I do a lot of insect macro photography and often use the methods you describe. Another important point is getting the subjects eye in focus. I get down to the same level and preset the single autofocus point to the right or left, where the eye will be in shot, but keep the rest of the body in the frame. Then lots of patience. A monopod is a good tool too.
Getting on in years I find that a monpod with a foot on it is excellent for keeping me steady and I can still move back and forth slowly.. Thanks again for a good programme.
Very good and informative video as always. I just wanted to add that using the lenshood is ALWAYS when you shoot using flash, which is often the case in macro. In that case it's simply better to remove it from the beginning.
Great video. I was thinking all the time whether the lens is worth it especially in the older version. After I saw your video and the great photos I ordered it
An excellent ‘tutorial’ video, Paul. Loved your very first image, truly awesome. I was so pleased to hear your comments that you don’t need a dedicated macro lens and a standard telephoto lens, although with limitations, could be used. Looking forward to getting out in the field to try some of your techniques. Thank you.
Great video Paul-now all I need is some decent weather to put theory into practice, another week like this one and you can do a video on underwater photography!
Thank you Paul for these fantastic learn video tutorials, I’ve learned a great deal from the these and our one to one instruction course. I don’t expect to meet your standards but the images I take now are much improved. Thank you again from NAF Drone
Thank you Paul for these fantastic video tutorials, I’ve learned a great deal from the these and our one to one instruction course. I don’t expect to meet your standards but the images I take now are much improved. Thank you again.
Great video and tips Paul. I have a Nikon D500 with a Sigma 100mm f2.8 attached and they work pretty well together. However, is it best to shoot in spot , centre weighted or matrix mode to get the whole of my butterfly shots in?
Hey Paul Great tutorial. Another way to get into macro photography that is inexpensive is to purchase a Raynox 250, which mounts on the front of a lens, and gives great close up capabilities. Look forward to the next. See you out there!
@@PaulMiguelPhotography lens includes a snap-on universal mount suitable for 52mm to 67mm filter size.DCR-250 Super Macro lens obtains the maximum macro magnification power when set at the most telephoto position of zoom lens. The lens is made of high index optical glass elements which produce rich and razor sharp image. 49mm Front filter size 2G/3E Hi-Index Optical Glass Snap-on Universal Adapter DCR-250 is also suitable to High Definition Camcorders.
Useful content, capably presented, without distracting hype. Well done. Just subscribed. Will definitely try continuous shot while slowly moving back and forth to improve capture rate.👍
Your camera has the improved macro focusing capability which doubles the amount of focus adjustments from 30/sec to 60/sec (when used with a Canon USM macro lens at higher magnifications - it doesn't work with Sigma HSM or Tamron USD lenses) - so other cameras will struggle more with autofocus than your 1Dx (this trait is shared by the 1DxII and 7D Mark II)...
I Have a canon 100mm f2.8 and with my lens I find that even though I am close to the subject and have a low fstop still the background is not blurred like yours is. Is the something to do with the settings on the lense like infinity?
Two minutes into the video and I exclaimed out loud "Oh! It's a Gatekeeper! That's what it is is it?!" I've got hundreds of photo's of these and never had chance to look it up! Thanks Paul! lol
I had the privilege of taking some nice photos of some Painted Lady Butterflies just the other day on one of my local parks. One of my favourites and there seems to be quite an influx of them recently.@@PaulMiguelPhotography
In Texas spring is a grear time for photography of any kind due to the abundance of wild flowers in bloom especially our bluebonnets. However the fields become saturated with so many people they trample nearly all the wildflowers in a given area. Those flowers never recover. This happens every year.
Thanks for the great videos! I very much want to get into photographing insects and my friend's tiny sculpts for her Etsy shop. I cannot decide on my first camera for this hobby. I feel that this lens is perfect., which camera for this lens would you recommend for a new person like me?
