How many of you use your macro set-ups hand held? I will be buying a Canon 430EX II to go with my Canon macro lens to shoot flowers and the occasional butterfly. The flash is so I don't have need of a tripod to get the shots I want. Essentially, my intent is to shoot them as abstracts using the macro lens to give me the look I want.
Any macro work I have done, which is minimal, was done in natural light and often necessitated a slow shutter speed and a tripod. In using a flash I am hoping to avoid the slow shutter speed and the tripod. I am hoping there is a few of you who shoot in this manner and can give me some insight as to your experiences. Thank you.
I think you will find that many on this board shoot handheld. I am not the expert, but do shoot handheld 90% of the time with my macro shots. I find the critters don't normally stay still long enough for me to set up and get in position with a tripod
Anything that stays in one place potentially brings a tripod into use, certianly for a stack series. Anything else has to be hand-held. This has been the situation for decades of film macro. The ability to change ISO between shots and image stability make much more handheld practical. I don't use flash at present.
I also shoot handheld both flash and natural light but do often use a pole that I hold in my left hand along with a bit of camera, or find other ways to stabilise the camera when shooting
Brian v.
Handheld 95%+ of the time, on occasion use a monopod. I've shot both film and digital and mostly with the 100 non-L, that will change soon however.
I've been having a great time with extension tubes on a 70-200 f4L IS and 300 f4L IS, and am using IS more everyday. A new 100L IS is in my near future...after I sell my trusty ole 100
I don' use flash much, just picked up a nice MT-24 twin flash from an FMer, but don't have enough time with it to comment on it's use...natural light is my preference!
Here's a shot from a few weeks back...bees are fast when just starting a pollen gathering...but you can shootem...this is more close-up than a macro shot.
