Macro help

[Dino f]

I got my Raynox lens today (thankyou chillimonster)
Had a quick play in the garden with it, although insects are becoming scarce.
Now, i used the lens on my old 80-200mm ef lens and switched to manual focus. then i moved out or in to get the focus.
Geee, not much DOF is there!!!!
can anyone tell me if there is an optimum aperture to use, as at f4.5 the dof is almost non existent.
One more thing, i now have an even bigger respect for people who do this type of photography well (AJ, Khan et al, i salute you).
Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
(ill try to stay of the beer tonight as i have realised this dosent help matters much)
Dean

 

[pxl8]

Usually around f/11-16 is best, any more and refraction starts to soften things up again.

 

[Slapo]

Usually around f/11-16 is best, any more and refraction starts to soften things up again.

And you'll still be getting very little DOF at F11, I used F14 and got shots that were fairly sharp and the DOF was acceptable.

Still, I think you'll have to take lots of photos, because if you move an inch away, you'll move the focus point quite a bit away.
It's almost impossible to do extreme close-ups if it's windy, even a little wind does quite a bit as it sways you slightly, which is often enough to miss a shot.

 

[RobertP]

At f11 or 13 you will need a lot of light so you may need to use flash. You are viewing at the widest aperture your lens does so the picture will have better dof than you see. Having a narrow dof for composing is not bad as you will have best focus at the point you intended.

Apart from that lots of practice and patience. Think about the viewing angle (ie not ordinary and boring like we normally see when looking down on a bug) and don't forget composition just because it is macro. Don't get too downhearted when you get a lot of duds as it does take time to get the hang of macro.