Macro help

[lemo]

I am trying to to get better at taking photos and understand photography terms and camera settings. I have been taking some practice macro shots today and cannot figure out where to focus.

Camera focused on the coloured beads. Silver bead nearer the camera is blurred.


I tried to manually focus in-between the silver and coloured beads. Nothing looks to be in focus and there is no focal point to the image.


Is there any way to have all three beads in focus apart from simply arranging the beads so they are all the same distance form the camera?

I'm using a canon g15 compact camera which I think has mostly the same manual controls as a dslr.

Thanks.

[tosh]

The thing to remember with macro is that depth of field diminishes dramatically.
Stop the lens down to F16 or F22 if it has AV program (aperture priority) use that.
Put the camera on a tripod/bean bag or whatever to ensure crisp sharp pictures through the long exposures. Keep the film speed relatively low (personally I wouldn't go above ISO 200). Use ambient light with reflectors (white card/tin foil) to throw light where it's needed.
I imagine your camera will have a macro setting. If so use that too.
As for focus..... If it's multi-point set them for the beads, or focus and reframe or use manual focus.
Because the rocks are low contrast compared to the sharp profile on the beads, the camera should lock on straight away - the rocks may well cause the AF system to hunt.

Try to keep the beads all on the same plane - even stopped down to F22 the actual depth of focus in close up macro is usually very shallow.

Have fun 

[lemo]

Thanks very much tosh. I did not understand the importance of aperture settings. The max I can set is f8 which makes a big difference. Not perfect but a great improvement.



There is also a setting called focus bracketing that from reading the manual sounds like it would help but I cannot see any difference on test shots so far.

[dks]

In addition, taking the same picture with the lens extended, zoom-in, telephoto setting etc. also helps to bring objects closer together, making more of them sharp.

[lemo]

Tried moving back and zooming. Camera had trouble focusing if I got to close. I have some macro filters that may help, but I am not ready for added complications. Want to learn the cameras limitations first. Shot does look better though thanks.



I'm taking the shots to sell the beads. You guys should get a commission really, but you don't always get what you deserve in life

[lemo]

Had a go at focus bracketing (stacking). It helps quite a bit. Just used the built in auto bracketing which stacks three images. Think it would be better done manually with four/five images but I'm so sick of looking at pebbles that it can wait for another day.