The New Intimacy

Eden Photographers Club Meeting - Tuesday, October 18th @ 7 pm EDT (Topic: Macrophotography)

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Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
It’s time for another meeting of the Eden Photographers Club! For September's Eden Photographers meeting, which will be held on Tuesday, October 18 at 7:00 EDT, we will be covering macrophotography (otherwise known as close-up photography). Normally I would have created a poll to see which topic you wanted me to cover thuis month, but between the work I've done on the Eden Photographers /EdenFantasys calendar and the fact that I have had two photo trips to take, time kinda slipped away. Nevertheless, macrophotography has garnered interest in the voting previously, so I figured there was enough interest to cover it now.

Macrophotography is one of my favorite types of photography, and the simplest point-and-shoot cameras through the most sophisticated SLR cameras are going to give you some ability to take close-up or macro shots. I will go over a tutorial and provide hints during this meeting so show you how to maximize your close-up photos.

Also, remember to bring one photo that you would like to post during our meeting that everyone will critique. Critiquing and being critiqued improve you as a photographer, and I'm hoping we can begin focusing on critiquing during these meetings as much as the tutorials I present.

Also, two EdenFantasys gift cards will be awarded during the course of the meeting.

Finally, as usual, this is your chance to take ownership of the Eden Photographers Club. It is where you will be able to express you opinions on where you want to see the club headed, ideas for new activities, and topics you would like to see discussed. Of course, like all EF meetings, it will be a fun and free-wheeling opportunity to socialize with other EFers.

So, please join us for the meeting. I’ve you’ve attended before or have yet to make it to a meeting, everyone is welcome!
10/10/2011
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Contributor: Jaimes Jaimes
Woo! Macro is one of my favorite techniques for setting up artistic shots of rings at weddings. This sounds like it will be very fun and helpful!
10/11/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Jaimes
Woo! Macro is one of my favorite techniques for setting up artistic shots of rings at weddings. This sounds like it will be very fun and helpful!
I sure hope it will be helpful. I'm going to have to power my way through the meeting to make sure it finishes no later than 8:00 EDT. Soccer season just ruins my evenings.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
I think this is the first meeting I will be missing in a long time. Work beckons me. And since there is a crazy time difference here I won't be home, it will be like 4 5 pm here. Sorry Vaccinium, I always look forward to your meetings so it kind of sucks.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
I'm looking very forward to this meeting, I love trying to take photos like this.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
I lied Ill be here. Work schedule got changed. I have some macro photos lying around Ill have to find them.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Starkiller87
I lied Ill be here. Work schedule got changed. I have some macro photos lying around Ill have to find them.
I'm glad you will be here!

I understand about the inconvenient timing of these meetings. I'm on the West Coast as well, but having earlier makes no sense since Easterners will be having dinner, a little later doesn't make sense because Westerners will be having dinner, and much later doesn't make sense because Easterners will be asleep.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
I'm glad you will be here!

I understand about the inconvenient timing of these meetings. I'm on the West Coast as well, but having earlier makes no sense since Easterners will be having dinner, a little later doesn't make sense ... more
Yeah I know it kind of sucks. This is my busiest time of year because of Halloween. So I'm probably going to be missing a lot of meetings this month.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
I'm a little early but I'm here!
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
I'm here too. How are you doing, Sam?
10/18/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
Woot 5 minutes.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
I'm here too. How are you doing, Sam?
Could be better, could be worse. I'm really hungry right now, but I'll probably order food shortly. And my dad is having surgery tomorrow to remove a large lump from somewhere near his kidney. So far it doesn't look to be anything too bad, but I'll find out tomorrow. And my sister is coming out for it, so crappy that dad is having surgery, but yay I get to see my sister.

How about you?
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Starkiller87
Yeah I know it kind of sucks. This is my busiest time of year because of Halloween. So I'm probably going to be missing a lot of meetings this month.
So, do you make costumes for people, or are you involved with Halloween "sets", or is it something else?
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
Could be better, could be worse. I'm really hungry right now, but I'll probably order food shortly. And my dad is having surgery tomorrow to remove a large lump from somewhere near his kidney. So far it doesn't look to be anything too ... more
Better than you, apparently.

Currently, my son is whining and crying about not understanding his homework. It's a daily occurrence. He's so high strung.

Besides that, I'm waiting for soccer to be over so I can get my life back. We have soccer 6 of the seven days each week, and it makes getting things done really hard.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
I'm going to give everyone a few minutes to come on board, but I need to get through this fast tonight (yet another soccer game).
10/18/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
So, do you make costumes for people, or are you involved with Halloween "sets", or is it something else?
I do special effects work. So a bit of everything. The last thing I worked on was making a miniature for a movie, model building. The time before that was helping make a fake baby for a horror movie. But a halloween store asked if I could come on board for a few weeks because they always try to have a make up artist there. But I've made costumes, done makeup (beauty and prosthetic type), props, etc. Its a lot of different things.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Starkiller87
I do special effects work. So a bit of everything. The last thing I worked on was making a miniature for a movie, model building. The time before that was helping make a fake baby for a horror movie. But a halloween store asked if I could come on ... more
Nothing wrong with being a jack-of-all-trades. From what I gather, in your business, that's pretty much a necessity when you are starting out.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Welcome to the eighth meeting of the Eden Photographers Club! I hope everyone had a good month of thinking about photography and looking at the world through a photographer’s eyes. I want to thank all of you who are here tonight. The leaves are changing, harvest time is upon us, and at least in y neck of the woods, the first mountain snows have blanketed the lofty peaks. Now is a great time to be getting out there with your camera and documenting the beauty.

