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Close up of flowers.

The other day my wife got this flowers and the moment I saw them I thought, picture time. I took a whole bunch of pictures and although I liked them I was looking for something different with more punch, so I decided to change the back ground from solid to a white silk and light it from behind with a Canon 580 EX and Canon 430EXII flashes with a Canon 580EXII as the master. I went really close and shot some pictures with a Canon EF 50mm  1.4 at F5.6 ISO 200 Speed 100th . The flash mounted on the camera pointed to my back  (reversed the head) and put a reflective surface behind me to bounce some of the light as a fill for the flowers. And this is the result.

Thanks for looking

Alex Elias

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Macro Photo of the day. Feathers

Lately I started to look at common items around the house and get up close; really really close. This is what some feathers look like with a macro lens Canon EF 100 mm 2.8. I guess aside from having the lens and something to photograph what is paramount for this king of images it’s the lighting. Here I used only one light Canon 580 EXII flash  directly to the right of the image, diffused with silk, on the left side I placed a reflective surface to bounce some of the light back into the left side of the image as a fill light. This lighting shows the texture of the feather and makes it for an interesting image.

Pretty cool what a simple feather can look like up close. Lots of common items can become a topic of abstract  photography when we get close enough. Play with shapes, textures and shadows, and take lots of pictures until you are happy with the results. Besides it’s free. Unless you are shooting with film.

Some tips for this kind of images.

  1. A tripod it’s helpful. (very  helpful )
  2. If the camera has mirror lock up function make sure you use it. It helps reduce vibrations.
  3. A cable release it’s also a good way to help reduce movements. Otherwise you can used the self time on the camera along with the mirror lock up feature.
  4. A small F stop. Since the working distance it’s not much at all so it’s the depth of field (DOF) very narrow, you’ll be surprised how little it’s in focus when working like this. F8 or smaller F11 depending on the subject it’s not a bad stating point (play arround and see what suits your subject) if the camera has DOP preview that will give you a good indication.
  5. Set the lens to manual and use the live mode to aid focusing.
  6. Make sure you have enough light ( you’ll have to play with it) if you have a flash do not use it  directly on the subject, otherwise you are most likely burn it (over expose) or have unattractive results. Try detaching the flash from the  camera (if your are using one) with a cable or wireless. Use something to diffuse the flash like silk, fabric or something like it will do.
  7. Have lots of fun

 

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Feathers_0846

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Flowers still life.

If you already spent $$$ on flowers get the most out of them. Make some one happy take some good pictures ( I forgot this time) while they are fresh and then take some more before they hit the inevitable trash can.

Here is the final product. The lens used for this picture was the Canon EF 100 mm 2.8 Macro at F4 Speed 125 and ISO 200. I use one Flash Canon 580EXII through a unbrella, so lighting was pretty simple as you can see.

Thanks for looking.

Alex Elias

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Macro Photography. Snails.

The other night on my way back from work I found this slimy fellows crawling arround. My nature… Take them home and photograph them.

The set up was quite simple. Black background and two Canon speedlights set to manual on A:B groups and a third Canon Flash as the commander. I played with the ratios to taste as opposed of a 2:1 or 3:1 you get the point.  The lights where on stands shooting through umbrellas. The first few images did not come the way I was hoping; light was spilling to the back ground making it a bit gray and also I got some reflections I did not care for on the leaf, So I added Stofen diffuser to the lights to make the light even softer and also zoom the lights slightly 50 mm to get more directional lighting. The lens was Canon EF 100mm 2.8 Macro @ F11 speed 125th Iso 200.

Here are two of the many pictures I took. Something new to me  (I took pictures too) it was the snail eliminating digested food (for lack of better words) #2, it seems like a whole process of weird twistings and again something we don’t see often. Nature at it’s best.

Thanks for looking

Alex Elias

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Macro photography. Insects

Here is one happy jumping spider, and some other bug I found on my back yard a while back. Fortunately, this little one did not seem to matter being photographed a whole lot. Here are a few of the images.

Pictures were taken with a Canon EF 100 mm 2.8

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Macro Photography. Flowers

 

Now that  winter is arround the corner I’ll share some colorful close up of this flowers.

Thanks for looking

Alex Elias

 Orchid close up

 
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Macro Photography. Bubbles

Today I’ll upload some simple yet colorful and chierful good old bubbles.

Bubbles

Bubbles

 

 I hope you enjoy the pictures. If you like to take your own and have any questions feel free to ask. Also if you like to share your images please upload them.

Thanks for looking,

Alex

 

 

 
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Night photography.

I waited for a full moon night to take this picture. The light that the full moon cast over a period of time it’s enough to illuminate this wonderful truck.  Needless to say, a tripod it’s paramount for this type of images.

Some tips here are to make sure the moon it’s out of the picture, as well as any other light sources. Otherwise we would end up with an unpleasant burned spot on the final picture.  The set up here was pretty simple. Set the camera on the tripod, attach a cable release to the camera and set the camera to manual exposure. The lens  it’s set at F5.6, ISO 100 and the speed it’s BULB. This is where you have to experiment to get the right time to match the effect your after. In this case it was between 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 min. The lens ( Canon EFS 10-22 mm ) was on manual focus, I composed the frame, and with a flash light’s aid focus where I wanted it.

Now to the lighting effect. While the camera it’s open up recording the image I was by the side of the truck with an LED flash light cover with a red gel (painting with red) for about 1 to 1 1/2 min. Make sure you keep on moving the light to avoid creating any hot spots. Other things to keep in mind when painting with light it’s to avoid pointing the light source to the lens. In this series of images a few did not worked out because of that. There was one picture were I illuminated the windshield from the inside. That created a strong reflection captured by the camera. Other thing to look for it to keep the light source (flash light) away from the frame. The camera will record a split second of direct lighting. For example. When I was done illuminating the inside of the truck I walked away with the flash light on and I left the light trail right behind me. So make sure the light source it’s off. For the head lights I did the same, get close to them (but outside the frame) point at them and illuminate them  (in this case 8 seconds) using a green gel.

Now that you have the ABC’s go out there, find a friend with a cool truck and have some fun.

As always, if you any any questions comments or like to share an image feel free to do so.

Thanks for visiting.

Alex Elias

Night photography

Night photography