Thanks Paul. If I were to use a Canon EF 100mm 2.8L IS USM on a Canon T2i body (with APS-C sensor), would there be any image quality issues, other than the 1.6X focal length increase. Bob
The canon 100mm f2.8 macro is a super sharp lens with excellent bokeh. Useful for macro, portraits and landscapes. This 100mm macro's performance is the performance to which other lenses aspire. I wish everything was this good. You can use this lens as a reference against which to compare everything else. It's also well made and a pleasure to use This lens will make photos limited only by your skill and imagination. Focusing is fast and accurate. Nothing external moves during focus. The length never changes, even at life size. My Nikon 105mm AF gets longer as it focuses more closely. The Canon 100mm has three internal floating groups for focusing, which is very advanced. If you watch the rear group with the lens off a camera, you'll see it move forwards, then backwards, and then a little forwards again as you focus from infinity to life size. With this lens you get a dual purpose for wedding close up of flowers ,rings as well as portraits. Autofocus Speed AF is fast!! It's much faster than my Nikon 105mm AF. It's so fast that it's useful for some macro shooting. For most macro shooting we focus manually and move the camera back and forth while chasing moving subjects. On my 5D mark iv it's instantaneous. It's almost scary! In some macro settings if you have it focused way out of range it can get confused, but so long as you have a real subject and some light you're fine. Turn the manual ring to get it in range and it will take it from there. If you need a portrait and a macro for any autofocus or digital Canon SLR, this is it, and the price is right, too! Since you can get this real Canon lens for not much more than the knock-offs, I'd not bother with the discount macros out there. This is not a image stabilized nor is it an L lens so in inclement situations take care. For (full frame camera)portraits the 100mm focal length is ideal, its working distance from camera to subject in head and shoulder shots compared to the awkward working distance of the 85mm and 135mm lenses. The 85 forces you in uncomfortably close to your subject. The 85mm is fine for three quarter shots. And a 135mm is too long for portraits and too short for telephoto on a full frame body. The working distance is too great with the 135mm. It is a inexpensive alternative I wouldn't recommend. Nor do I use a 70 -200 mm lens for portraits, I do however use the 70-200 for glamor or fashion. And a 200mm prime or longer is great for fashion or swimsuit models when you want to compress the scene and change the perspective in a useful way.
Thank you for sharing this advice Paul. I enjoy taking macro shots of insects and flowers and already do most of what you advised. However thank you for the tip about the manual focus ( focus then move camera) I am going to give that a go it sounds like a good idea. I also liked the fact you mentioned about not damaging the flowers , I am always careful not to damage anything while capturing my photographs.Thanks for sharing your advice and those wonderful images you have captured :D Teddy
Shooting in manual is a whole lot easier… don’t have to worry about exposure compensation and you don’t have to keep checking your shutter speed. I use manual setting for ALL my photography and it simply can’t be beaten.
Nice results, but I won't get those results with my crop sensor kit without using flash+diffusers. My hand held results will always be out of focus, regardless of shutter speed. (Tried and proven).
Very nice tutorial. I really liked the audio part. Yours had just enough ambient sounds to make it sound realistic unlike some content creators, who sound like they dubbed their videos in the post. Can you please share your audio setup?
That was very interesting to hear Wahab. I do like to include some ambient sound and I think it can add to a video. I have a different set up now, but this video was with a Panasonic using built in microphone. I also add wind jammers which acts a bit like a deadcat.
Aperture priority works on Canon - it doesn't really on Nikon because the aperture there is corrected by the amount of light loss, so at 1:1 magnification f/5.6 or worse becomes your widest aperture. On Canon (and practically every other system) f/2.8 is the widest aperture available (as it is still the same diameter)! Thus f/5.6 will give you the DOF of a lens stopped down to f/5.6 on Canon while on Nikon you'll get ever diminishing DOF as the widest aperture will be reduced. To get the DOF of a Canon stopped down to f/11 you have to stop down to f/22 on Nikon at 1:1, or f/16 at 1:2 or f/11 at 1:10 and up...
I bought a sigma 70-300 with no I.S for £50 new. Its not brilliant as a zoom lens, it has severe lens creep and slow noisy auto focus but with cheap extension tubes you can get really close pictures. Even using the on camera flash I got some half decent images of insects and flowers.
