The challenge:
After thinking for a long time about suitable subjects for the abstract theme, I came up with several
ideas, of which I thought the shot executed here would be the best idea. I am a novice to macro photography,
but I find it interesting to experiment with it, so the real challenge was "to get everything right" in
a macro shot with extreme magnification.
The difficulties:
1. Focusing on the subject and getting the proper composition;
2. Making sure the subject is properly lit.
The solutions:
1. I wanted to get a close-up of a small cut-out of the feather so it would become screen filling,
with the "spine" of the feather coming out of the lower left corner. After setting both the bellows and
the lens to maximum extension (see "Magnification"), I "focused" by very carefully moving the whole
bellows set-up until I was satisfied with the composition. Note: I tried this shot too at f16 for more DOF,
but upon manually stopping down the diaphragm (so I could use the Motor Drive) I moved the set-up a little
bit. Ironically enough I was using the Motor Drive in the first place to prevent the set-up from moving
when transporting the film, duh! :)
2. To prevent camera shake I decided to use a flash. Initially, I considered reversing the lens, but that
would pose problems for mounting a flash. Using the bellows at full extension, however, posed some problems
too for the choice and usage of a flash. At first I considered the T28 Twin Flash, but anyone who has tried
using that flash with the bellows at maximum extension will realise that the cables do not stretch quite far
enough. So, rather than using that flash I decided to use the T32. In order to make sure that the T32 would
only light the subject, and it would not fire into the lens, I mounted it on the T20 AutoConnector, put that
on a small table tripod, and clamped that whole set-up (lying down on top of the box which I put behind the
subject) with a glue pliers. Finally, I made sure the T32's head was inclined downwards, and that the angle
would cover the feather.
Conclusion:
All in all I came to the conclusion that this style of macro photography requires some messing around with
the set-ups. In particular, it seems that the main problems consist of getting the composition and lighting
correct, given the fact that the DOF is extremely shallow, and the subject is very close to the lens.
Improvements:
Reversing the lens would have probably resulted in better image quality. That is a "lesson learnt" which I
will hope to remember the next time I am going to take a similar picture. Also, it is clear that the 50/3.5
Macro is not the best lens to use for this much magnification, but by lack of a better suited macro lens I
will have to do with this one for now.
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