In April I made more macro mistakes during a single, half-day photo session at the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) than I had in quite some time. I could attempt to excuse my macro mistakes away by providing context… but at the end of the day none of that matters.
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After creating several hundred images using Handheld In-Camera Focus Stacking I couldn’t even identify three dozen files that were worth the time to try to process them.
More than 85% of the images that I had created were basically junk. To say I was ‘off my game’ would have been a significant understatement.
I missed focus on a fair number of photographs… rendering them useless.
Many of my images had very noticeable halos and artifacts… and were discarded immediately.
As I was going through my out-of-camera jpegs I wondered if I’d even have a sufficient number of useable images for an article.
Being optimistic I continued on… going through all of my files from the photo session. Fortunately some of the images captured towards the end of my RBG visit where somewhat better.
So… what had I done incorrectly that resulted in so many macro mistakes? 🙂
One of my most common macro mistakes was not choosing my subjects well. Even though I was in an indoor environment, parts of the facility had a discernable breeze moving through.
As we all know… subject movement while using Handheld In-Camera Focus Stacking is not a recipe for success. That was compounded by me not being as observant as I should have been in terms of subject movements. I also did not properly assess the light in many of my compositions and failed to use exposure compensation as frequently as the conditions warranted.
My shot discipline was woefully lacking. My breathing wasn’t controlled. My shutter release movement was not light and smooth. And, my handholding wasn’t nearly as steady as it needed to be. I had rushed my image captures and had not positioned my body properly to provide a solid foundation for my handheld image captures.
When we start on our photographic journeys it is very common for newbie photographers to blame their gear for their personal shortcomings… and lack of skill. We slow down our personal development when we fall into the trap of blaming our camera equipment instead of taking personal responsibility for our results.
Many of us have unproductive photography sessions from time to time. Rather than blame my gear for my macro mistakes… I knew that I had met the enemy… and it was me!
This was the perfect time for self-reflection and self-assessment. Whenever we make mistakes in the field, it is a wonderful opportunity for learning… assuming we can diagnose the root causes of our substandard results. Sharing that learning with others is a bonus.
So… there you have it. I went out with my macro gear and messed up big time. It actually turned out to be a terrific learning experience for me as I was able to identify my many transgressions.
As a photographer there is a simple credo we can live by… “Missed shots… learn lots!”
Technical Note
Photographs were captured handheld using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. All images were created from out-of-camera jpeg files using my standard process in post. All photographs were captured using Handheld In-Camera Focus Stacking. A stack of 15 images, with a focus differential of 3, and a single, small auto-focus point were used for all of the images featured in this article. This is the 1522 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.
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Were you feeling a bit off? That might have contributed to the problems you posted about.
Hi Lewsh,
It was a lack on centration and focus on my part. I was actually doing some macro photography coaching with a friend of mine to help get him ready for an upcoming trip to Mexico. As a result I was paying very little attention to what I was doing with my own image captures.
Tom
Yep I get macro mistakes regularly Tom, it’s frustrating but I always rely on in camera stacking – then scrutinise that final image before moving on. Also I use a clamp out in the field to hold things steady for the stacking to work.
It’s difficult for me to get low down so most of my macro with my 60mm is of insects. My success with this genre is all about waiting and observing tricky to do with plant life with the 90mm
Hi Mark,
Thanks for adding to the discussion. Personally I don’t find using in-camera focus stacking frustrating… I think it is wonderful technology that suits my shooting style very well. No question that this technology can be demanding to use… but I’d much rather accept that challenge than spend a lot of my time doing focus stacking in post.
Tom