{"id":16278,"date":"2013-08-05T03:40:49","date_gmt":"2013-08-05T07:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=16278"},"modified":"2017-08-11T21:29:05","modified_gmt":"2017-08-12T01:29:05","slug":"wedding-photography-detail-shots-bounce-flash-macro-lenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wedding-photography-detail-shots-bounce-flash-macro-lenses\/","title":{"rendered":"Wedding photography – Detail shots, bounce flash & macro lenses"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Wedding photography – Detail shots, bounce flash & macro lenses<\/h1>\n

Macro photography for wedding detail shots is one of those areas where you need a smaller aperture. I know it’s been suggested by some high-profile photographer(s) that you shoot macro at f\/2.8 but this is tough advice to follow. If you even breathe, your plane of focus changes for that close distance you’re working at.<\/p>\n

That smaller aperture (and I regularly work at f\/11 or there-abouts), implies you will need a lot of light. A lot of daylight or lots of flash. When you’re shooting indoors, this means flash, although it is entirely possible to\u00a0use video light for macro detail photos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As described in the article,\u00a0tips for detail shots of the wedding rings<\/a>, I use the\u00a0black foamie thing<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0on-camera bounce flash<\/a>\u00a0to create soft direction light. With flash I can more easily get that lots-of-light for smaller apertures.<\/p>\n

As with the photograph at the top, with photographing details, I want the light to come from the opposite side than the camera. This creates a kind of wrap-around light as the bounce flash spills all around, but with the shadowed areas towards the camera. In other words, it looks nothing like you’d expect flash to look like.<\/p>\n

camera settings: 1\/250 @ f\/5.6 @ 1600 ISO
\nIt’s unusual for me to shoot macro at this medium aperture. And as you can see from the photo, the depth-of-field it already quite shallow.<\/p>\n

A pull-back shot to show exactly where I bounced my flash …<\/p>\n

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I really did bounce my flash forward from me, with the\u00a0black foamie thing<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0blocking any direct flash on my subject, the rings.
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
\n\t\t\t\t\tI use the black foamie thing (BFT) as a truly inexpensive flash modifier to flag my on-camera flash to give me lighting indoors that truly look nothing like on-camera flash.The piece of foam<\/strong><\/a> (Amazon<\/em>), can be ordered via this link. I cut the sheet into smaller pieces.

The BFT is held in position by two hair bands<\/strong><\/a> (Amazon<\/em>), and the BFT is usually placed on the under-side<\/strong> of the flash-head.

The linked articles will give clearer instruction, especially the video clip on using the black foamie thing<\/a>.\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
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I bounced the flash off the glass and sliding door, and the wall above.<\/p>\n

The comparison photos to show the image without flash at those settings … and with the flash bounced behind me. The light looks quite different with the flash bounced behind me. While the light is still soft, it’s just not as interesting as the direction light in the image at the top.<\/p>\n

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Changing it up slightly to give more variety:<\/p>\n

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camera settings: 1\/250 @ f\/5.6 @ 1600 ISO
\nBounce flash with the black foamie thing.<\/p>\n

The pull-back photo:
\n(I used the battery pack of my other camera to level out the flowers for this horizontal image.<\/p>\n

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For reference again, the comparison image where the flash was disabled, so that you can clearly see what the flash achieved.<\/p>\n

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Recommended macro lenses for detail photos<\/h2>\n

I favor the 100 \/ 105mm focal length when it comes to macro lenses. This gives me a comfortable working distance on a full-frame camera. And it also doubles as a portrait lens if I need to.<\/p>\n

The best choice here is the Nikon 105mm f\/2.8 AF-S VR<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>), or the Canon EF 100mm f2.8L IS<\/a> (affiliate<\/em>) macro lens.<\/p>\n

If you are using a crop-sensor camera, then there are other good choices which would effectively give you a similar focal length (if you frame the image the same).<\/p>\n

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Related articles<\/h2>\n