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Canon 40D Macro shots from today

B

Brian Lowe

New member
Today I took my Canon 40D out to shoot a few macro shots of the flowers. I am really enjoying the 40D it is preforming very well as I test it out, I am so pleased with it. All shots were taken with the 40D (of course), Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro and EX-14 ring flash. These were all post-processed in Adobe Lightroom and CS3.

Enjoy,

Brian

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J

janet Smith

pro member
Brian Lowe said:
Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro and EX-14 ring flash.
Click to expand...

Hello Brian

Lovely shots.... I also have the 2.8 macro lens which I use on the 5D, I'm considering buying the ring flash, these shots certainly look impressive, are you happy with the flash? would you recommend it?
 
B

Bart_van_der_Wolf

pro member
janet Smith said:
Hello Brian

Lovely shots.... I also have the 2.8 macro lens which I use on the 5D, I'm considering buying the ring flash, these shots certainly look impressive, are you happy with the flash? would you recommend it?
Click to expand...

Janet,

Just for consideration; Using a ring flash as the main lightsource will give a 'flatter', less 3D quality, type of lighting than a setup with more distance/angle between the main and fill light. This gets even more pronounced when shooting from some distance. Of course the ringflash can be used as fill light, in combination with another (EX) flash-unit (preferably diffused) as main light.

So while you are considering the ring light, also consider the MT-24EX twinlite. Not only does it have more output power, it also has more distance between the two flash-heads and thus offers more 'modelling' capacity. It too can be used in combination with the other EX flashes, even in wireless mode, for a more sophisticated lighting setup.

Bart
 
J

janet Smith

pro member
Hello Bart

Very interesting, I hadn't even considered the MT-24EX as an option, but it looks as though it would be a very good one, thank you for pointing this out. I'll look into this more before purchasing......
 
D

Dawid Loubser

Member
Janet,

As somebody who recently started shooting with the MR-14EX, I do agree with Bart that, if not used carefully, images can end up a little flat. I find that it works great (when you offset the power output balance severely to one side) for really small / close up images, but it's never great fro further-away subjects - images are guaranteed to come out flat, and that's where an additional flash, wirelessly controlled from the ring flash, will do wonders.

However, this is (in my opinion) a real gem of a flash, and a great start to a system which may eventually include other flashes for better scene setup.
 
D

Dawid Loubser

Member
Brian Lowe said:
Today I took my Canon 40D out to shoot a few macro shots of the flowers. I am really enjoying the 40D it is preforming very well as I test it out, I am so pleased with it. All shots were taken with the 40D (of course), Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro and EX-14 ring flash. These were all post-processed in Adobe Lightroom and CS3.

Enjoy,

Brian
Click to expand...

Hi Brian,

Of your images, I can't say there is any one in particular that I love from a standpoint of composition (through the first one is my favourite) - but in all other respects, they are technically excellent - vivid, crisp, sharp, and I do hope that you enjoy your 40D! (seems to be a fine camera, from all I've read about it so far).
 
B

Brian Lowe

New member
Janet,

I would highly recommend the EX14 I use this as a master and have my 580EX as a slave (it works wireless) to add dimensionality when I want to.


Here is an example of a flower taken with the EX14 as the master and 580EX as a slave, the 580EX being held to the upper left of the flower

65309623-L-1.jpg




Enjoy,
Brian
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Quick, someone say some harsh things about focus, granularity or the like! We don't want Brian to think he's some master or he'll start giving workshops, seminars, making DVD's and we'll lose him!

Asher
 
Cem_Usakligil

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Asher Kelman said:
Quick, someone say some harsh things about focus, granularity or the like! We don't want Brian to think he's some master or he'll start giving workshops, seminars, making DVD's and we'll lose him!

Asher
Click to expand...
OK. I think that the focus is rather harsh on these pictures, way too sharp <LOL>

Great pictures Brian, have got nothing to criticise really.
Thanks for showing.

This makes me think again whether I should get this 100mm f2.8 macro as well? Hmmm.

Cheers,
 
J

janet Smith

pro member
Brian Lowe said:
I would highly recommend the EX14 I use this as a master and have my 580EX as a slave (it works wireless) to add dimensionality when I want to
Click to expand...

Hello Brian

Thanks for showing these and for the advice, they are beautiful shots, (sorry Asher I can't think of anything to criticise either!!) and yes Cem I have this lens as well and love it it too, I find it a little on the heavy side, but it's a great lens....
 
J

janet Smith

pro member
Still undecided which flash to buy.......

Dawid Loubser said:
but it's never great for further-away subjects
Click to expand...

Hi Dawid & Brian

When you say the MX14 is never great for further away subjects, what sort of distance do you feel it performs well at?

My intended use for the macro flash is flowers and food at distances between 4" & 4' approx, do you think it would perform well within this range?
 
B

Bart_van_der_Wolf

pro member
janet Smith said:
When you say the MX14 is never great for further away subjects, what sort of distance do you feel it performs well at?
Click to expand...

If you still want to add lighting depth to the image, I'd say you need to have the half ring tubes to illuminate the subject at 45 degree angles, or more. Then by varying the ratio between the two flashes you can tweak the lighting contrast. This would mean that the subject distance would be something like 50-100mm from the flash at the most for optimal effect. You can use the flash from further away, but then it becomes more of a fill flash only, to supplement either natural light or another flash that would serve as the main light. The macro twin-lite flash heads have a slightly larger spacing, so 10-15 cm would still work, but they can also be detached and used on extenders for more spacing.

My intended use for the macro flash is flowers and food at distances between 4" & 4' approx, do you think it would perform well within this range?
Click to expand...

The 4 inches are no problem, the 4 feet would require an additional lightsource for modelling the light/subject interaction, IMHO.

Bart
 
J

janet Smith

pro member
Bart_van_der_Wolf said:
The 4 inches are no problem, the 4 feet would require an additional lightsource for modelling the light/subject interaction, IMHO
Click to expand...

Really helpful information Bart, thank you for the time you've taken in explaining all this, which I'm sure will help me make my decision, many thanks.....
 
S

Sean DeMerchant

Inactive
Take Control Of The Specular Highlights

janet Smith said:
My intended use for the macro flash is flowers and food at distances between 4" & 4' approx, do you think it would perform well within this range?
Click to expand...

A macro flash will be very close to using a point source at distances over 1 m. You would be better off using a wired or wireless off camera solution and a small softbox or such so that you get adequate diffusion. Remember that the larger your lighting source is, the softer the resulting light will be. It also helps you control the shape and soft/hardness of your specular highlights.

Brooks Short wrote a simple and clear write up on this subject years ago and I have yet to see anything clearer.

all the best,


Sean
 
J

janet Smith

pro member
Sean DeMerchant said:
Remember that the larger your lighting source is, the softer the resulting light will be
Click to expand...

Hello Sean

Very helpful information thank you, but part of my intended use for the ring flash will be for fill when shooting flowers outside, where it wouldn't really be practical to use a large soft box etc, I'll no doubt end up (as usual) either knelt or laid on the ground, (probably in mud!), but when I have my studio built at our new home I'll remember your advice......

For now I have decided to buy the EX 14 to use together with my 580EXII. The link that you sent looks really interesting, I have added it into my favourites to refer to in the future, thank you for your help and time
 
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