Suddenly Semi-competent

I am getting better at macro photography.

I should say that I have learned that the term “macro” is used very loosely. In the most rigid sense, a macro photograph is one in which the subject’s projection on the sensor is at least actual size, but people use the word “macro” to describe photographing just about any small object up close, so I will use it that way, too.

I was not happy with my focus or depth of field with the new camera and lens. I have a real tripod on the way, and that will help. My TEMU-grade tripods are not up to the challenge.

Another thing that helps: backing up. The farther you get from your subject, the greater the depth of field is. Unfortunately, it’s an exponential change, so I don’t expect to be able to predict it while moving the camera. Today I tried to double my distance from the subjects, and I guessed at the distance by looking at the size of the subjects on the monitor.

I also changed the focus peaking settings. Focus peaking is the camera feature that makes things light up on a monitor screen when they are in focus. I have been using the high setting, because, hey, high has to be better than low. But it doesn’t. Google AI told me accuracy increases as you turn it down. I couldn’t really see the focus peaking on the low setting, so I tried the middle setting, and my focus improved.

A lot of people say not to use high f-stops because of diffraction, which will make things look fuzzy. On the other hand, it increases depth of field, or “DOF,” as we pro photogs call it. A French lady who teaches macro says to go high and not worry about it, so I did that today, shooting at f16. The results were not exactly crisp, but they were better than previous efforts. Maybe going down one or two stops is the answer.

Anyway, I’ll post a photo.

It is not going to win any sharpness contests, but on the other hand, photography isn’t all about sharpness. This isn’t science. I’m not a satellite shooting tiny features on the surface of Pluto so the human race can get the most information possible. It’s just supposed to be pleasant to look at.

To me, this is good enough to be considered a successful photo. The bigger version is sharper. I can’t post giant images here. I’ll post a piece of this photo for comparison.

That ought to be good enough for government work. I wouldn’t be embarrassed to have that hanging on my wall.

I have learned that some cameras do something called “focus bracketing.” You focus and shoot, and your camera takes several shots while changing the focus slightly. This is very useful for macro photography with a low depth of field. It gives you a number of images suitable for combining with software so more of the subject is in focus.

Guess which Sony camera doesn’t have this feature? The one I just bought. DOH!

My bigger Sony does have it, however.

I don’t think it’s that important. I’m using a manual-focus lens, so I couldn’t do it with this lens anyway. A lot of people get great results with this lens.

Things keep improving. I’m learning more about real photography where the dial is not set to “AUTO” all the time. I’m really enjoying the editing. I don’t know why it’s so relaxing.

I think I should be able to produce some pretty good stuff before the month is out.