An in-depth tutorial covering the technique for continuous lighting in macro photography, using the macro lighting cage from the first two videos in this series. Lots of tips and tricks for better macro images.
Nice one ! Not planning on using continuous light as I owned and ran a Studio and have oodles of strobes and sprrdlights, but still very much worth the watch... Again Thnx M8 GOOD job WELL done...
Very nice. I had been using LED bulbs, 5000 K 8.5 W, on light reflectors from WM with styrofoam food containers as diffusers with OK results. Your very informative video has changed my view of lighting, focused instead of my shotgun approach. Thank you.
The light is all important in macro. I have designed a cheap focusable pin light and spent today building and testing prototypes. I want to find a way to add a 2-3mm spot of illumination for highlighting insect parts. I'll be showing how to make one in an upcoming video, if I can find a build I'm satisfied with!
Nice to see the cage in action, Alan. I have so much to learn about lighting. I do love the versatility that this cage allows as far as mounting goes.I look forward to seeing the flash video.
Thanks Stephen. To be honest, I wasn't very happy with this video, on rewatching it. There is just so much to cover that I had to leave out, or gloss over, too much of it. I think I will do some additional videos that break down the subject into more focused chunks. The flash video will be more helpful. Cheers!
@@AllanWallsPhotography I will look forward to seeing additional videos on lighting, Alan. I just finished my macro cage. I am looking forward to the insects to start moving about. Who would have though that I would say that living in South Alabama? Until then, I will just have a play with all of the tiny items that I can find. Thanks again for showing us all this contraption. It really is nice not trying to move stands around and balance lights against things.
@@stephenwoodburn2970 I was out and about in the swamps of north Mobile this morning, looking for spiders. Not much activity yet. One more cold spell to get through and things will pick up. I'm just getting ready to shoot the macro flash video, so I should have it uploaded in a day or two.
Thanks for the videos. Interestingly, I was looking at how to create a setup for small product videography, I came across Karl Taylor and learnt a lot about how he thinks, I don't have the money or the studio to do his set up but it got me thinking that it should be possible to get great results from some kind of flexible LED setup.. And I found your channel from 'creative options for indoor macro photography' title.. Exactly what I was looking for.. many thanks... The only thing I would add is that I was originally thinking dimmable LED's all controlled via an app, probably something I will try look at at a later date. Just envisaged the flexibility of that to be a huge benefit, to be able to adjust while looking down the lens.. Many thanks again. Great tips
Hi Gordon, I just wanted to let you know that I have done some tinkering with dimmable LED light sources and they can be very frustrating to use in photography. Many of the dimming circuits I have tried have a lot of flicker, ghosting, and strobing. They also have a tendency to change output suddenly and unexpectedly. In commercial product photography, where lighting and color rendition are paramount, these shortcomings can drive you nuts. I have found it more reliable to control the light by adding and removing diffusion layers to get the light the way I want it. Thanks for the comment!
@@AllanWallsPhotography Many thanks for the reply Allan. What I think I will do is construct a cage similar to yours and probably find slightly more powerful mini lights, since I will need more clearance near the subject to allow video to be taken on a slider. I did actually find a commercially available dimming solution (Adaptalux) but if I do eventually go down this route I now know that I need to take great care ( and learn more ) in the quality of the components I use to build it. I'll put that on the back burner for now. Thanks again.
Always look forward to what your up to next. My cage is being built as we speak and I would ask of you only one thing. Quit bringing out new tools and gadgets because it's like a drug. Between me trying to manufacture one or ordering it from amazon, I'm going bonkers. Kidding keep up the great content and I have no doubt that your channel will blow up. This is coming from a professional RU-vid watcher. LOL!!
Thanks so much for taking the time to help us newbies to macro photography and for all the wonderful tips. I have just completed my cage! By the way, I am also using some small medical LED torches for highlights, they seem to work well. Best wishes, Kev in the UK
Hi Kev and thanks for watching. I just spent half the day trying out a bunch of prototypes for a focusable LED pinlight that I'm trying to build to use with this rig. And I'm using medical penlights as my light sources.
Another great video Allan. I have a question. I am looking at buying a LOMO 4X Infinite microscope objective to mounted on my 100mm macro lens and 3 extension tubes. Have you done anything like this before? If so, will the combination above work for tight headshots of an ant's head? Greg
Hi Greg, I think you might run into problems using a macro lens as your relay lens. The way macro lenses are built, for close-in focusing, I have found them difficult to work with. I would rather use either a telephoto lens at it longest focal length or a basic tube lens as my relay. The 4x objective you are looking at is prone to quite a bit of softening in the corners, as are most 1-5x objectives. If your budget can stretch to it, I would recommend a Mitutoyo 10x. For considerably less, the Nikon 10x CFI plan achromat is an awesome objective. With either of these objectives you can get all the way to 10:1 with a 200mm tube or telephoto lens (on a crop frame body, of course). Perfect for an ant head! And you won't have to use extension tubes. Having said all that, I have never tried the setup you are talking about, so it might be superb. When it comes to extreme magnification photomicrography, if I find something that works, I tend to stick with it!
@@photografiaaustralis2131 Since replying to your question I've been digging through my gear looking for a 5x infinity objective - I know I have one somewhere. I want to try to replicate your setup and see what kind of results I get. Didn't seem right to question your setup without trying it out first. I'll let you know what happens.
