Macro Photography Techniques
Lesson 6 from: Innovative Techniques for Outdoor PhotographyGeorge Lepp
Macro Photography Techniques
Lesson 6 from: Innovative Techniques for Outdoor PhotographyGeorge Lepp
Lesson Info
6. Macro Photography Techniques
Lessons
Class Overview
06:28 2Types of Panorama for Outdoor Photography
18:05 3Gigapan and Action Pano for Outdoor Photography
09:46 4Additional Lighting: Light Painting, Flash and Ambient
27:06 5Extended Depth of Field
17:00 6Macro Photography Techniques
05:47 7Tele-extenders and Outdoor Photography
33:54 8HDR as a Tool
06:02Time-lapse Outdoor Photography
13:10 10DSLR HD Video
09:09 11Cinemagraphs for Outdoor Photography
09:50 12Photographing Birds
22:51 13Photographing Mammals
30:58 14Photographing Birds and Mammals Q & A
08:30 15Macro Photography and Flowers
28:37 16Photographing Butterflies
11:37 17Photographing Snowflakes
06:00 18Photographing Landscapes
07:25 19Photographing Lightning
05:22 20HDR Landscapes and Time Lapse
27:54 21Final Outdoor Photography Q&A
18:06Lesson Info
Macro Photography Techniques
We're going to continue with some macro techniques in some of the ways of getting closer getting a bigger subject on your on your sensor or on your film and uh different lenses macro lenses will do different things for you we have the one eighty macro lens which gives you the working distance and butterflies come to mind immediately is one of the places that I use this lends a lot another one is the fifty millimeter macro and I want to use this moment with this type of this particular image the the camera lens is right down there on the leaf here's actually seeing the surface of the leaf and this is a little nip grasshopper and we're showing it in a different way than you would normally see it most of you haven't seen a grasshopper from this angle in this u get down on your knees and look through the bushes but if we can show images in a different way than which we see them on a day to day basis there's a reason for people to look at our pictures if we just take a rose for instance and...
you take a picture right down on the rose and then you show it to your friends and they say yeah that's a rose and they move on but if you could get it with different color with with with raindrops on it are so close that it's just design elements in colors then there's a reason for people to look at your pictures so try to capture your your pictures in a way that shows them to who's going to look at your pictures in a different way than they would normally see them and this a little rest offer would be one of those examples so we're gonna look at cannes macro lenses but other manufacturers have essentially the same thing sigma has more types of lenses is those tamron nikon of course sony a pentax all these other companies but the one hundred eighty millimeter lens the one that you see here is to give you a distance working this is to your subject if you don't want to be really close to your subject, this would be the lens now there are other subjects like a I've photographed rattlesnakes before, but I used five hundred millimeter lens for those, so this will give you some working distance now one hundred millimeter macro is maybe half the distance to your subject is the other, but if you only had one macro lens to work with the hundred macro is probably the good over all overall macro lens out there the fifty millimeter we don't use very much the sixty millimeter is a special macro lens made for the psc sensors the smaller sensors and you multiply that one point six times and then you find out that you're actually a longer it's almost one hundred millimeter macro lens by the time you're done now this mp sixty five millimeter was the lens that I was showing you here before it goes from one extra five exit does not focus to infinity it's an incredible lands you clip that little macro flash to the front of it and it's a point and shoot I mean you just said it for whatever magnification you want you move in and out until it comes into focus and and it's almost perfect the strobes will give you the right exposure you have to find subjects and the stroke goes off very fast. The flash duration is essentially years shutter speed so you can actually hand hold that linds but we're also going to use that lends for very high magnification when you start getting to five x and like I said with two x we go to ten x things get really pretty exciting extension tube's I always carry a twelve and a twenty five millimeter extension tube in my bank and the reason is not to get me that much more macro it's the focus closer certain lenses will not focus as close as I would like them to and that's mainly the five hundred millimeter lens or the one hundred to four hundred of the older one would not focus close is I wanted to go so I put a twenty five millimeter extension tube behind it and it would focus close much closer than it had before. Now the twelve millimeter tube doesn't give you much help