DPReview.com is closing April 10th - Find out more

Eye macro photography

Started Jul 20, 2020 | Questions thread
John K Veteran Member • Posts: 9,870
Re: Eye macro photography
1

Colin Creevey wrote:

Hi,

I am trying to achieve a similar result to the photo below. The source lists it was taken at 105mm, f11, ISO100, with a shutter speed of 1/125 and on a FF system.

I own the Cannon 100mm macro so I gear wise I think it should be very achievable. What I was wondering is what it the type of lighting used for a shot like this. From the look of the reflection it looks like an octabox or perhaps a beauty dish?

Me thinks it's a beauty dish judging by the reflection.

In a studio environment with a large octa I was wondering how close and at what angle the light should be positioned. I fear that my camera being so close would occlude the light given off by the strobe.

That's not a life size image, so I think you'd be fine on the working distance. I would get the light source as close as possible to reduce the duration and to get softer light.

My other question is would it be worth using a tripod for this given the Cannon lens has IS. I prefer not having to haul my tripod to a photo shoot just to take a few pics like this afterwards.

With a flash IS is pretty useless, since the short duration of the flash acts as your shutter speed. The original shot was taken at 1/125 but I'd bet money that there's no natural light in that photo, it's all flash and the shutter speed was irrelevant. Just make sure that you don't use high speed sync and stay at, or below, the sync speed for your camera.

Practice on something to get the framing and light the way you want it before you photograph someone's eye with a flash. It's going to take a lot of light to illuminate such a small area, and you'll want to limit how many frames you take.

-- hide signature --

Also known as Dalantech
My Book: http://nocroppingzone.blogspot.com/2010/01/extreme-macro-art-of-patience.html
My Blog: http://www.extrememacro.com
My gallery: http://www.johnkimbler.com
Macro Tutorials: http://dalantech.deviantart.com/gallery/4122501/Tutorials
Always minimal post processing and no cropping -unless you count the viewfinder...

Keyboard shortcuts:
FForum PPrevious NNext WNext unread UUpvote SSubscribe RReply QQuote BBookmark MMy threads
Color scheme? Blue / Yellow