Macro DOF and Wind

Found the importance of insect eyes in macro photography discussion very interesting. Suspect shooters of macro subjects sans eyes have similar considerations, but probably more choices. If the subject is a flower, the subject might be the petal, the stigma, the anther, the leaves, or any combination thereof. Outdoors, the subject of a nanosecond is often the zephyr's choice.



This Blue Phlox was a cooperative subject this morning. Well, sort of. It took many shots to finally get one where the subject was sitting still enough for f/16 with light off shoe flash and the 180mm macro lens.

I've tried using the Wimberely Plamp to stop plants moving in the wind, but with little success. Does anyone know of a more useful alternative?

Tom

Hi Tom,

For a small plant, and wind from one direction, then a windbreak of some sort, close to the plant can work - cloth and stiff wire will do.

An aunt of mine, who made exquisite flower drawings/watercolours of the whole plant, would carefully dig it up, take it home to draw it, then return to the site and replant it. That may be considered unethical, these days, if not illegal.

Best wishes,

Ray

tom i sympathize with your problem. the wind is certainly an issue for me shooting sea lavender in the intertidal zone because both wind and water can move the plant, and the flowers are tiny. i got the 180 macro several years ago specifically for this task. i like ray's idea of a windbreak, although often that is not practical. when possible, i use my body as the windbreak if wind, light, and shooting angle work out in such a way as make this practical. usually not of course. the best solution i have is to wait patiently for the wind and water to become calm. sunrise and sunset often have moments of this. in my specific location, summer mornings can be calm with the wind picking up in the afternoon, and then dying late afternoon or early evening. so a sunrise shoot into the first few hours of the day has a good chance of success. and even then the wind picks up for brief periods of time (though i am temporaily grateful because the bugs blow away for a moment) and i have to sit at the ready, waiting for that moment when the plant stops moving long enough for my shutter speed (hopefully fast shutter speed!) to be successful.
ray's aunt's method would be a lot more comfortable

Ray, the windbreak idea is interesting. A rolled up bit of construction plastic and some number 9 aluminum wire should do the trick. I will give this a try.

Marion, Ray's Aunt probably had the best idea, but picking plants from state and county parks is illegal, as well as unethical, as Ray points out. It sure works well for little things growing around the foundation of my house, though.

I agree with you about dawn and dusk. It's a great time for macro stuff, and a great time to slap on insect repellent.

Waiting for calm moments on a windy day usually works, but you gotta' have pocket full of free time; a commodity these days.

Being a midwesterner, I'm not familiar with Sea Lavender. If you have any images available, would you mind posting a link?



Shooting Stars are just beginning to do their thing. This one with a hiding spider was taken this morning. It was breezy, so this particular image was selected from about 25 with varying degrees of motion-induced blur. It would have been easy to blast away with flash, but then would have lost the background.

Tom

Hi Tom,

I came across an article/email a year or so ago, may even have been in opf, but probably on fm, and in searching just now with google, on wind, flower movement, and so on, a few other items came to light, but I never found what I was looking for.

What was being said, was if you observed the movement, often the flower was in fact oscillating, (damped harmonic motion?) and it was possible to take the photo at the end of a cycle, when it would be stationary for a short period of time as it changed direction. I cannot recall much more detail, if the camera was on a tripod, with mirror lock up, or how.

A couple of others - use flash, with daylight as the fill light; and following on from Marian, in early morning - dawn- the wind is generally calmer than in the evening, but I think this will depend on location and time of year. I guess at the seashore, it will change direction, as the land heats up, and maybe at mid afternoon there is a calm period.

I also recall a guy who made up a rig with infra red sensors for photographing insects in flight, when the beam was broken, the camera fired ;-)

Best wishes,

Ray

just to be clear tom, i was not serious in suggesting that ray's aunt had an ethical idea, or a legal idea, just a more comfortable idea LOL! and i believe that sea lavender is protected and not to be picked especially!
ray's thought on oscillation is one i employ in light winds, on a tripod, and, again, as fast a shutter speed as possible. finding times of no wind on the shore is a challenge! a plamp doesn't really help me as the top of the plant still sticks up and sways in the breeze. sometimes a well placed reflector can allow me to increase the shutter speed a bit.

as to sea lavender, here are some links (i won't use up space in this thread for them).
my sweat bee in the "eyes" discussion is on sea lavender:
http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2717
and here's a full plant (shot with the 180):
http://www.pbase.com/capecodfish/image/64830611
and here is a plant at high tide:
http://www.pbase.com/capecodfish/image/48176829

and yes time is a precious commodity, but patience has its rewards (to be totally cliche!). i equate waiting for the propitious wind conditions with waiting in a blind for the birds/animals to show. it's part of investment in the shot, if the shot is to be in the environment in natural light...let us know if you discover any successful techniques for wind.

Hi Ray,

I remember seeing something somewhere about the swinging of things in the wind, too. Seems like it was published on the web during the last year or so, and recall that it made me think about the old family metronome. The speed of the pointer is fastest at the top of its arc and slowest at the ends. If the analogy held the best chance for a photo would be at the ends of the cycle. The analogy doesn't work, of course, because of irregularities in the cycle of plant movement.

Still, it's interesting to think about, isn't it?

Hi Marian,

I understand and agree with your point about wild plants and ethics. I had no intention of suggesting otherwise.

Thanks for the links to the Sea Lavender photos. I overlooked the sweat bee image in the "eyes" discussion, sorry. Very much enjoyed that image and also enjoyed wandering through your galleries.

Your comment about the photographer's "investment in the shot" says it all. Cameras improve, lenses improve, software improves, but if the conditions at the moment of exposure aren't working perfectly, every aspect downstream in the work flow is for naught.

Regards,

Hi Tom,

In some circumstances, it does work, well at least better than trying to chase after the flower.

Just to clear up about 'my Aunt', she was killed in an accident in 1932, I believe she was 27 years old, but it was some 15 years before I was born, so I haven't met her yet ;-)

In those days, afaik, the word 'ecology' didn't exist - maybe she invented it...

Best wishes,

Ray