NUMBER ONE ....Get out of pryority mode any thing your camera can do , you can do faster and better. No exposure compensation is needed. I shoot with three Canon 600 ex rt speedlight on a custom built set up with custom built softboxes. All 3 are controlled manually. I can adjust each one individually all from my cameras rear lcd. Plus I can add 2 more channels of speedlights for greater background or kicker lights. In a 5 channel A,B,CD and E group mode. Canon system is the greatest.
I’ve been watching lots of macro videos and most of them say “shoot in aperture priority”, so I go out and shoot in AV mode. Then when I return home I notice that my shots are not as clear as I’d like them and I notice that because I was shooting in F8 or F11 my camera slowed my shutter speed to 1/100.... Of course the RUclips videos say “shoot in AV” but also keep your iso down and set your shutter speed to this... Lol Once you start setting your iso, your shutter speed as well as your aperture guess what, you’re no longer in AV mode, you’re in manual. Shooting in full manual is fine, my question is why are all these videos suggesting we shoot in AV and then also telling us to set the other settings too? Why not suggest shoot in M mode?
I think it is better to suggest AV for beginners, which this video is more aimed. But, yes I completely get what you are saying.. you make a very good point! I think most people are very capable of understanding manual exposure. Thanks for the feedback.
Excellent video with numerous useful suggestions. I look forward to giving it a go. Many thanks!
Very beautiful and informative tips.. Thanks.
I do a lot of insect macro photography and often use the methods you describe. Another important point is getting the subjects eye in focus. I get down to the same level and preset the single autofocus point to the right or left, where the eye will be in shot, but keep the rest of the body in the frame. Then lots of patience. A monopod is a good tool too.
Good tips there Paul. Thanks for sharing.
Great video mate. So many valuable tips!
Clear & Precise, thanks - Tried most, but good to refresh the old brainbox!
Great vid I’ve just got a stabilised L version of the 100mm 2.8 and well looking forward to getting some bug shots
Thanks, I leaned from your presentation and examples.
Really enjoyed this video, great tips thank you 🙂
Great tips thanks Paul.
Great tips Paul. Going to try this out different look from using a ring flash
Getting on in years I find that a monpod with a foot on it is excellent for keeping me steady and I can still move back and forth slowly.. Thanks again for a good programme.
That sounds good Chris. As long as it works for you.
Excellent video! Thank you so much!!!
Thank you Katie.
Very helpful no-hype information. Thank you! Liked.
Thank you very much. Appreciated.
What beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing.
Many thanks.
Nice practical tips, Paul. Very nice photos!
Great tips, thanks!
Lots of good information. Concise and to the point with lots of good images. Good job Paul.
Thanks Jordan. Appreciate that.
Thanks so much for the very helpful and clear tips
This was really helpful . Thank you. I am now going out with my newly purchased Macro lens.
Very good and informative video as always. I just wanted to add that using the lenshood is ALWAYS when you shoot using flash, which is often the case in macro. In that case it's simply better to remove it from the beginning.
Cool vid mate
Nice video. Very concise explanations. 👍
Thanks Micael. I think I watched one of your videos the other day!
Great video. I was thinking all the time whether the lens is worth it especially in the older version. After I saw your video and the great photos I ordered it
Thanks Paul! This video helped a lot
Many thanks.
very nice video, as usual. Many compliments for the always very beautiful pictures and very useful tips, thank you
Very nice tutorial.
Thanks Mircea.
Beautiful! I love macro photography thanks for your helpful tips!
Great video.
Very nice and helpful! Danke.
Excellent video, lots of good tips. Thank you.
Really appreciate that, thanks Steve
Great video again Paul. I now try moving backwards and forwards, it works! Getting better pictures all the time. Keep them coming!
That’s great!
Thank you very much Miguel. Great Video, beautiful photographs!
Cheers Michael. Much obliged.
Omg I just love how you used 100mm macro in this video! I am confused. Would I be needing extension or hood for this lens when shooting macro?
The hood is useful if shooting towards the sun, but it' also good protection. Although I often use it without hood
Love this video gave me some insight into photographing my tarantulas! Thank you!
Thank you Mr Miguel
Thanks Paul Miguel, great tips and great photo’s!
