Logovideo to article
00:00 - 00:06

if you have a 90 mm micro lens and a 30

00:03 - 00:11

mm micro lens and put them together do

00:06 - 00:11

you think it makes a 120 mm micro

00:15 - 00:20

lens today I'll be switching from my

00:18 - 00:23

favorite 90 mm focal length to a much

00:20 - 00:25

wider 30 mm focal length and try to see

00:23 - 00:26

which one gives the best result in

00:25 - 00:29

different scenarios I'll be pairing

00:26 - 00:32

these with the om1 micro for3d camera

00:29 - 00:34

some lighting and my reversible column

00:32 - 00:36

tripod so my goal today is to experiment

00:34 - 00:39

with a new focal length I never used

00:36 - 00:40

before which is the 30 mm macro I'm also

00:39 - 00:42

going to show you some interesting

00:40 - 00:44

camera features like Focus tacking and

00:42 - 00:46

focus bracketing and hopefully we all

00:44 - 00:47

going to learn something today now let's

00:46 - 00:50

go in the forest and see what we can

00:47 - 01:00

find

00:50 - 01:02

[Music]

01:00 - 01:04

just found the first subject right there

01:02 - 01:06

which is a mushroom growing out of this

01:04 - 01:08

tree stump so the first thing I'm going

01:06 - 01:10

to do here is work and L with my camera

01:08 - 01:11

and try to find an interesting

01:10 - 01:13

composition before putting the camera on

01:11 - 01:14

the tripod so I'm going to guide you

01:13 - 01:16

through what I'm seeing in terms of

01:14 - 01:18

composition I think there's a lot of

01:16 - 01:21

distraction in the background so maybe

01:18 - 01:23

if I'm moving a little bit

01:21 - 01:25

lower you know just like that you can

01:23 - 01:27

see how much the subject is now

01:25 - 01:30

separated from the background and I

01:27 - 01:32

think in macrophotography well in any

01:30 - 01:34

types of Photography uh you really want

01:32 - 01:36

to isolate your subject so as you can

01:34 - 01:37

see moving a little bit more this way I

01:36 - 01:40

think I just found something really

01:37 - 01:42

interesting right there look at this

01:40 - 01:44

small plane leaning towards the mushroom

01:42 - 01:46

I think it's going to balance the shot

01:44 - 01:49

yeah I think it's going to be something

01:46 - 01:49

just like

01:49 - 01:54

that so what I'm going to do now I

01:52 - 01:56

always like to under expose the shot

01:54 - 01:58

slightly probably around two stops to

01:56 - 02:00

get some space to add light without you

01:58 - 02:03

know overexpose using the shot I'm going

02:00 - 02:05

to put one light on the right side right

02:03 - 02:08

there and you're going to be able to see

02:05 - 02:09

in real time the effect of the light

02:08 - 02:11

because I want to

02:09 - 02:14

illuminate the side of the stem right

02:11 - 02:18

there and this small plane try to show

02:14 - 02:20

you how small movement can really really

02:18 - 02:22

do a big

02:20 - 02:25

difference so if I'm moving the light a

02:22 - 02:27

little bit more this way I think it gets

02:25 - 02:30

too much of the background right there

02:27 - 02:33

so I'm going to fit it probably just

02:30 - 02:35

like that so as you can see with one

02:33 - 02:37

light only you can really do some magic

02:35 - 02:39

here so now I'm going to show you with

02:37 - 02:41

the other light so in terms of the

02:39 - 02:43

height

02:41 - 02:46

here right there you can see the

02:43 - 02:48

difference I think this is a little bit

02:46 - 02:51

too high going to try to get it a little

02:48 - 02:54

bit lower so it lit

02:51 - 02:57

up you know the bottom of the

02:54 - 03:00

stem right there look at the difference

02:57 - 03:02

a little higher a little lower I think

03:00 - 03:04

that's the perfect spot in terms of

03:02 - 03:06

setting here I'm going to focus tag the

03:04 - 03:08

image because I want to keep that

03:06 - 03:10

background really really soft but

03:08 - 03:12

obviously I could have used an f11

03:10 - 03:15

aperture to get the whole Mushroom in

03:12 - 03:16

Focus but I would have lose the soft

03:15 - 03:18

background so in the camera menu you

03:16 - 03:23

have the focus tacking feature which

03:18 - 03:25

usually do everything in camera but for

03:23 - 03:27

this shot and going to use Focus

03:25 - 03:29

bracketing so I'm going to put Focus

03:27 - 03:31

bracketing on after that you can set the

03:29 - 03:34

number of shot I'm going to set it to 15

03:31 - 03:36

Shot 2 second timer to make sure I don't

03:34 - 03:39

introduce any

03:36 - 03:41

shake so now that I tried the 30 mm lens

03:39 - 03:44

with this subject I'm just going to

03:41 - 03:46

quickly swap the lens and see the

03:44 - 03:48

difference it makes with a 90 mm so as

03:46 - 03:50

you can see now I'm a little bit further

03:48 - 03:53

from the subject because obviously I'm

03:50 - 03:54

using the 90 mm to be fair I use the

03:53 - 03:56

same lighting so I didn't change

03:54 - 03:59

anything with the light positioning

03:56 - 04:00

because I want to do a fair comparison

03:59 - 04:02

to know to see

04:00 - 04:04

which which of the lens give the better

04:02 - 04:06

effect because I think they're both

04:04 - 04:09

completely different shots I thought it

04:06 - 04:12

would be the 30 mm but now with this

04:09 - 04:15

angle I'm not sure so what I love to do

04:12 - 04:17

when I'm Focus bracketing is always make

04:15 - 04:20

sure I'm focusing on the closest part to

04:17 - 04:25

the lens of the subject and then hit the

04:20 - 04:25

shutter and let the camera do the rest

04:33 - 04:36

[Music]

