I am looking for a way to light my macros best possible. Now I am using the internal flash with a light tunnel or a diffuser that I put on my lense to diffuser the internal flash. The diffuser can be used with my external flash, the Sunpak 383 on the camera too, but I have not tried it so much yet. I also have a stofen omnibounce to put on my Sunpak.

It would be great if you folks could post pictures of your macro lighting setups, so I could get inspiration to how I should light my macro the best.

My home made light tunnel:


My diffuser with internal flash:



My diffuser and external flash setup:


The macro solutions I have tried this lighting with, is:

-Stacking lenses (reverse one lense at anothter for example: Nikon 50mm f1.8 at Nikon 28-80mm, Nikon E 28mm f2.8 at Nikon 105mm f2.5 AIS)
- Close up lense 500D (on Sigma 70-300 APO, Nikon E 75-150)
- Macro Teleconverter, Vivitar Macro focusing teleconverter(With 50mm f1.8 for 100mm f3.6 and 1:1, with a borrowed Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro for 2:1 and together with PK-13)
- Extension Tube, PK-13 (Together with the Vivitar Macro Focusing Teleconverter and Nikon 135mm f2.8 AIS and togehter with a Sigma 50mm f2.8 and the VMFTC)

Also have a reverse adapter on my way, try to reverse a 50mm and a 28mm direct to my camera.


Edited by Sissel on Mar 02, 2008 at 11:18 AM GMT

Edited by Sissel on Mar 02, 2008 at 11:20 AM GMT

Edited by Sissel on Mar 02, 2008 at 11:39 AM GMT

Pic of my macro setups below - lots more info here http://www.flickr.com/groups/topic/66514/

Brian V.

LordV wrote:
Pic of my macro setups below - lots more info here http://www.flickr.com/groups/topic/66514/

Brian V.



Where do you find brackets so that you can put your flashes in those positions? I guess it helps a lot to have the ability to put it near the lense in that way, especially when you use setups like I do, with reverse lenses and things like that.
And what does these kind of brackets cost?

Sissel wrote:
LordV wrote:
Pic of my macro setups below - lots more info here http://www.flickr.com/groups/topic/66514/

Brian V.


Where do you find brackets so that you can put your flashes in those positions? I guess it helps a lot to have the ability to put it near the lense in that way, especially when you use setups like I do, with reverse lenses and things like that.
And what does these kind of brackets cost?

Both my brackets are a bit DIY- the nearest I've seen is a Hakuba LH-1 ballhead bracket available on ebay (cheap) but I think I'd replace the ballhead on them with a mini ballhead with a male screw fitting rather than a flash clamp fitting (the flanges on some flash cords break off easily).

Brian V.

Pics of my macro setups below:



A max of 6 external flashes can be connected. Now I make new ledsflashunits
Here the first highpower led modules:



5 blocks of 4 highpowerleds will be the new setup. Leds are a mix of white, red, blue and green types. The use of leds make it possible to better control the duration and to give multiple flases into the same picture. Colors may be focussed to an small part of the picture for special effects.

For flying insects an other setup is used:



An external second mechanical shutter is added for this application.
Frans.

Hmm...LordV,you just gave me an idea to try to make a kind of flash bracket of the equipment I have. This is what I have:

*Hama flash bracket
*Nikon AS-15 Flash adapter
* Sunpak 383 Super flash
* Sunpak small wire to connect from sync adapter to flash
* Flashgun adapter

The flashgun adapter can tilt the so it goes more beside the lense. Only need some way to fasten it to the bracket without destroying it. Should have found a cold shoe thing with a stud in the other end, but I guess that is hard to fin

You slay me Frans

Here's a shot of my current rig:

is that bubble wrap on your flash heads?

hassy99 wrote:
is that bubble wrap on your flash heads?

No: http://nocroppingzone.blogspot.com/2008/02/macro-rig-for-2008.html

Sissel,

Here is my simple set up,

Some pictures taken with the internal flash and the diffuser:
(I think I maybe used the external flash with a stofen Omnibounce on a slave together with the internal flash on these)

A drop on a tulip:



Inside a tulip, some stamens:



Also a drop, but inside a tulip:


Some rose stamens:




A picture taken with the light tunnel:

The lighitng in your shots is beautiful, Sissel. My favorites are the drop on a tulip and rose stamens. Lovely.

Check this person's difuser. Good excuse to eat Pringles. :-)

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1033&message=24854790

Sissel wrote:
Hmm...LordV,you just gave me an idea to try to make a kind of flash bracket of the equipment I have. This is what I have:

*Hama flash bracket
*Nikon AS-15 Flash adapter
* Sunpak 383 Super flash
* Sunpak small wire to connect from sync adapter to flash
* Flashgun adapter

The flashgun adapter can tilt the so it goes more beside the lense. Only need some way to fasten it to the bracket without destroying it. Should have found a cold shoe thing with a stud in the other end, but I guess that is hard to fin


I found a solution to how to fasten the flashgun adapter to the hama flash bracket. Found some kind of screw wich fitted into the stud in the flashgun adapter, and persuaded my husband to drill a hole in the hama flash bracket, so I could fasten the bracket and flashgun adapter together.
Also tried to made a diffuser thing like LordV uses, with coke cans. Used paper towel and food paper (do not now the right word for this in english.)

