Butterflies and blooms

Fortunately this one held still.

Every summer the Chicago Botanic Garden has their butterflies and blooms event near one of their gardens. This year was no different from the previous ones. It was still awesome with their display of beautiful butterflies.

A very colorful shot.

For shots like this I have my macro setup. I fitted my Canon 5D MK2 with my 100mm macro, with my Canon MR-14 macro ring light attached. The macro ring light is perfect for keeping your aperture as narrow as you can have it. Shooting very close up, a wide aperture will greatly limit your depth of field so it is very helpful if you can close your aperture as much as you can.

Shot without flash.

I didn't bring a tripod with me. A tripod would stabilize my camera better, although it is bothersome in some cases and you should be considerate with other people walking around. Also in some places, a tripod is banned for safety issues...and this is one place where you can't bring one.

This little guy was just hanging out the whole time.

Butterflies and blooms is a yearly event that I never miss. From what we heard, the Chicago botanic garden will be relocating the event next year to a bigger area for more butterflies. I can't wait to see that.

The wide aperture is nice is you can focus properly.

Chicago botanic garden orchid show

 The Chicago Botanic Garden Orchid show was a lot of fun. Make sure you bring a Macro lens when going on one.

Went to the botanic gardens on the 2nd Saturday of October. We were just planning on walking around. It was raining most of the day so we were just planning to walk into the greenhouse when we saw that an Orchid show was going on. We definitely had to check that out. 

 It's always fun taking shots of flowers if you have the proper equipment with you. 

When I was packing my bag for the photo walk, I know I had to pack my 100mm macro lens. Going into a garden without a macro lens is like walking into war with a knife. I just had to bring it with me. Knowing that we are mostly going to be indoors, I had to bring my macro ring flash with me too. Times like this my Canon mr-14ex comes in handy. I rarely do use it, but when I do need it it's perfect for what I use it for.

 The Macro ring light usually gives you a very dark background when you set your aperture at f16 and above...which is ideal for macro shots.

The 100mm and the macro ring light are a perfect combination. I wish I had a longer macro lens but this will do for now. The thing that sucks about the 100mm macro and the mr-14ex ring light is that you have to remove any filters from the 100mm for the flash to snap into place, but that's just a minor gripe. I'd lose the uv filter anytime so I can put the ring light on.

 Be careful when you are too close to your subject with a ring light. Some parts can overexpose.

For Macro shots with flash, make sure you set your speed high and your aperture narrow. I usually set mine at f16 up when shooting macro. This will give the depth of field that is necessary to make your shots as sharp as possible. When shooting this close, your depth of field becomes paper thin. Also, I prefer to shoot in manual focus mode. A tripod will also help.

 Post processing to darken the background also helps a lot.

 A tripod helps in making sure your shots are in focus. If you have steady hands you don't need it.

 Depth of field is really shallow on macro shots.

The choice for macro lens is very important. I usually stay away from macro lenses that are shorter than 50mm. Right now I have a 100mm macro which I might upgrade sometime to a longer one. The longer macro lens you have the farther away you can be from your subject.  This is very helpful when photographing bugs.

 Manual focus helps out a lot.

I prefer a long lens for macro shooting. This will keep you further from your subjects.

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!

Canon MR-14EX Macro Ring Light

The ringlight is one of the most necessary equipment for macro photography. It basically lets you pump out light in places that are really difficult to light up. It also allows light into places where light would otherwise be blocked off by your lens or your lens hood. The biggest advantage of using the ringlight is it allows you to use a narrow depth of field by closing the aperture of your lens...you need the extra depth of field when taking macro shots due to the fact that a millimeter makes or breaks a shot when you are so close to your subject.

I started out with a cheap sub $100 ringlight I bought online. I thought it would be enough for what I need. It was actually ok for the first couple of weeks...till you realize that it fails a little bit too much! It's really critical when you hand hold your camera set your focus and take the shot for the flash to actually work. I would say 3 out of 5 times, the cheap ringlight will fail. It flashes, though the sync with the flash and the shutter seems to be off.

So I decided to invest in a genuine Canon ringlight. It is really expensive but I decided to get it because I'll be using it all the time anyway. So I bid on one online and won! It arrived a week later.

I got a Canon MR-14EX Macro Ring usually around $500, which I've heard is pretty good, I got mine used so it's way cheaper than $500. I just cannot afford to spend $600-$700 for the MT-24, so I got it's little brother. I was impressed with the build quality, as is with other Canon products. Before I forget, this ringlight needs a lens adapter if you are not using Canon macro lenses such as me. I heard it fits the Canon 100mm macro both the L and the regular one, as well as the 50mm and the 60mm macro without the adapters, correct me if I'm wrong. Mine came with a 62mm adapter for my 70mm Sigma lens, so I am good to go.

So I took photos of flowers inside our house and I was glad the flash does not fail on me, not even once. I love that recharging sound that is not present in the newer Canon flashes. The things that I like about it were:

Very reliable. I've had it for months now and it never has failed on me, not even once.
There's a modeling light, so you can compose in total darkness.
Flawless trigger for an extra 430ex or a 580ex.
High speed sync also available.
Snaps on really easily. Unlike the cheaper ones that you have to screw it in the lens.
Build is pretty good.

I've heard that there's a button you can press on your camera that you can press to activate the modeling light. I've tried doing this but I cannot seem to make it work. This will eliminate the trouble of looking away from the viewfinder to switch it back on when it shuts off.

For macro shooting, you cannot go wrong with this one. Although it's a bit pricey, I suggest it's really worth it.