Category Archives: How To’s

09/01/2013
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Articles, How To's, Image Sets

Snoot’s away – Joe

Since my last post about ants I decided to build myself a new snoot/diffuser. I had trialed a few different things to try and soften the flash on the old one, but wasn’t too happy with the results. After a bit of thinking I decided that a whole new design was in order. Once again I used cardboard, tin foil and my trusty white t-shirt. The cardboard was measured and cut to correct shape and size. Each piece was then lined with the tin foil before being stuck together with sticky tape. The t-shirt was then cut to size and attached to the front. I used 3 layers this time around for greater diffusion. The whole thing was then covered with black electrical tape (looks better on the camera). My main aim was to enlarge the front of the diffuser for a larger spread of light in the hope that the larger area would also soften the flash some more. It ended up being twice as large as my old one. I have tried it out over the last couple of days and I am very happy with the results so far.

I focused on ants again so that I could compare the shots with my older ones. I found that the flash was not as harsh and the reflection was kept to a minimum. I’m now looking forward to getting out and taking some more shots.

Hope you enjoy

(AiM – Joe’s lens is the Canon 100mm Macro seen here and his old setup can be viewed here)

Photo (1)

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17/12/2012
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How To's, Image Sets

An Ants Life – Joe

It’s been quite windy of late and a bit quiet on the macro front. I decided to get down low to the ground on this occasion and focus on ants. Ants are some of nature’s hardest workers and are constantly on the go. This includes finding food, excavating, defending territory, looking after young etc. They just never seem to stop. I sat down near a nest and just watched the going’s on for a little while. I made the most of the situation and fired off some shots. Ants can be difficult to get in focus at times as they are constantly moving around. With such a shallow depth of field to work with this can become a hit and miss affair (with more misses in my case). Some people like to put a drop of diluted honey (mixed with water) on the ground as this does make them stop for a little drink and, in turn, easier to photograph. Another issue, especially with the shinier ones, is the reflection from the flash. At times it can be quite harsh. This was the case on this occasion and most of the photos ended up in the scrap heap. I may have to play around with my diffuser a little and see if I can improve it.

Hope you enjoy

Ants

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09/12/2012
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Articles, How To's, Image Sets, Reviews

Pet Portraits – Joe

Having heard that Macro Lenses make good portrait lenses I decided to try it out and see how I go. One thing you need for portraits are, of course, the subjects. Not having any I decided to take photos of our lovely pets. Taking photos of animals can be quite difficult at times as they can be quite excitable and constantly move around.

I found this part quite challenging as there was a lot of waiting involved and also lots of discarded photos. The other thing I found difficult was getting the lighting right. Lighting is very critical to getting that good shot and it is definitely something that I still need to work on. I don’t have an off camera flash system so was stuck using the on board flash. I tried to utilise as much natural lighting as possible where I could but in some cases that wasn’t possible. I did find the lens (Canon F2.8 100mm IS USM Macro) to be quite sharp though and, with the right lighting, I think it would make a great portrait lens.

Thanks for looking

Portrait

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14/09/2012
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Articles, How To's

Colour Coming Through, My Way

Reblogged from Leanne Cole PHOTOGRAPHY:

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Playing with images and changing some parts into black and white and leaving other parts in colour is something a lot of us do when we first start doing photography, or rather when we start editing our images.  I am not going to talk about when it is appropriate and when it isn't, I just thought I would show you a couple of ways of doing it.

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Selective Colour, a sometimes over done style, can produce brilliant results when done right. Leanne Cole covers this style in this great CS6 tutorial. AiM
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27/08/2012
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Articles, How To's

Basic Editing of Images, My Way

Reblogged from Leanne Cole PHOTOGRAPHY:

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It's Monday and time for another tutorial.  I have decided today to do some basics.  I don't know how much you all know, most of you will know this, but I know there are some of you out there that have no idea, so today is for you.

I am also going to use different software, it is the software I started with.  

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I've been following Leanne's blog for around a month now. She is an avid creator of artistic scenes and uses many post production techniques. This guide to basic editing her way, is a great read for someone wanting to start editing photos using a free piece of software called GIMP.

