheld is very difficult, unless you are as stable as a statue. You need a tripod and a decent one at that. One that is easily adjustable in all directions. You need to get up close to the subject and can mean weird angles.
12. With the margin for error being so small, the act of pressing the shutter release, can mess up your shot. So a remote is essential. Set the shot up, get the focus right, press the remote button and viola!!!
13. Now, the lenses also make the kit lens slower and cut out a lot of the light. I must admit I do not use this too much for my macro. When attached to the flash shoe on the camera, it will probably sit too high to be of use when you are really close up. The built in flash is not great. I have not yet worked out how to use it off camera and that is where it will come into it's own.
14. Unless you have a lightbox or mini studio - it is on my wishlist - your backgrounds are going to be either dark, or messy. Using an artists canvas allows a nice, clean, white background and has the added benefit of reflecting more light onto your subject.
15. If you can get your flash gun to work off camera, you have a mini studio then no need for the spot light. If not, then an adjustable spotlight is needed. This will focus plenty of light onto your subject allowing you to get some great detail.
Well that is it for now, here are some recent shots I have taken.
2 comments:
first of all, amazing post. thank you very much.
i had some ideas about the equipment i needed, but you pretty much cleared it up. i've got a pretty nice sakar tripod, but i would really like to get at least one wireless speedlight so i can play around with the flash commander mode. i definitely need that remote.
do those lens filters really do the trick? i mean, the shots are wonderful, but it just can't be that easy (or cheap). i thought i was going to have to buy a wide angle lens, a step down ring, and then an entire macro lens. i had it in my head that macro photography was going to run me many hundreds of dollars. speaking of spending money, that sigma 12-400mm looks like a really nice buy, especially considering you use of it as a super-telephoto and the fact that amazon says it can reach 1:4.2 magnification with a minimum focusing distance at 150cm. how is the lens overall? as a macro? as a telephoto?
well, i've got to run. thanks a lot for replying to my comment in such a manner, and thanks in advance for replying to this one.
Thanks for the comments, it is really appreciated.
My next post will answer your questions. I will review the 120-400 and show you some shots, both macro and telephoto that I have taken.
With regards to the macro screw on, yes it is that easy. You may need to do a little bit of adjusting in photoshop, the second shot in the post was saturated and I highlighted the white background - it was a bit grey.
I would love to buy a macro lens and a fish eye, but as you can see a small fortune has already been spent on my gear and I am only a hobby photographer. I make no money from it - unless of course you buy the sigma 120-400 through my amazon account :-)
I will post my review and some more shots tonight or tomorrow.
Greg
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