Admiring Light
Menu
  • Home
  • Review Index
  • Shop Talk
  • Technique and Vision
  • Opinion
  • Portfolio
  • Site Index
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
Menu

Indoor Leaf Macros

Posted on July 4, 2012July 4, 2012 by Jordan Steele

I haven’t had much time to photograph the past week or so.  It’s been brutally hot, and I’ve been pretty busy at work.  Since I had the day off today, I had to do something photographically…but it’s another scorcher, and by the time I got up, the morning light had faded.  So, I went out to my yard and picked two leaves to shoot indoors.  Then I had to figure out how best to set up shooting these.  I knew I wanted to do some sort of backlight, as it allows you to really see the detail in the veins of the leaf, though this varies by leaf.  My wife is sewing some dresses right now for her work, and the lovely red satin that was draped over a music stand provided a great backdrop.  I pulled out two light stands and put one of my manual flashguns on one to provide the light.  I then used a second stand and taped a comb to it to provide an easy place to clip the leaf.  I just used a clothespin and the comb, and voila…a nice place to hold a leaf upright.  I put my Olympus E-M5 with Leica 45mm f/2.8 Macro on my tripod and ran a sync cord from a hotshoe sync adapter to my flashgun to control the flash.

If you don’t have any manual flashes and sync cables, I think it is worth investing in them.  Not only for macro work, but also for portraiture.  My lighting kit consists of three flashguns, two full light stands, one short light stand, two umbrellas, a snoot/flash bender, a sync cord and hotshoe sync adapter.  Manual flashes are pretty affordable…I use a Vivitar 285 and a LumoPro LP160 as my manual flashes (and I have an old Sigma EF500 Super I use on occasion too).  The LP160 is a great flash with manual control, optical slave and sync ports.  They’re powerful and convenient, and only cost $160.

My setup for this shoot – Camera with macro lens on a tripod, stand for the leaf and one for the flashgun, and a sync cord to fire the flash.

 

Anyway, the above setup was all I used, and then I went about trying different compositions and such.  I did some with straight backlight, some with oblique light, and a few with a backlight flash to start off, then bulb to fill in the red backdrop with natural light.  To get this exposure just how I wanted I used the E-M5’s excellent Live Time mode, which allows you to watch the exposure as it’s happening, and stop it when it is exposed just to your liking.  This worked REALLY well.  Anyway, I ended up with three shots I liked, one of which (the black and white below), which I really enjoyed.

Maple Leaf – Olympus OM-D E-M5 with Leica 45mm f/2.8 Macro
Ivy Starburst – Olympus OM-D E-M5 with Leica 45mm f/2.8 Macro
Maple Tip – Olympus OM-D E-M5 with Leica 45mm f/2.8 Macro

2 thoughts on “Indoor Leaf Macros”

  1. Pingback: Olympus OM-D E-M5 Image Thread - Page 94 - Micro Four Thirds User Forum
  2. Zack Jones says:
    July 5, 2012 at 6:42 am

    Great post and very timely. I’m doing a year long photography project and next week’s theme is texture. This will help me with that assignment.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Follow Me:

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on InstagramFollow Us on Mastodon

Most Popular Posts

  • "Full Frame Equivalence" and Why It Doesn't Matter (286)
  • Fuji X-Pro 2 vs. Sony A7 II: Noise Comparison (70)
  • Fuji 56mm f/1.2 vs. Panasonic Leica 42.5mm f/1.2 Nocticron (63)
  • Review: Metabones Speed Booster (Canon FD to Fuji X) (56)
  • Review: Olympus OM-D E-M5 (48)

Recent Comments

  • Frank on Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS vs. Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L
  • Giorgio on A Tripod in the Sky – DJI Air 2S Review
  • Sam Taylor on My Favorite Photos of 2022
  • Damien on Review: TTArtisan 50mm f/1.4 ASPH (RF Mount)
  • Jordan Steele on Review: TTArtisan 50mm f/1.4 ASPH (RF Mount)

Archives

©2023 Admiring Light | Theme by SuperbThemes
We use cookies to personalize content and ads and to analyze our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. You may consent to the use of cookies or opt out. Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

SAVE & ACCEPT