Enjoy AiM
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21/07/2012
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How To's, Image Sets, Reviews

DIY light box test shots

Have you ever tried to sell something online and uploaded some so-so photos to use in the advertisement? I purchased a Speedlite 430EX II to add to my Macro setup, and discovered that it was great to use with a light box.  Light boxes are a great tool to help you make a good impression online with your advertisement.

I went through a few DIY sites on making a light box but found this one here on the Strobist. I had a box lying around, some cheap baking paper and tape. I used a sheet of A3 paper for the backdrop.

Using just the one Speedlite, and the 600D’s inbuilt wireless trigger, I tried out my new light box on some old models from when I was young.

Everything set up and ready to go.

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28/06/2012
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Picasa Exploration – Joe

Learning never exhausts the mind - Leonardo da Vinci

I’ve been playing around with Picasa for a short while now and I am starting to get the hang of things. I love the simplicity of it and also love its user friendly interface. Once you’re used to it, it usually takes about 10 seconds to crop, edit, sharpen etc per photo. I have tried out the inbuilt auto functions to see what the program comes up with and most of the time the results are quite good. Personally, I prefer to do things manually as I get a better understanding of which function does what. If needed I first crop the photo followed by a bit of light filling and saturation and finally a little sharpening. Once done it is then a simple case of exporting the photos to a folder and, if you prefer, re-sizing them at the same time. It is nowhere in the league of Photoshop and the like but for quick and fast editing it suits me perfectly.

Here are some of the results

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14/06/2012
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Articles, How To's, Image Sets

Ghosts, flames and things that go pop in the night…

The most tangible of all visible mysteries – fire.  ~Leigh Hunt

I think at one stage or another we’ve all been transfixed and drawn towards the magic of flames. Greek Mythology reads that Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to man to allow us to advance ourselves. We’ve done much with it, however we’ve lost a great deal as well. Like most, I’ve had a fascination with fire for as long as I can remember, and for the last eight years I’ve been able to work/play/experiment with a substance called  methylacetylene-propadiene propane (MAPP gas). Late last Sunday night, after a busy day working around the house, I’d set up a space in one of our spare rooms as a studio/study and decided to try a little experiment that had been playing on my mind for a while. The results made me very excited to say the least and I worked on it until nearly midnight.

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27/03/2012
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Articles, How To's, Image Sets

City to the Mountains – Joe

I worked very long hours in the city back in the nineties. I found myself travelling back and forth from the city to national parks and the Blue Mountains to try and keep my connection to nature and wildlife. In order to bring a piece back with me I decided to purchase an SLR camera. It was a Canon EOS 50 that came with a single lens kit being a cheap 50mm to 80mm. I also bought a zoom lens to go with it, a 100mm to 300mm that allowed me to take photos of bird life. Even though the camera stopped working after a year and a half I still have the same lenses to this day. I am currently using them on my latest camera, a Canon EOS 60d which is similar in shape and design to my old camera.

I have always had a fascination with Macro Photography but have never had the means to buy a dedicated macro lens. Since my latest purchase I have looked at ways to do this without spending obscene amounts of money. I have found some cheap close up lenses that can be bought off eBay for about AU$30.00 and after lots of reading I have fashioned a home made snoot/diffuser which is made out of cardboard, aluminium foil and an old white T Shirt (photos towards the end). Whilst not as sharp as a proper macro lens, I found that you can take some pretty decent shots for about a fifth of the price.

All of my shots are taken free hand as I dont own a tripod and all are taken in the manual setting so that I can maximise shutter speed. I always use flash. I normally play around with aperture and ISO to see what works and what doesn’t. I don’t use the focus ring either. To focus, I simply pick the angle I want then move the camera forwards or backwards until the picture is in focus. This works out to be a lot quicker for me.

Here are a few examples.

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16/03/2012
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Articles, How To's, Reviews

Beginners Guide To Macro Equipment

Starting off shooting macro can be quite daunting when deciding on what equipment to use. I’ve done a fair bit of reading and researching different people’s ‘rigs’ and what results they get. Since we are slap bang in the middle of Macro Month here at Unstable Image, I thought I would do a small guide on the equipment I’ve seen being used. This is not a definitive guide, or a detailed description on how each individual item works, but a general overview to help people start their research. To have a look at my current setup click here.

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