This meeting will focus on macrophotography - otherwise known as close-up photography and occasionally microphotography. This is a photographic genre all of us have no doubt at least dabbled in. On the surface it would seem pretty straightforward, but macrophotography is a bit more involved than many people realize.

To give you fair warning, I'll have to make this meeting pretty short tonight (no longer than one hour). My daughter has a soccer game tonight, and I can't be here past 5:00 PDT. I don't foresee this being much of an issue, but if there are lots of questions, I might have to leave before we get into critiquing. Please don't let that cause you to hesitate in asking questions. I'll answer every single one of them - even if it is later tonight.

Before we get started, is there anything anybody wanted to bring up about photography or the club?
10/18/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Nothing wrong with being a jack-of-all-trades. From what I gather, in your business, that's pretty much a necessity when you are starting out.
It's pretty much a necessity no matter how long you've been in the business unless youre ok being stuck in a certain department. Which is really tiring. I like mold making, miniatures, and running foam/silicone, making wigs. I can do without doing makeup, I rather be behind the scenes than applying.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Welcome to the eighth meeting of the Eden Photographers Club! I hope everyone had a good month of thinking about photography and looking at the world through a photographer’s eyes. I want to thank all of you who are here tonight. The leaves are ... more
Do you ever play with forced prospective? Ive only dabbled in it, and love to see how other people do it. I only know a certain way.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Starkiller87
Do you ever play with forced prospective? Ive only dabbled in it, and love to see how other people do it. I only know a certain way.
Not really. It doesn't fit in well with the photography I do. About the only thing I have done is make mushrooms seem enormous because of the angle and the fact that the trees towering above them are in equal focus.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
OK, then. Macrophotography is photography of objects taken at very close range. Although SLR cameras have lenses made specifically for this purpose, there are non macro lenses that also have some degree of macro capability. Point-and-shoot cameras also have macro capabilities that are present to varying degrees in all but the absolute simplest cameras.

I'll start off with point-and-shoot cameras. For every P&S camera I've seen, a flower represents the macro capability of the camera.

Image from link

Image from smallobjectphotography .blogspot.com

If you plan on getting close to a subject, pressing this button or moving to the correct position on the dial will allow you to get closer to the subject and still have it be in focus. The exact minimum focal distance (the closest you can get to your subject) differs from camera to camera, but regardless of what it is, making sure the macro capabilities of the camera are enabled will help you get closer than if it is disabled. Some P&S cameras have specialized settings that will allow you to get even closer to your subject than simply with the "flower setting," so make sure you read your camera's user manual to get all you can out of your camera.

Pretty straightforward so far, right?
10/18/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Welcome to the eighth meeting of the Eden Photographers Club! I hope everyone had a good month of thinking about photography and looking at the world through a photographer’s eyes. I want to thank all of you who are here tonight. The leaves are ... more
I don't think I have anything to bring up.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
OK, then. Macrophotography is photography of objects taken at very close range. Although SLR cameras have lenses made specifically for this purpose, there are non macro lenses that also have some degree of macro capability. Point-and-shoot ... more
Yes sir. I have a macro lens for my slr and the flower on my lame digital one.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
OK, then. Macrophotography is photography of objects taken at very close range. Although SLR cameras have lenses made specifically for this purpose, there are non macro lenses that also have some degree of macro capability. Point-and-shoot ... more
Huh, I never actually knew that!
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
For SLR systems, things start to get a bit more complicated, but with the complications comes advantages as well. Many lenses are marketed as having macro capability, meaning they allow you to get somewhat close to a subject before getting inside the lens's minimum focal distance. However, these aren't true macro lenses. Most true macro lenses allow you to take photos at a 1:1 reproduction ratio. In other words, the size of the image on the film or sensor plane will be equivalent of that of your subject (i.e., "life-sized" ). A few very specialized macro lenses will even allow you to get greater than life-sized ratios. Some macro lenses are sold that get only to 1:2 (i.e., half life-sized), so be aware when you are purchasing a macro lens. Non macro lenses sold with macro capability usually don't do much better than 1:3. If that's all the better you need, then great, but if you want really close, life-sized shots, a dedicated macro lens is what you'll need.

Macro lenses come in various focal lengths, with the longer focal lengths being progressively more expensive. In general, 50 mm, 100 mm, and 200 mm are the standards for macro lenses, but there are all sorts of macro lenses between those lengths. The main advantages of the longer focal lengths is that you can be farther away from your subject and still get photos at a 1:1 ratio. This is helpful if you are photographing live subjects such as insects that might run or fly away if you are within a few inches of them and because the closer you are to your subject, the more likely it will be that the camera/lens will be casting a shadow your subject. Of course, you also pay a lot more for these longer focal lengths. Personally, I use a 100 mm macro lens with a 1:1 ratio for my photos. A 200 mm lens is just too darned expensive and heavy, and the 100 mm lens is a good compromise between cost, portability, and utility. With my lens/camera combo, I can take photos like these:







Something to keep in mind is that a macro lens need not be used for just macro shots. They work quite well in other situations as well. They don't come as variable zoom lenses, but if you are looking for a fixed 50 mm, 100 mm, or 200 mm lens, consider making it a macro lens to get the best of both worlds.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Little late but glad to be here! I'll go read what I've missed.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
Little late but glad to be here! I'll go read what I've missed.
I'm glad you're here, Antipova! I'm so sorry I missed your meeting last night. I promise I'll be there next month. I'll be submitting an entry for Iron Chefs of Eden as well - probably on Thursday.
10/18/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
I'll give y'all a few minutes to digest all that, and while I'm waiting, I'll give out our first EdenFantasys gift card of the evening.

I'm going to give everyone a minute or two to catch up before posting the trivia question
10/18/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
Little late but glad to be here! I'll go read what I've missed.
Hi Antipova!
10/18/2011