04:44 - 04:48

all right so look what we have here an

04:46 - 04:50

interesting mushroom a dark mushroom

04:48 - 04:53

growing out of this fallen tree so for

04:50 - 04:55

this composition I chose the 30 mm macro

04:53 - 04:56

because I want to incorporate a little

04:55 - 04:58

bit more of the scene and I think if I'm

04:56 - 05:00

using the 90 mm it's going to compress

04:58 - 05:02

the shot a little bit too much and we're

05:00 - 05:03

not going to be able to see you know all

05:02 - 05:05

the details around the mushroom so

05:03 - 05:06

basically what I'm thinking about I

05:05 - 05:08

think I'm going to get a little bit

05:06 - 05:11

lower because I want to see the bottom

05:08 - 05:14

of the mushroom because the white gills

05:11 - 05:15

are pretty interesting so it's going to

05:14 - 05:17

be something like that so now I'm going

05:15 - 05:20

to get my tripod and play with some

05:17 - 05:22

lights so what I like to do is always

05:20 - 05:24

start with one light at a time because

05:22 - 05:25

other than that everything's going to

05:24 - 05:28

get messed up and it's going to kind of

05:25 - 05:30

be hard you know to see which light have

05:28 - 05:31

which effect on the subject another

05:30 - 05:33

thing to keep in mind is always

05:31 - 05:35

underexpose the scene a little bit in

05:33 - 05:38

order to make some room for these lights

05:35 - 05:40

I'm going to start with a yellow tinted

05:38 - 05:44

light just to get some nice halo around

05:40 - 05:46

the subject all right so now I'm going

05:44 - 05:48

to stick this right

05:46 - 05:49

there all right so I think it looks

05:48 - 05:51

pretty good now but there's something

05:49 - 05:53

missing on this side I think it's too

05:51 - 05:56

dark so I'm going to fill it with

05:53 - 05:58

another light just like this one all

05:56 - 06:01

right so that looks pretty cool in terms

05:58 - 06:03

of composition like the lighting so now

06:01 - 06:05

what I'm going to do I'm going to focus

06:03 - 06:07

tack the image but I think I'm going to

06:05 - 06:09

use the internal focus stacking feature

06:07 - 06:11

because it's going to give me an idea of

06:09 - 06:13

how many shots I need to get the

06:11 - 06:15

mushroom all in focus and then I'm going

06:13 - 06:16

to focus bracket the image because

06:15 - 06:18

personally I like to do it manually in

06:16 - 06:21

postprocessing so again it's important

06:18 - 06:23

to focus on the closest part of the

06:21 - 06:25

subject to your lens and then the focus

06:23 - 06:27

stacking is going to go throughout the

06:25 - 06:29

mushroom I think this feature is great

06:27 - 06:30

for those you know who like to take a

06:29 - 06:34

lot of shot

06:30 - 06:37

and don't like to take a lot of time in

06:34 - 06:37

[Music]

