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Comments
You cannot really do without. Whenever I've tried to focus manually, even with all kinds of zoom and edge highlighting support, I was mostly slower and less accurate than when using AF. It's a good idea to learn how to use the AF area selection options and how to lock focus after the AF has locked in. Very handy for macro photography when the subject is moving sideways.
Nikon also has a good choice of lenses with macro function:
https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/camera-lenses/macro-and-close-up-lenses.page
The 40mm lens looks like a good deal but when capturing insects and animals, consider the close distance required for a good close-up. No butterfly pic because it's escaped already
A longer lens (85mm and above) is much better in this regard but then you might need a "fast lens" (f-stop 2.8 or below) or shoot with higher ISO in order to avoid shaky images. The longer the focal length, the higher the risk of getting blurry images due to movement.
This one looks like a good compromise:
Nikon 85mm f/3.5G ED VR DX AF-S Micro Nikkor
Edit: Your 18-55mm lens already has a max. magnification ratio of 2.6 which is quite usable for macro pics.
I do recommend shooting close-ups with this one first before blindly buying a dedicated macro lens. Enable manual focus temporarily, set the lens to minimum distance and see how close you can get
A simple "formula" is to choose a shutter at least higher than the focal length like 1/90 sec for a 85mm lens. And you'll also have to take into account the moving subject itself. A bee on a flower shaken by wind needs a shorter exposure time as much as a head banging guitarist on stage.
Using a 3rd party lens manufacturer can be an option but make sure you try them before, sometimes in-lens image stabilization and AF don't work as well as lenses from the camera manufacturer.
+1 to what @klownshed wrote.
I am not a professional photographer, so I am free from the constraints of having to maintain an exacting level of technical quality in order to sell images. This means that while I have some familiarity with the technical considerations that everyone is talking about, I tend to deal with it only in a broad sense, fast shutter for freezing motion, wide aperture for blurring backgrounds, etc. The rest I leave up to the camera while I concentrate on how to see the subject. Provided I get time to compose the shot, regardless of the subject matter, I usually try to see patterns or abstract forms and frame the image around that. It often makes for a more interesting result, as the image then works on more than one level.
Some of my photos are here.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/126452057@N08/page1
These are beautiful, Martin.
i appreciate all your insight and help man! and def going to wait as suggested before picking up any new lenses until i’ve figured these ones out... the gear is great, but just like in our music world it isn’t going to make a difference what you have if you can’t use it hehe.
appreciate that info and “formula” def going to take the info with me on the field...i got a couple decent photos today but was in a rush so it was more of a click and shoot than a fine tuning , did a little configuration then took the shots! and some lightroom edits.
i feel like that’s probably where i’ll be most the time, just focusing on learning to take great photos and if people like em and in a few years maybe think about selling pro photos but for now def need to learn all those things and prioritize them
i know i need work haha but i was happy with those photos for being a noob ^
Isn't it fun to go out hunting motifs?
A good reason to leave the house
Your first pic looks like a great macro shot 👍🏼
I used to have the 40mm Micro-Nikkor. I already had an old 55mm AF Micro-Nikkor from my old film days and I still have that (even though I’ve got rid of all my Nikon camera gear – I use it with a Nikon / Sony E adaptor on a Sony A5100 for shooting my watercolour paintings, and that’s about all).
The 40mm though, I found quite good, not stunning, but was surprised how slow it was to focus. I’d quite frequently manually focus as I’d get there quicker. I’m more used to manually focusing as that’s how I started in the late 70s on Olympus OM-1 gear, and then medium format cameras.
If you discount the above A5100 (which really has a single use and was not an intentional purchase), I basically now have only one digital camera after I got rid of all the other gear a few years back. A Sony RX10 (the first model). That’s about all I need now. The one camera.
(I still have a lot of cheap film rangefinders, an Olympus ZLR, my original knackered Nikon f-801 and 50mm lens, and my Mamiya C330 TLR and five lenses, and a Bronica ETRSi and two lenses. And a bunch of Elinchrom studio flash gear, but, yes, only one digital, the abovementioned Sony RX10).
Oh, I remember, about fifteen years ago I picked up a Nikon close-up lens (basically a filter for the front of a lens) which I tried on a lot of nature subjects one summer and found it was actually quite good (despite owning a superb 55mm macro lens). So, if you see a good quality close-up filter, try that first, they’re not as terrible as most people think, I thought it was quite capable.
Always love seeing others’ work, and even more so, the excitement of newcomers to the art! I’ve been at it for 60-years or so, and I still love every moment, whether it’s out shooting, or post processing afterwards. You can see my work here:
https://www.instagram.com/simonclivehughes/
https://www.simonclivehughes.com/
I started with film, finally using Nikon F5s and when Nikon brought out the D1 in 2001, I switched to a fully digital workflow. When Micro4/3 came out, I switched (due to my arthritis) and for the past few years I’m using Sony NEX-7 and a6000 bodies.
For about the past two years, I’ve been doing all my PP on my iPad Pro 12.9 (2019) using mostly Snapseed and a handful of other iOS apps such as Painteresque, BeCasso, and Affinity Photo. All my work is shot RAW and the aforementioned apps (Snapseed and Affinty) do a very serviceable job with the conversion etc. Since my vision is more fine art than documentary, I generally spend a good deal of time on processing, dodging, burning, selective enhancements etc, and use double exposures to bring in adjustments from other apps via Snapseed’s View Edit feature (which is like having layers).
All the best with your photography!
Thank you very much
I think your ocean-shapes (the wave and shoreline ones) look like oil paintings. Very beautiful.
Thanks, mate, appreciate it and glad you enjoyed them.
Lovely work Simon. I think some of my shots would probably benefit from some artistic post processing. Up until now I’ve done very little apart from cropping, sharpening and adjusting contrast and saturation.
Thanks for the kind words, Paul! I have to admit that for me, the majority of the satisfaction I get from my work is the post processing of the image. My workflow has evolved over the years to go beyond the steps that you mention, and push the image to try to reveal a different, more poignant representation. I'm always trying to evoke a more idealized version, one that will let the viewer's eye linger a bit longer and hopefully get a sense of place and even a yen to be there.
BTW, @skiphunt is also an accomplished photog who does lovely work.
I have two creative hobbies: music and photography. The music can be traced back to my taking piano lessons when I was nine years old. My appreciation of photography can be traced back to my love of movies, especially classic films. As far as using a still camera, I've been into photography for about 12 years. I tend to use rangefinder cameras with prime (non-zoom) lenses and shoot in black-and-white.
For me, music and photography are two sides of the same coin -- one side visual and one side aural. Both are avenues for expressing motion, texture, time, and tone. And what I learn from one, inevitably tends to influence and shape the other.
I still have a lot to learn and explore with both.
You can see some of my photos here:
https://www.protozoid.com/
Nice work, David!
@sch well hey looks like i’m already following you on the gram haha that’s awesome !
thanks for everyone’s input, i have been non stop this week and haven’t had much time to respond but i’ve been looking at all your work and taking notes on all the tips tricks and inspiration! this is a great community!
Thanks @sch. Much appreciated.