Macro with a water drop

 For a photo contest I am entering this week I decided to do a macro shot of a drop of water with a reflection of a rose. The shot had to be really precise as the water drop should be really in focus. In this situation there are things you have to remember, you have to keep your camera really steady, the light should be enough for you to close down the aperture of your lens to get the maximum depth of field, and you should be using a lens that will get you close enough to see the little drop of water.

For this shot here are the equipment I used:
Canon 6D body
Yong nuo wireless flash trigger
Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro USM lens
Canon 430ex II speedlite
light stand
Manfrotto 190XPROB Pro Aluminum Tripod
Yellow/orange paper background
Studio clamp

I setup my camera on my tripod. The Manfrotto 190XPROB Pro Aluminum Tripod is an excellent tripod to use for this kind of shot because it lets you setup your camera forward to whatever you are shooting. I needed that extra reach forward so my subject is closer to my lens without the tripod legs getting in the way. I then placed a rose bouquet in front of my lens so I have a leaf that I can put water on for my droplet. I then placed another rose on a studio clamp and placed it behind the first bouquet...this rose is the rose that will be showing up on the water drop that I will photograph. I then placed my colored paper behind the 2nd rose.

The simple setup for this shot.

I then placed my speedlite on my Yongnuo wireless receiver so I can trigger it wirelessly from my camera. I set the flash to manual mode and set my flash to around 1/2 power. The flash was placed on the right side of the subject rose. I then aimed it towards my 2nd rose. I then placed my tripod with the camera in front of the rose bouquet. I set the focus to manual and then I focused on the leaf where I'm putting my water droplet at. I then sprayed the leaf with water till the water was heavy enough to form a drop on it's lowest point.

It takes a while to find the perfect placement.

I then used liveview to focus my lens into the droplet. Liveview allows you to zoom in to whatever you are focusing which is really helpful when photographing something small. When I got the perfect position for everything, I then tried some test shots to see how much light I needed for my shot. I ended up with an f11 aperture which was enough coverage for a shot like this. When everything was in place, I triggered my camera using my smartphone so I wouldn't have to touch the camera and prevent it from moving...a very useful feature of the 6D that other cameras don't have.

The final shot.

It is a very simple setup with outstanding results. I printed it out on luster paper and the results were outstanding.

Bird shots using my 70-200mm IS USM

Over the weekend I had promised myself that I will do a photo shoot of the birds outside our house. We recently purchased a bird feeders and put them in front of our house, knowing that I would be able to shoot birds closeup using this method. I had been birding for the past couple of days, this though will give me real closeups of the birds outside.

For this shoot I chose to use my Canon 50d for the frames per second speed. It's faster than my 5d mk2 which makes it an excellent body for birding. I equipped it with my Canon 70-200 IS USM lens. For this setup, a long range of 200mm is enough as the birds will not see me behind the camera. I will be watching them from the inside so the 200mm reach is enough compared to using the 200mm on a real outdoor birding trip, that is why a lot of birders wear camouflage jackets. Birds do not come close when they see you a couple of feet away from them so staying indoors and watching them through my glass door is a smart idea. Having said that, I would have to trigger my camera with a wireless shutter release so I installed my yong nuo rf-602 to the body. I then attached the tripod collar of my lens to my ballhead attached to my tripod. I then pointed the camera to the bird feeder where I anticipate the birds to feed from.

My simple setup. My fiancee took this with her phone while I took a short break. She even caught a bird flying down on the right side of the feeder.

There are a couple of different approaches when it comes to this kind of setup. For this particular one, I set my focus point to where I think the birds will be. I then set the bird feeder to the center of my frame. Then I used the one of side focus points of my camera to be where my autofocus will be...here's where it all differs. Usually you can set your lens to manual focus for this kind of setup so you can shoot the camera even if the focus isn't locked on...a very good idea if you are really sure where the birds are going to land and stay a few seconds. A very good idea to capture birds in motion that fly by really fast.  Also you can set your focus mode to ai servo...which doesn't restrict you to shoot even if the focus isn't locked on. Either way it's really up to you what you think will work. For these shots I used auto focus, with my focus point on the left side with AI focus mode so I still have the focus lock to let me know when the focus is dead on. I made sure that my camera is perfectly perpendicular to both sides of the bird feeder for the focus to perfectly work...this helps out a lot if I set my focus to manual.

