Clendon,
Thanks so much for your advices. See a couple of comments below...
On Sun, 3 Feb 2002, Clendon Gibson wrote:
> This is my two cents.
>
> Before you go off and lay down a lot of money for a
> macro flash, you should take a bunch of macro
> pictures.
>
> There are many cases where a flash is not necesarry.
> On any bright day, wander off to your local botanical
> garden, or a neighbors garden and snap away.
>
I understand what you're saying here, and by and large I agree. I've been
using a sub-optimal macro-solution (read: using equipment from a brand
who's name will get me booted from the list if said out loud *gg*) in the
past, and, indeed, in many situations, natural light is plenty.
> You will prbably find that a tripod, and a focussing
> screen of the right type are a better *initial*
> investment then the flash.
>
One thing, which I probably neglected to mention in my mail, was that the
majority of the macro's I'll be taking will be in-door. As some may
remember from a thread on backdrops, I'm also cultivating bonsai's. While
entire bonsai's are not small enough to call for macro-photos, their
various leaf and trunk-parts are (for those interrested: mainly to record
growth-history as well as document bug- and disease-attacks). Not having a
garden, I'm confined to photograph indoors, where (not surprisingly)
artificial light is required.
I'd much prefer not to use a form of studio spots, permanently
illuminating the subject while setting up/focusing etc: they have a
tendancy of generating much heat on the subject, something which dries out
the poor trees (and I am told that turning on and off is not good for the
spots). That's why I'm looking at various flash options.
> C.H. Ling can tell you more about the use of macro
> flashes, as he has taken some excelent bug pictures
> with his T-10.
>
C.H. Ling sent a couple of references in another mail. Truely spectacular
photos.
Also, I like his idea of using an existing T32-flash for
illumination. I'll be using an auto-bellow for my shots, and I'll probably
have to experiment to see if it will work (it may not). However it's
encouraging to know that it is possible to use "std" flash'es and still
get pictures as nice as C.H.Ling's. I guess that giving
"shadow-free" illumination is going to be a challenge, though...
At any rate, thanks for your kind reply.
--
-------------------------------------------
Thomas Heide Clausen
Civilingeniør i Datateknik (cand.polyt)
M.Sc in Computer Engineering
E-Mail: T.Clausen@xxxxxxxxxxxx
WWW: http://www.cs.auc.dk/~voop
-------------------------------------------
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|