06:37 - 06:42

postprocessing all right since it's a

06:40 - 06:44

micro for3d

06:42 - 06:47

camera I think it's important to mention

06:44 - 06:51

that it is not really a 30 mm lens or a

06:47 - 06:54

90 mm lens but the equivalent is more of

06:51 - 06:57

for the 90 mm it's 180 mm focal length

06:54 - 06:58

and the 30 is a 60 so really what I

06:57 - 07:01

meant in the beginning of the video when

06:58 - 07:04

I said that my favorite focal length was

07:01 - 07:06

90 mm I was more trying to say that I

07:04 - 07:11

love longer focal length rather than uh

07:06 - 07:11

wider length but it might change

07:12 - 07:17

today all right so now we're back where

07:16 - 07:20

we

07:17 - 07:22

started and I'm not getting inspired I'm

07:20 - 07:24

not seeing anything what I think I'm

07:22 - 07:26

going to do I'm going to start Gathering

07:24 - 07:29

stuff on the ground put it on the bridge

07:26 - 07:31

and try this longer focal length and may

07:29 - 07:34

maybe make a little miniature studio

07:31 - 07:36

right on top of the bridge yeah let's do

07:34 - 07:38

that I finally settled on what will be

07:36 - 07:41

my next subject it's going to be this

07:38 - 07:44

small tiny Branch with the small cocoon

07:41 - 07:47

on it not sure if it's a cocoon anyways

07:44 - 07:48

I'll write it down right there and this

07:47 - 07:51

piece of moss that I'm probably going to

07:48 - 07:53

use as the background try to get

07:51 - 07:55

something steady here there's a lot of

07:53 - 07:57

moss on the ground and the ground is

07:55 - 08:00

really really soft so I'm going to need

07:57 - 08:03

to dig the leg of the tripod in to make

08:00 - 08:06

sure everything is nice and steady let's

08:03 - 08:10

start with this small LED light just to

08:06 - 08:12

L up the side of the subject something

08:10 - 08:16

just like that now I'm going to use

08:12 - 08:18

another light and try to create some

08:16 - 08:20

highlight in the background so I'm going

08:18 - 08:23

to put it behind the

08:20 - 08:23

mouse maybe

08:24 - 08:29

something something just like that

08:27 - 08:31

obviously there's something missing I

08:29 - 08:34

want to lit the front part of the

08:31 - 08:35

subject a little bit more and maybe the

08:34 - 08:38

side of the stem and now I'm going to

08:35 - 08:40

use my ab to dial in the correct

08:38 - 08:42

intensity for the lights again I'm going

08:40 - 08:45

to focus bracket the image I'm going to

08:42 - 08:48

focus on the closest part of the subject

08:45 - 08:50

just like that hit the shutter button

08:48 - 08:52

again let the camera do the

08:50 - 08:54

rest all right so now just to make a

08:52 - 08:57

comparison between the two focal length

08:54 - 08:59

again I just swap the lens to the 30 mm

08:57 - 09:02

lens and obviously I had had to get a

08:59 - 09:04

little bit closer in order to fill the

09:02 - 09:06

frame with the subject similar to The

09:04 - 09:08

Last Shot uh and for this one instead of

09:06 - 09:10

using the focus bracketing uh I'm going

09:08 - 09:11

to use the in camera focus stacking

09:10 - 09:13

because I don't want to put too much

09:11 - 09:15

time on this shot because I know the

09:13 - 09:16

other one's going to be better and let

09:15 - 09:20

me know in the comment which one of the

09:16 - 09:24

two you prefer all right so which lens I

09:20 - 09:26

prefer the 30 mil versus the 90 mm I'm

09:24 - 09:28

Still Loving more than 90 mm or the

09:26 - 09:30

longer focal length should I say but the

09:28 - 09:32

30 m I think is really interesting if

09:30 - 09:34

you want to incorporate a little bit

09:32 - 09:36

more of the surrounding and you know get

09:34 - 09:37

a little bit more context around your

09:36 - 09:40

subject I think it's fun to have in your

09:37 - 09:41

bag probably you know to experiment