That day was overcast...but the light kept changing. I set my camera to shutter priority and set my speed to 320/sec. Good enough as I 'm not taking shots of birds in flight. ISO was set to 400. First few shots were ok, I then decided to attach a speedlite to my camera, setup the speedlite to HSS, ettl mode. The speedlite gave my shots a lot of color compared to the shots that didn't have it, so the speedlite worked out pretty good.

After a couple of shots I decided to upload my photos and these are the best 2 that I got:

The birds have excellent hearing. They can hear the lens motor focus and they fly away. Some of them get used to it even with the flash and eat while you take a couple of shots. 

I was waiting for a hummingbird to stop over the other feeder but none came. Although when it comes I will be ready. Hopefully before winter I have a couple of shots of them.

So this is how I spent my weekend :)

Setting up a small on the spot studio

One lazy afternoon we went southwest to do a couple of flower shots. We then visited my fiancees mom just to spend an afternoon with the family. I was going around their house and found some pretty interesting items. I didn't want to take them home and photograph them so I had this idea to photograph them on the spot...by creating an on the spot mini studio.

Funny because that day I had both my Canon MR-14EX macro ring light and my Canon 430 EX II in my camera bag. I wasn't really sure why both of these were in my bag but it was awesome for this kind of setup I was going to do. Why is it so awesome? It's because the Canon MR-14 EX macro light has the ability to trigger my 430 EX II!

So I grabbed a piece of white paper, put it against a wall like a big background sweep. I then set my 430 EX II flash on its stand and put it near the sweep. This will serve as my background light. I then attached the Macro light to my camera using the Canon 100mm f2.8 macro. I then set my camera in a tripod.

I then set my macro flash to trigger my 430 EX. Did a bit of adjustment for my background light and I was ready to go.


You can see the flash from my macro light directly hitting the subject. For instances like this, it's good enough.


I was so close to my subject that I had to put my camera in a tripod to restrict movement.

Sometimes being a photographer means you'd have to improvise to shoot what you need to shoot. Having all the stuff you need with you helps out a lot in this situation. So basically this kept me busy the rest of the afternoon!

The Canon 430ex II

Couple of days ago I purchased a Canon 430ex II. I've been wanting to replace my old Sigma 500 dg st these past few years and I finally convinced myself that it's time. Due to problems I've experienced with the Sigma, I needed a more reliable flash that has all the features that I need that wasn't in my older flash. Just to let you know, the Sigma 500 dg st, and the super, has compatibility problems with the Canon 50d. You'd have to send yours to Sigma to have it rechipped to be compatible with the 50d. Problems I have encountered were inaccurate e-ttl reading which results in overexposure, or underexposure, and also the zoom head adjustment. The Sigma flash will just keep moving the zoom head non stop. This will never stop until you turn the unit off and then on again, till it does the same thing again.

I didn't really have time to send the unit to Sigma, nor planing to spend more money in shipping to have it rechipped so I decided to buy a new flash unit. And I'm so glad I did.

I did research online for the best flash. I narrowed it down to the Metz, the Nissin, and the Canon itself. For a couple of dollars more, I decided to get the Canon one. Although I was thinking of the higher end 580ex II...I just thought that I'd rather use the money I save with the 430ex II to buy another one for a mobile setup, and that's what I did.

The flash itself is really small and light, compared to my Sigma. The lcd in the back is pretty neat, and the buttons were snappy and responsive. I also love the way it mounts into my camera. The version II of both the 430 and the 580 ex's have a quick release button that makes attaching it to the camera really easy. Here are the things I love about it:

Quick release button for mounting and removing from the camera.
Supports high speed sync, and 2nd curtain.
Really fast recycling time.
Ability to be a slave flash with the 580exII or the Canon ST-E2
Buttons are really responsive.
Really quiet, you cannot hear it recharge.

I used it for a fashion show over the weekend and this flash rocks! I took around 150 shots around 2-3 seconds apart. The flash never...and I say NEVER failed on me, not even once.

All in all, a very good value for a mini flash. If you have a wad of money to spend, I'd suggest get the bigger 580ex II, otherwise, this is a really good deal next to it!