Critique, tips and suggestions for the quality of photos

JPG

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I've got my first camera (fujifilm x-t100) few weeks ago and never realized how high of the learning curve of the photography is.
Any critique, tips and suggestions for the quality of photos would be much appreciated.


3.5" P irminia 0.1.0

0.1 p irminia 3n5inch ab.jpg

4" C. cyaneopubescens 0.1.0

3in GBB 01 close.jpg

4" C. cyaneopubescens 0.1.0 with better lighting

3in GBB 01.jpg

5.5" L. parahybana 1.0.0

5in LP Juv (2).jpg

4" T. stirmi 0.1.0

stirmi 01 4in.jpg
 

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viper69

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I've got my first camera (fujifilm x-t100) few weeks ago and never realized how high of the learning curve of the photography is.
Any critique, tips and suggestions for the quality of photos would be much appreciated.


3.5" P irminia 0.1.0

View attachment 376655

4" C. cyaneopubescens 0.1.0

View attachment 376656

4" C. cyaneopubescens 0.1.0 with better lighting

View attachment 376657

5.5" L. parahybana 1.0.0

View attachment 376658

4" T. stirmi 0.1.0

View attachment 376662
The body is less important than the glass.

What glass are you using?
 

JPG

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The body is less important than the glass.

What glass are you using?
That's what I read as well, but because I can't afford expensive lens at this time I'm currently using cheap 7 artisan macro lens. It is manual so I'm also trying to understand aperture and focusing manually beforehand. Is there any decent lens that doesn't cost too much by any chance?
 
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basin79

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Lighting is a massive deal. Particularly with shooting indoors and like I do shooting the tarantulas in their enclosures.

Editing is also a massive thing. It really does allow you to get the most out of you pics and resolve any problems you might have had.

You want to be shooting in manual both on the camera and on the lens. Then it becomes about what you want. As in do you want the whole tarantula to be in focus or at least clear? Then a high F stop. Although that needs to be balanced against the light. So you can physically add light in the form of a light or if your tarantula is still and you've got a tripod really slow down the shutter speed.

If you're more interested in say a carapace/eye shot like me you fire that F stop down. You'll need to balance that out though. So increase your shutter speed and or turn down the flash.

I personally try and keep the ISO as low as possible and use shutter speed to get the light in.

Many are now using the Raynox 250 macro attachment or the Nisi on their telephoto and macro lenses. They give a very narrow depth of field but really show off the details.

Also practice. If you do have a tripod and your tarantula is still set yourself up at say F16. Take a pic. Adjust shutter speed/flash/ISO as you see fit to get a good shot. Then drop down to say F9. Get the focus and take a pic. You'll see its extremely bright. So again adjust things. Increase the shutter speed. Maybe set flash at half etcetera.

Just play around. I still take far more pics that end up getting deleted than used. Far, far, far more. I certainly would never make a wildlife photographer. And wouldn't have been able to afford all the film years ago.
 

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Thank you very much for your reply in details, I was looking for something like Raynox attachment, although I feel like 150 might be better with my 60mm macro from my guess.

I did start to play around with different settings of f-stop and light (using both camera and external lighting kits) and seems like there are noticeably more distortion with higher f. I did find my balance at around 4~5.6 with extra light from both internal and external sources but apparently there's a way to focus on all through a camera function and editing. (still trying to figure out, i believe it's called multi focus mode)

I have been maxing out my ISO, I assume that maybe the cause of certain issues on my photos as well. I'm still clueless when it comes to shutter speed but I will have to read more writings on it.

I've read that it is almost impossible to take clear shot with my cheap macro lens so I've bought a tripod with it and seems to be working great. I usually take 5~10 photos with different settings of f and light and pick one of them, hopefully that's what I'm supposed to be doing.

I really do appreciate for the suggestions. I'm definitely going to trying to change few things according to these.

Edit: Turns out the internal light source I was using was the shutter speed lol
 
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You have just opened up a whole new world to photography for me, thank you!
Now I don't even have to try and the photo already looks 10 times better...
The only Con would be it takes 4 seconds of capturing the photo but not a con for me as long as the output is good.

l difficilis 01 4in.jpg
 

basin79

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You have just opened up a whole new world to photography for me, thank you!
Now I don't even have to try and the photo already looks 10 times better...
The only Con would be it takes 4 seconds of capturing the photo but not a con for me as long as the output is good.

View attachment 376688
Aye, with a really slow shutter speed you're letting in a load of light which helps a lot. Of course it's only useful when your subject is still but the vast majority of times a tarantula will be.

The best I found to get my head around aperture/f stop is to see your subject in sections front to back. Now the higher the f number the more those sections are close together so more of them are in focus. A low f number and your tarantula is spread making only maybe 1 or 2 sections in focus.

That's why you'll see the very best photos aren't a single photo but a stack of 3-300. Enabling the photographer to focus on 1 section at a time and them stacking them all on top of each other.