Many thanks Marian.
Another great one, really nice photo's!
Cheers Tim.
Can you maybe do a video on how to clean care n protect your gear please paul
Hi Oliver. Although I look after my kit fairly well, most of the time.. I’m probably not the best person to do this video!
Hi Paul good video great tips fantastic image's enough said
Thanks Clive. Kind of you to say.
Good tips, thanks Paul. Gonna grab my camera and go outside now!
Thanks Steve. Good luck!
Well done for mentioning the trampling of plants. Good video. Interesting to see that you use ISO 800. it seems ok, and not too grainy.
That's probably because of the camera. Full frame camera's have less grains at high ISO.
An excellent ‘tutorial’ video, Paul. Loved your very first image, truly awesome. I was so pleased to hear your comments that you don’t need a dedicated macro lens and a standard telephoto lens, although with limitations, could be used. Looking forward to getting out in the field to try some of your techniques. Thank you.
Cheers Tony. I used to use a 35mm-70mm with a 13mm or 21mm extension tube. I still got reasonable results! Enjoy.
Thanks for the expertise. I have the same lens and I love it. Waving from The Bahamas :)
Hello I find it very helpful and informative specially for beginners. Thank you so much. Greetings ❤
Thank you very much indeed!
You’re one of the best to do these on RUclips, Paul. Thank you.
Great video Paul-now all I need is some decent weather to put theory into practice, another week like this one and you can do a video on underwater photography!
It’s actually not been to bad here!
@@PaulMiguelPhotography Bloke next door to me is building a bloody big boat and collecting animals!
Thank you Paul for these fantastic learn video tutorials, I’ve learned a great deal from the these and our one to one instruction course. I don’t expect to meet your standards but the images I take now are much improved. Thank you again from NAF Drone
Thank you very much. And I'm very glad you have seen an improvement. Take care.
Thanks Paul I enjoy this as it was interesting and informative.
That's very kind of you to say Kathryn. Thank you.
Thank you Paul for these fantastic video tutorials, I’ve learned a great deal from the these and our one to one instruction course. I don’t expect to meet your standards but the images I take now are much improved. Thank you again.
Hi Charlie. Thank you very much! Glad to hear you are happy with your improvements. Take care.
Great video and tips Paul. I have a Nikon D500 with a Sigma 100mm f2.8 attached and they work pretty well together. However, is it best to shoot in spot , centre weighted or matrix mode to get the whole of my butterfly shots in?
I personally prefer matrix metering, but it’s really what you find gives consistent results.
Hey Paul
Great tutorial. Another way to get into macro photography that is inexpensive is to purchase a Raynox 250, which mounts on the front of a lens, and gives great close up capabilities. Look forward to the next.
See you out there!
Thanks Euge. I presume that is a kind of close up filter?
@@PaulMiguelPhotography lens includes a snap-on universal mount suitable for 52mm to 67mm filter size.DCR-250 Super Macro lens obtains the maximum macro magnification power when set at the most telephoto position of zoom lens. The lens is made of high index optical glass elements which produce rich and razor sharp image. 49mm Front filter size 2G/3E Hi-Index Optical Glass Snap-on Universal Adapter DCR-250 is also suitable to High Definition Camcorders.
really helpful video thanks Paul! do you ever use flash for insects or birds?
Cheers Lorraine! personally I really don't like flash. Pretty much the only time I used it is as a 'fill-in'.
Useful content, capably presented, without distracting hype. Well done. Just subscribed. Will definitely try continuous shot while slowly moving back and forth to improve capture rate.👍
That’s very kind of you, many thanks. Good luck with your macro photography.
Thanks Miguel for sharing, much appreciated. Miguel, what sort of metering do you normally use for insects photography? Thanks.
I use evaluative metering all the time now.
Your camera has the improved macro focusing capability which doubles the amount of focus adjustments from 30/sec to 60/sec (when used with a Canon USM macro lens at higher magnifications - it doesn't work with Sigma HSM or Tamron USD lenses) - so other cameras will struggle more with autofocus than your 1Dx (this trait is shared by the 1DxII and 7D Mark II)...