09:40 - 09:43

because photography is all about

09:41 - 09:45

experimentation the biggest takeaway I

09:43 - 09:47

think I have today is not even about the

09:45 - 09:49

focal length itself but more about the

09:47 - 09:50

lightweight of this system you know I'm

09:49 - 09:53

carrying a lot of gear making these

09:50 - 09:56

videos and I can see how cool having

09:53 - 10:00

something that light in my bag can be at

09:56 - 10:00

least for my shoulders

10:01 - 10:09

[Music]

Exploring Macro Photography with 30 mm and 90 mm Lenses

In this article, we delve into the world of macro photography, experimenting with a 30 mm and 90 mm lens to capture stunning details in nature. The journey begins with the excitement of switching from a favorite 90 mm focal length to a wider 30 mm focal length, and uncovering the unique perspectives each lens offers in various scenarios. Equipped with the OM-1 Micro Four Thirds camera, lighting accessories, and a reliable tripod, the goal is to explore the uncharted territory of the 30 mm macro lens.

Embracing New Perspectives in the Forest

Venturing into the forest, the photographer's keen eye is drawn to the beauty of a mushroom emerging from a tree stump. Through the lens, the art of composition takes center stage, as adjustments in positioning reveal the magic of isolating the subject from distracting backgrounds. Experimenting with lighting angles illuminates the delicate features of the mushroom, showcasing how subtle movements can transform the entire scene, creating a captivating visual narrative.

Unveiling Details with Different Focal Lengths

By seamlessly transitioning from the 30 mm to the 90 mm lens, a new dimension of storytelling unfolds. The shift in focal length alters the relationship between the photographer and the subject, offering fresh perspectives and nuances in composition. Through the meticulous process of focus stacking and bracketing, the intricate details of the mushroom are brought to life, demonstrating the power of precision in macro photography.

Crafting Miniature Scenes with Precision

Diving deeper into the art of macro photography, a miniature studio is meticulously crafted on a bridge, showcasing the intricate beauty of a tiny branch with a cocoon and moss as the backdrop. Through strategic lighting techniques and careful adjustments, the photographer masterfully highlights the textures and contours of the subject, creating a mesmerizing visual narrative that captures the essence of nature in a unique way.

The Art of Experimentation and Discovery

As the exploration of focal lengths unfolds, the essence of experimentation and discovery takes center stage. While the 90 mm lens remains a favorite for its ability to capture intricate details with longer focal lengths, the 30 mm lens offers a refreshing perspective by incorporating more context and depth into the composition. Ultimately, the key takeaway lies not only in the choice of focal length but also in the lightweight and versatility of the equipment, underscoring the importance of adaptability and innovation in the pursuit of photographic excellence.

Through the lens of macro photography, each shot tells a story, where every detail and adjustment shape a narrative that celebrates the beauty and intricacy of the natural world. As the journey unfolds, it becomes clear that photography is a blend of artistry, technique, and a spirit of exploration that constantly pushes boundaries and inspires creativity.

In conclusion, the art of macro photography transcends mere visualization; it is a form of expression that captures the essence of the world in its minutest details, inviting viewers to see the familiar in a new light and discover the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Let the lens be your guide as you uncover the unseen and capture the beauty that surrounds us, one frame at a time.