Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,

I've seen some nice shots on here of small frogs etc that were presumably taken with a macro lens. My question is do you use an off camera flash? a dedicated macro flash? Certainly the onboard flash isn't what people use, is it??

Bryan

-----
"Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only to what we know of it."

I have the flash off camera when using a long macro lens. The length of the lens causes a flash shadow if the flash is sitting on the hot shoe. This would be even worse with the built in flash. Shorter macros like the 90mm to 105mm do OK with the flash on the hot shoe. The on-board flash can also produce nice results in some cases with a short macro lens as shown by the excellent subocularis shot by M. Campbell.

All of these shots were taken with the flash off camera on a macro bracket with a D70 and Sigma 180mm macro.

Cheers,
WK

Wow, I had heard good things about the Sigma 105, but that is sharp!

I looked online and I see macro flash brackets for ~$300. What could make it cost that much? Isn't just something to hold your flash??

Thanks for the advice.

Bryan
-----
"Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only to what we know of it."

The one I use is $168 at B&H, but you're right, the cost of these things is probably high compared to the materials cost of making them. I've heard you can make a clone of the Wimberly Shapeshifter bracket I use for a fraction of the price by obtaining the parts at ram-mount.com.

One of these brackets is very helpful when shooting close macro shots with a long lens like a 180mm. You can get the flash very near the subject to soften harsh shadows. Here are a couple shots of a skink I saw today. The first is with no flash. The second is with fill flash positioned on the bracket. You can see the flash helps to significantly cut the harshness of shadows caused by bright sunlight.

Cheers,
WK

You can use an on camera flash if your macro lens allows you enough distance between the subject and the lens. If not, the lens blocks the flash and you get a shadow.

With an accessory flash on the camera, you gain an extra few inches of height, reducing the chance of that shadow effect.

You can also use a diffuser or reflector to help bring the light down in front of the lens from an on camera flash, thus eliminating the shadows. I have a 12 inch collapsible light disc (diffuser) that is really good for this. If I hold it at an angle in front of the flash but tilted down towards the subject, I get nice even lighting and no flash shadow. Unfortunately, the diffuser scares small animals when it is close.

To use a flash off camera, you need one of three things -

1. A sync cord and a flash that can use one. This allows you to move the flash off the camera in any direction at least as far as the cord will stretch. This system is moderately cheap, but you have wires/cables to deal with (usually not a problem) and flash sync cords are infamous for failing after some time (I just replaced mine).

2. A wireless off camera flash. Certain camera bodies allow you to fire off camera flashes with either an infrared signal or using the on camera flash to signal the off-camera flash. This frees you up even more since there is no cord to tangle or have watch out for. This option is cheap with some models as no extra accessories are required (other than the flash) but expensive with other brands where you have to buy the wireless controller separately. There are limits on flash sync speed with some wireless flashes.

3. A slave flash setup. You can buy slave flash units that automatically fire when the on camera flash fires. You can even block/divert the on camera flash to prevent it from lighting the subject and let the off camera slave flash provide the light. This setup is cheaper, but you lose the TTL ability to control the light. It is trickier to do well.

Off camera flash gives you a lot of creative options with lighting that just aren't possible with the flash on the camera.

-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Thanks Chris,

A lot of good information there. I have a rebel xt and a speedlite 430, I think I'll pick up a wireless remote! I think the flash sync speed is limited to 1/200's, but I'll see what I can do.

Bryan
-----
"Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only to what we know of it."