Below is two pictures of the new setup:





Not quite sure how the flash should be positioned for the best light yet, trying out a bit, but getting most confused.
Do you position your flash higher than the lense and downwards or at the same height as the flash and from the side?

lol wow guys...here i am starting out with the 100mm macro and the 580 2 and a simple diffuser thinking i can take on the world lool and then I see this post. I'm gonna go make some more money now. Then I'll buy some of the stuff you guys have here. thanks for driving me to go broke...

Not quite sure how the flash should be positioned for the best light yet, trying out a bit, but getting most confused.
Do you folks position your flash higher than the lense and downwards or at the same height as the flash and from the side? Or what do you do? Anybody with any good advice?
Do you use it most for fill flash for the sun, or as a main light? Do you use any reflectors for filling in shadows?

Sissel wrote:
Not quite sure how the flash should be positioned for the best light yet, trying out a bit, but getting most confused.
Do you folks position your flash higher than the lense and downwards or at the same height as the flash and from the side? Or what do you do? Anybody with any good advice?
Do you use it most for fill flash for the sun, or as a main light? Do you use any reflectors for filling in shadows?

Can only say my diffuser head ends up at a very slight angle to the lens pointing towards the subject. It is slightly to the side rather directly down. I suspect your arrangement may be a bit too much to the side and forward with the danger of shooting light directly into the lens.
As for use - my normal use is for the flash to be the main source of light - so the camera is in M mode normally around 1/200th F11 for 1:1 shots or less. I do frequently change the ISO between 100-400 so that the shot is only about 1 stop underexposed for natural light. If you shoot in Av or Tv (shutter or aperture priority) you will get a fill flash effect. You really need to test out any flash arrangement to see how it works out from a lighting and flash efficiency POV (you don't really want to be completely draining the flash with a single shot).
Part of the fun with macro is playing with lighting arrangements and seeing how they work for you.

Brian V.

So your diffuser head points more like paralell to the lense, but just with an slight angle towards the lense? Is it on the the same level as the lense, or higher? (My english understanding is not perfect, so sorry for any dumb questions )

On the photograph of my setup, the flash was just set up randomly (not planned) I have tried it out in different positions, but I think it is especially hard to find the right lighting way with this lense setup (Nikon 28-80mm with a 50mm AF-D f1.8), which has a very short workind distance. (Only a couple of cm) For this setup I use very small appertures, like f30-f40 for the most dof and fast shutterspeeds to use it handheld. Av or Tv I think could be used with this setup, because the lense fastened to the body is a af lense. But for all my other setups, I think I have to use M. I almost always do anyway. And the Sunpak has to be adjusted manually to.

The setup can be adjusted in different angles by the way. The bracket can of course adjusted forwards and backwards, the flash head bracket kan be adjusted from vertical to horisontal position and the flash itself is bounce and swivel head. So I have som possibilities.

Sissel wrote:
So your diffuser head points more like paralell to the lense, but just with an slight angle towards the lense? Is it on the the same level as the lense, or higher? (My english understanding is not perfect, so sorry for any dumb questions )



Yes the diffuser is approx parallel to the lens but does point slightly inwards and is approximately at 2pm position when viewed from behind.
The pics below may give you a better idea. As I said you really need to do some test shots under your normal shooting settings with the flash head in different positions to find what is best for you.

LordV wrote:
Sissel wrote:
So your diffuser head points more like paralell to the lense, but just with an slight angle towards the lense? Is it on the the same level as the lense, or higher? (My english understanding is not perfect, so sorry for any dumb questions )



Yes the diffuser is approx parallel to the lens but does point slightly inwards and is approximately at 2pm position when viewed from behind.
The pics below may give you a better idea. As I said you really need to do some test shots under your normal shooting settings with the flash head in different positions to find what is best for you.








Can only test inside on plants and flowers today. Its 20cm of snow outside, and still snowing. Just wanted to get some idea of what you did, because I looked at your "Annoying flies" tread, and the light looks great.

Is that the Canon MP-E60 lense you have on your camera there? Too bad Nikon does not have a lense like that, because its very fun to explore magnifications beyond 1:1, and this lense seems to give great results.

Sissel wrote:
LordV wrote:
Sissel wrote:
So your diffuser head points more like paralell to the lense, but just with an slight angle towards the lense? Is it on the the same level as the lense, or higher? (My english understanding is not perfect, so sorry for any dumb questions )



Yes the diffuser is approx parallel to the lens but does point slightly inwards and is approximately at 2pm position when viewed from behind.
The pics below may give you a better idea. As I said you really need to do some test shots under your normal shooting settings with the flash head in different positions to find what is best for you.






Can only test inside on plants and flowers today. Its 20cm of snow outside, and still snowing. Just wanted to get some idea of what you did, because I looked at your "Annoying flies" tread, and the light looks great.

Is that the Canon MP-E60 lense you have on your camera there? Too bad Nikon does not have a lense like that, because its very fun to explore magnifications beyond 1:1, and this lense seems to give great results.




Yes it's an MPE-65 but as Jody Melanson keeps on showing you can get very simialr results with a 100mm macro lens, ext tubes and a reversed lens on the front - that's what I used to use - the MPE-65 is just a whole lot more conveniant
Brian V.

Here's a studio setup I have been using lately.

Close up of the subject and lens relationship.

End product