# Couple Hopefully Real Macros Aka Beaty Of White Dial



## Guest (Jun 21, 2009)

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Let me know what you think!


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## pugster (Nov 22, 2004)

getting there , tho some over exposure i think its called ,ran one quick thro psp to try and correct it a little


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## Tom Radford (Apr 28, 2009)

Definately over exposed, and the first two dont seem to be in focus either. Thes econd is better but still not sharp focus. Did you manualy focus or auto? If auto, that would explain it. Its a pretty single contrast image, so any autofocus would have a hard job getting a good lock on. I'd suggest manualy focusing for any macro work as autofocus at those magnifiactions isnt usually very reliable

Also, looks like you really need to clean the cameras sensor! Lots of dust visible.

Nice job on the rescue Pugster! Looks much better with the exposure dialed down a bit, although its still not quite in focus.


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## Guest (Jun 22, 2009)

I was aiming for a high-key styled shot here, but here's exposure corrected shot for your viewing  And the unfocus part was partly intentional partly not. I was aiming for very small focus area but it seems to be gone. Word Crystal focused on one and word Date on other and pics as a two shot series. They were manually focused and I have no idea about the magnification ratio here  they were shot with 135mm AI-S macro Nikon lens on crop body (D80) throu magnification glass  this is 100% of the picture, no crop at all.










Dust is on dial and inside of the crystal, it's over 30 year old watch with dial that has never been cleaned.


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## stonedeaf (Dec 3, 2008)

discordianist said:


> I was aiming for a high-key styled shot here, but here's exposure corrected shot for your viewing  And the unfocus part was partly intentional partly not. I was aiming for very small focus area but it seems to be gone. Word Crystal focused on one and word Date on other and pics as a two shot series. They were manually focused and I have no idea about the magnification ratio here  they were shot with 135mm AI-S macro Nikon lens on crop body (D80) throu magnification glass  this is 100% of the picture, no crop at all.
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I can see what you are trying to achieve but I think the snap is out of focus in two directions :-

1) Depth of field - front to back of image - probably intentional it's what we all try to do to isolate detail and is straightforward

2) Width of Depth of field - may or may not be intentional - if not it's most likely beause subject and camera planes are not parallel - if intentional then I think it should isolate something specific, it looks odd to me to see the word Jewels only partly in focus and the pivot of the hands out of focus.  This requires careful setup to avoid or a definite subject item to define imvho.

Solutions include using a smaller aperture, focusing on nearer object - eg hand pivot, or using a tilt and shift lens but this may spoil what you are trying to achieve so best advice is to shoot lots until you get as close to the desired effect as you can - be your own worst critic and throw out 90% of what you take







(in my case 99.9% :wink2: ) and "publish and be damned" 

Just my thoughts, hopefully constructive and of some value, but in any case it's great to see someone experimenting with different approaches :thumbsup: - we should all follow suit but rarely do  Full marks for effort and keep posting :thumbup:


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

discordianist said:


> I was aiming for a high-key styled shot here, but here's exposure corrected shot for your viewing  And the unfocus part was partly intentional partly not. I was aiming for very small focus area but it seems to be gone. Word Crystal focused on one and word Date on other and pics as a two shot series. They were manually focused and I have no idea about the magnification ratio here  they were shot with 135mm AI-S macro Nikon lens on crop body (D80) throu magnification glass  this is 100% of the picture, no crop at all.
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Thought it looked like a supplementary lens shot......looks like no Nikon Macro I have ever used :lol: ......the depth and quality of focus is just not "there", and are you absolutely sure thats not dust on the sensor, looks like classic halo effect of "digital film plane dust".......sorry this isn't supposed to sound like all criticism.

Better to use an extension ring with the Macro, any one will do even the cheapest of the cheap as there is no optics involved......I often use all three sets of Nikon rings with my 105 Macro but of course DoF gets very critical then, and very very short :lol:


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## Guest (Jul 24, 2009)

Boxbrownie said:


> discordianist said:
> 
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> > I was aiming for a high-key styled shot here, but here's exposure corrected shot for your viewing  And the unfocus part was partly intentional partly not. I was aiming for very small focus area but it seems to be gone. Word Crystal focused on one and word Date on other and pics as a two shot series. They were manually focused and I have no idea about the magnification ratio here  they were shot with 135mm AI-S macro Nikon lens on crop body (D80) throu magnification glass  this is 100% of the picture, no crop at all.
> ...


Yes I'm sure there ain't dust on sensor  Thanks for comments and I really need to work with this still. As said I might be a photographer but not product photographer or macro specialist so I really do need the practice and your comments are valued.

Here are few more pics, first ain't a macro as such but shows that there ain't dust on sensor. Other pics are to show that my set up might get there at times but I really do need some more practice. And getting focus just right ain't a easy task, those were taken with F16 and still they ain't correctly in focus.


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## Tom Radford (Apr 28, 2009)

There quite clearly is dust on your sensor in those last 3 shots. You can see a speck in the same place in every photo. About an inch in from the right at the top. Its in all the first shots you took too. That would lead me to believe the rest is dust too. You wont always see it, depends what aperture you use. Get a wet cleaning system and give it a few wipes, or send it off to a specialist. Should cost no more than Â£35.


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

Tom Radford said:


> There quite clearly is dust on your sensor in those last 3 shots. You can see a speck in the same place in every photo. About an inch in from the right at the top. Its in all the first shots you took too. That would lead me to believe the rest is dust too. You wont always see it, depends what aperture you use. Get a wet cleaning system and give it a few wipes, or send it off to a specialist. Should cost no more than Â£35.


Toms not wrong.....thats what lead me to conclude the same thing, the specks are in the same position on all shots.

But I would say get it cleaned rather than try a DIY solution then at least if they mark the sensor you have comeback.


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

As to the focus......I would give up on using a supplemnetary lens on the Nikon macro, just rely on the lense alone or the addition of some tubes or bellows unit.

And remember the rule of thumb with DoF, one third in front two thirds behind.....and of course the smallest aperture might be best for DoF but NEVER the best for sharpness, even on the Nikons I always try to avoid using smaller than f16 if possible because of aperture diffraction, its a physical rule that even Nikon and Canon cannot design out!


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