I Have a canon 100mm f2.8 and with my lens I find that even though I am close to the subject and have a low fstop still the background is not blurred like yours is. Is the something to do with the settings on the lense like infinity?
It may be the background is simply not far away enough.
Two minutes into the video and I exclaimed out loud "Oh! It's a Gatekeeper! That's what it is is it?!" I've got hundreds of photo's of these and never had chance to look it up! Thanks Paul! lol
Yes! They are fairly common. Quite a pretty little butterfly, but they don't compare to the painted lady for me.!
I had the privilege of taking some nice photos of some Painted Lady Butterflies just the other day on one of my local parks. One of my favourites and there seems to be quite an influx of them recently.@@PaulMiguelPhotography
In Texas spring is a grear time for photography of any kind due to the abundance of wild flowers in bloom especially our bluebonnets.
However the fields become saturated with so many people they trample nearly all the wildflowers in a given area. Those flowers never recover.
This happens every year.
Sound lovely. But yes, such a shame about the flowers.
Why not try mornings? E.g around sunrise. No wind.
So Basically the further away, the more open aperture? I'm using olympus, so ibis and 60mm macro lens. 120mm in ff.
Yes, I often go with that. The closer I get the more I'll worry about aperture and depth of field.
Thanks for the great videos! I very much want to get into photographing insects and my friend's tiny sculpts for her Etsy shop. I cannot decide on my first camera for this hobby. I feel that this lens is perfect., which camera for this lens would you recommend for a new person like me?
There are so many options. I would check and entry level DSLR. But also Sony and Olympus perform well for macro
Thanks Paul. If I were to use a Canon EF 100mm 2.8L IS USM on a Canon T2i body (with APS-C sensor), would there be any image quality issues, other than the 1.6X focal length increase. Bob
Hi Bob. I really don't think so. Should work fine. And I would always give preference to the quality of the lens rather than the body if pushed.
@@PaulMiguelPhotography Thanks for your replay, and for sharing your professional knowledge. Keep up the great work. Bob
The canon 100mm f2.8 macro is a super sharp lens with excellent bokeh. Useful for macro, portraits and landscapes.
This 100mm macro's performance is the performance to which other lenses aspire. I wish everything was this good. You can use this lens as a reference against which to compare everything else.
It's also well made and a pleasure to use
This lens will make photos limited only by your skill and imagination.
Focusing is fast and accurate.
Nothing external moves during focus. The length never changes, even at life size. My Nikon 105mm AF gets longer as it focuses more closely.
The Canon 100mm has three internal floating groups for focusing, which is very advanced. If you watch the rear group with the lens off a camera, you'll see it move forwards, then backwards, and then a little forwards again as you focus from infinity to life size. With this lens you get a dual purpose for wedding close up of flowers ,rings as well as portraits.
Autofocus Speed
AF is fast!! It's much faster than my Nikon 105mm AF. It's so fast that it's useful for some macro shooting. For most macro shooting we focus manually and move the camera back and forth while chasing moving subjects.
On my 5D mark iv it's instantaneous. It's almost scary!
In some macro settings if you have it focused way out of range it can get confused, but so long as you have a real subject and some light you're fine. Turn the manual ring to get it in range and it will take it from there.
If you need a portrait and a macro for any autofocus or digital Canon SLR, this is it, and the price is right, too!
Since you can get this real Canon lens for not much more than the knock-offs, I'd not bother with the discount macros out there. This is not a image stabilized nor is it an L lens so in inclement situations take care.
For (full frame camera)portraits the 100mm focal length is ideal, its working distance from camera to subject in head and shoulder shots compared to the awkward working distance of the 85mm and 135mm lenses.
The 85 forces you in uncomfortably close to your subject. The 85mm is fine for three quarter shots. And a 135mm is too long for portraits and too short for telephoto on a full frame body. The working distance is too great with the 135mm. It is a inexpensive alternative I wouldn't recommend. Nor do I use a 70 -200 mm lens for portraits, I do however use the 70-200 for glamor or fashion.
And a 200mm prime or longer is great for fashion or swimsuit models when you want to compress the scene and change the perspective in a useful way.