I haven't tried stacking yet but the results are incredible.

So just keep playing around with settings. Even if it's away from your tarantulas and just taking pics of your keys etcetera.
 

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Will do, I'm going to have to start with just getting the right lighting and start reading about stacking as well. And the whole time I thought my camera wasn't good enough :rolleyes:
 

basin79

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Will do, I'm going to have to start with just getting the right lighting and start reading about stacking as well. And the whole time I thought my camera wasn't good enough :rolleyes:
I'd completely ignore stacking for now. It's not needed. Also editing is a huge aspect of digital photography.

I'm finding I can go back to pics taken only 6 months ago and I can see I edited them wrong or at least could have made them better. I actually really enjoy looking back over older pics and re-editing them.
 

The Snark

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Aye, with a really slow shutter speed you're letting in a load of light which helps a lot.
Isn't this where proper or even specialized lighting comes in? Strobe, diffusion, color and Kelvin correction?
 

basin79

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Isn't this where proper or even specialized lighting comes in? Strobe, diffusion, color and Kelvin correction?
Not a clue. I just wing it. If it looks too bright I either turn the flash down and/or increase the shutter speed until I get the balance near enough.
 

basin79

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Nertz. I'm never going to learn photography at this rate.
It isn't hard to get to a hobby level. It's just a case of balancing the equation to get the result. Eventually maybe you'll get familiar enough to know roughly what the settings you'll need for a particular pic and then tune it.

All depends on what you want. I just want nice pics of my pets and I'm not really fussed if I have to take 30 pics to get 5 decent ones.
 

The Snark

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It isn't hard to get to a hobby level. It's just a case of balancing the equation to get the result.
It's a problem with my thinking. It has to be linear. Thinking outside the box creatively leaves me dead in the water. I'm back to being a ten year old photography wise. Virtually nothing sinks in. It's the same with art, trying to make a painting or drawing. Zilch.
 

basin79

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It's a problem with my thinking. It has to be linear. Thinking outside the box creatively leaves me dead in the water. I'm back to being a ten year old photography wise. Virtually nothing sinks in. It's the same with art, trying to make a painting or drawing. Zilch.
Well that's easy. The higher the F stop the more light it requires.

The lower the F stop the less light it requires.

Your job behind the camera is merely to do just that with the tools you have.

Can't think of anything more linear.
 

RoachCoach

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There are literally tens of YouTube channels you can delve into for macro and macro DIY. At least before you get deep into the calculations and focus stacking. As others have said here and will say online time immemorial, lenses are like gold. They very rarely depreciate in value regardless of generations. You will be well into photography before you need a focus stack rail. Get some friends that are into photography. They are always looking to trade out or sell for the better gear if they are doing gig work . Only reason I have a 100mm macro lens is because my brother is one of them. I got him a motorcycle lift so YMMV. If you have that macro bug, then getting a lens will scratch that itch the bug has been causing. You don't see athletic hopefuls running in Tyson Brand running shoes. Not only will it make your experience better, you will see how much potential you have to gift to the hobby. Oh ya. Photoshop is gonna be a killer if you opt in, but there are a couple other actual free software companies that mimic it.
 

The Snark

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Well that's easy. The higher the F stop the more light it requires.

The lower the F stop the less light it requires.
I just grabbed my camera. F stop. Where? Oh. Middle of screen. How to adjust it? It's on the lens! I turn the lens and it zooms in, changing the F stop. So zoom = F stop?


My man, I can look this over and assemble it in my mind. But this GD camera defeats me!
 

basin79

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I just grabbed my camera. F stop. Where? Oh. Middle of screen. How to adjust it? It's on the lens! I turn the lens and it zooms in, changing the F stop. So zoom = F stop?


My man, I can look this over and assemble it in my mind. But this GD camera defeats me!
F stop is NEVER on the lens. The camera adjusts that so google the manual.
 

viper69

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Will do, I'm going to have to start with just getting the right lighting and start reading about stacking as well. And the whole time I thought my camera wasn't good enough :rolleyes:
I can tell from reading your posts you don't have any knowledge of photography beyond automatic of substance- that's fine- most people don't anymore sadly. W/that said, I will also advise that you forget about focus-stacking. If you really want to get into focus-stacking you will need new lenses, special equipment and a working knowledge of basic photography in my opinion. I have a friend of mine who is an expert in focus-stacking, the images are impressive. Generally most people can't tell they are looking at a focus-stacked image. Thus they try to make a great image, using focus-stacking as their EXAMPLE. Not saying you are doing that, but if you are, it's a recipe for failure. There is no comparison between general, macro photo, and focus-stacking macro.

W/that said- take your time. I can't say how you learn, but I learned, and still learn, by taking my camera out, and shooting tons of images, different settings etc with 1 lens. I don't hop around.

Once you have mastered the limitations of your system, then see if focus-stacking is for you. I've done focus-stacking of a different type for over a decade, it's not trivial.
 
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