as faras the bigger lenses are concerned, but I put that twelve millimeter behind a wide angle or a white angle zoom and all of sudden I have a very different macro lens that I'll show you some examples where it looks like you're sitting on the edge of the flower and you have all of this you put it it f sixteen and you have all this depth of field going on in front of you and it's just a different perspective it's not a great macro lens but it gives you some different perspectives so that's what I use the twelve millimeter tube for and here's a really good example of that the seventeen millimeter it's a seventeen to forty is what this lens actually is I put the twelve millimeter tube on it I'm standing on the edge of the flower and everything is sharp across it it's something that you need to experiment with but put a little tiny extension to extension two has to be less than the millimeters of the of the lens that twenty five millimeter extension tube you put that on the seventeen millimeter lens and won't focus because the focus is inside the lens and that's not really what you want to do so experiment with it it's one of these things where if with digital, and you can see it on the back of the camera immediately, you can tell whether it's working or isn't working, and even though maybe the manufactured doesn't tell you that that's, something you should do. If it works, it works. Now the burden. This is a lilac breasted roller from africa, and usually they're quite a ways away from you. They know what focal length linds you have. They seem to know this, and they'll say just far enough out where it really won't work, or they come in so close that they know that you can't focus that close. I fooled this particular one. I had a five hundred. I had a one four converter on and a twenty five millimeter extension to which just gave me a head shot. So I pulled the bird by having more equipment than he thought he did.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials
Bonus Materials
Ratings and Reviews
R. Hetrick
Amazing class! I particularly loved the macro and how to correctly take panoramic photos sections. George was not only a great teacher but he was super funny too. Would be happy to take any of his future classes.
Berus
I watched the entire class, and found it to be a very negative experience - in contrast to all of my other experiences with Creative Live, which had been very good. The problem with this class was the instructor. Mr. Lepp, rather than giving us practical, useful information, and techniques for approaching the subject of Outdoor Photography, instead used his time to show off his seemingly endless array of incredibly expensive and cutting edge gadgetry. For the first half hour or so, Mr. Lepp seemed pleasant and interesting, but it quickly became apparent that this class was NOT about anything relating to the art of outdoor photography. Instead, it was basically a seminar highlighting exotic equipment for the 1%. I have well over $25,000 of photographic equipment, but the arena in which Mr. Lepp plays begins somewhere around the $100,000 mark, and then requires a staggering ongoing budget for chartering helicopters, hiring guides, and constant upgrades to remain on the bleeding edge of gadgetry and accessories. From his gyroscopic mounts to his 40" printer, Mr. Lepp has it ALL and continues to spend, spend, spend. I admire his deep pockets, but I would have appreciated some real insight and technique and useful knowledge on actually getting great shots. (And I must say... Mr. Lepp's work... did not impress me to the degree that other teachers on CreativeLive have.) I believe those giving positive reviews here were more or less wowed by the sheer magnitude of his extensive, well-funded travels and his off-handed way of revealing the endless contraptions and combinations of gear he uses. The passion here is clearly about the gadgetry, and NOT about finding an original and creative voice in the arena of outdoor photography.
user-f9ff5e
George really prepared a lot of information for his class. It is true, he does have a lot of expensive equipment and we may not be able to do some of the things he does with a smaller budget, but it is good incentive for us to plan for the future. He seemed to share new information constantly and stay focused and I was able to take a lot of notes. He talked about many kinds of equipment as well as software and websites he uses. I am pretty impressed that he is so up to date with recent technology. He especially loves macro/micro and stacking hundreds of images for minute focus on really large enlargements (for example, over 600 photos for one butterfly wing). That can get boring if you are not interested in doing that. I can take those tips and apply them to landscape photography though. I think it is more helpful for someone already doing outdoor photography and looking for new inspiration or new techniques as opposed to someone new to photography in general.