Thank you for sharing this advice Paul. I enjoy taking macro shots of insects and flowers and already do most of what you advised. However thank you for the tip about the manual focus ( focus then move camera) I am going to give that a go it sounds like a good idea. I also liked the fact you mentioned about not damaging the flowers , I am always careful not to damage anything while capturing my photographs.Thanks for sharing your advice and those wonderful images you have captured :D Teddy
Thank you.. 'Teddy'. It's worth mentioning.. it's so easy to trample plants without paying attention. Thanks for watching
thanks😁
Hola!
Me suscribo a tu canal!
Muy buen video, tengo que ir aprendiendo para las fotos, para luego montar y subir a mi canal.
Un saludo!
Shooting in manual is a whole lot easier… don’t have to worry about exposure compensation and you don’t have to keep checking your shutter speed. I use manual setting for ALL my photography and it simply can’t be beaten.
Nice results, but I won't get those results with my crop sensor kit without using flash+diffusers. My hand held results will always be out of focus, regardless of shutter speed. (Tried and proven).
🔥.
Hi do you use focus stacking?
Personally i don't really like it.
Very nice tutorial. I really liked the audio part. Yours had just enough ambient sounds to make it sound realistic unlike some content creators, who sound like they dubbed their videos in the post.
Can you please share your audio setup?
That was very interesting to hear Wahab. I do like to include some ambient sound and I think it can add to a video. I have a different set up now, but this video was with a Panasonic using built in microphone. I also add wind jammers which acts a bit like a deadcat.
Sleepy, I meant Sony. I don’t have a Panasonic!
Aperture priority works on Canon - it doesn't really on Nikon because the aperture there is corrected by the amount of light loss, so at 1:1 magnification f/5.6 or worse becomes your widest aperture. On Canon (and practically every other system) f/2.8 is the widest aperture available (as it is still the same diameter)! Thus f/5.6 will give you the DOF of a lens stopped down to f/5.6 on Canon while on Nikon you'll get ever diminishing DOF as the widest aperture will be reduced. To get the DOF of a Canon stopped down to f/11 you have to stop down to f/22 on Nikon at 1:1, or f/16 at 1:2 or f/11 at 1:10 and up...
I bought a sigma 70-300 with no I.S for £50 new. Its not brilliant as a zoom lens, it has severe lens creep and slow noisy auto focus but with cheap extension tubes you can get really close pictures. Even using the on camera flash I got some half decent images of insects and flowers.
Thanks for sharing that, great to hear.
NUMBER ONE ....Get out of pryority mode any thing your camera can do , you can do faster and better. No exposure compensation is needed. I shoot with three Canon 600 ex rt speedlight on a custom built set up with custom built softboxes. All 3 are controlled manually. I can adjust each one individually all from my cameras rear lcd. Plus I can add 2 more channels of speedlights for greater background or kicker lights. In a 5 channel A,B,CD and E group mode. Canon system is the greatest.
Sounds like a very organised set up that works for you.
I’ve been watching lots of macro videos and most of them say “shoot in aperture priority”, so I go out and shoot in AV mode.
Then when I return home I notice that my shots are not as clear as I’d like them and I notice that because I was shooting in F8 or F11 my camera slowed my shutter speed to 1/100....
Of course the RUclips videos say “shoot in AV” but also keep your iso down and set your shutter speed to this...
Lol
Once you start setting your iso, your shutter speed as well as your aperture guess what, you’re no longer in AV mode, you’re in manual.
Shooting in full manual is fine, my question is why are all these videos suggesting we shoot in AV and then also telling us to set the other settings too?
Why not suggest shoot in M mode?
I think it is better to suggest AV for beginners, which this video is more aimed. But, yes I completely get what you are saying.. you make a very good point! I think most people are very capable of understanding manual exposure. Thanks for the feedback.
What max auto iso do you use?
Really depends. Don't like going above 1250 ish. But I will go tto 3200
#Jesus
Well done for mentioning the trampling of plants. Good video. Interesting to see that you use ISO 800. it seems ok, and not too grainy.