3D Print Your Macro Photography (Part #1 Introduction)

New worlds without leaving home.

When we magnify a familiar object, it loses its familiarity. Textures, colours and shapes that once ran together now separate into unique features that reveal more about our subject

Macro photography reveals wonders living under our noses. For example, take the spider above; my daughter pointed to a tiny dot in our backyard. I was astounded to find that this dot was this fantastic beast. Macro photography excites the heart and mind of both the photographer and their audience.

The problem

Anything below 24mm, (1 inch) high is challenging to photograph with a regular lens. That’s because standard lenses are designed to photograph human-scale objects. Macro lenses are specifically designed to photograph small things, but they are expensive.

Macro for just the cost of some filament

Alternatively, an adaptor that changes a standard lens's particular orientation relative to the camera will turn it into a macro. This Instructable discusses three ways you can do this and show you how to 3D print the adaptors; a reversed lens adaptor, an adaptor that joins two lenses together and macro tubes.

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If you have a Canon with EF or EFs lenses, you can download my files and print your own adaptor. Otherwise, you have two choices. If you have a 3D printer, Thingiverse, or similar, will have equivalents that fit other popular camera brands. If you don’t have access to a 3D printer or can’t find the thing you need on Thingiverse, eBay or similar will sell you cheap manufactured versions.

Definitions

Broadly, a macro photograph is said to be when the subject of a print is larger than the original. Technically it’s when the image on your camera’s sensor is larger than the object itself. As a quick rule of thumb, ‘macro’ is when you photograph something less than 24mm or one inch tall.

The limits of macro photography

Most people like to use macro photography to capture flowers, insects etc., all are well within the range of these adaptors. Too small is unlikely to come up.

However, there are optical limits to macro photography. As you try to photograph smaller and smaller objects, effects like diffraction degrade your image.

Photomicrography

To photograph things even smaller, you can mount your camera on a microscope. There are lots of projects on Thingiverse that help you do this. An alternative is to add an 'objective lens' to the front of your camera. This is effectively the same thing as an 'objective lens' is the working part of a microscope. This Instructable will show you how.

This Instructable will:

1. Explain how the three types of adaptor work
2. Guide you through the 3D printing process.
3. Help you capture your first macro image.

If you work your way through the series, you will be able to:

1. Evaluate various methods of taking macro photos
2. Use a variety of methods to create macro photos
3. Apply basic macro techniques to create images
4. Practice a calm, thoughtful approach to capturing macro images

Learning Strategy

Once you have grasped the basic concepts, ‘doing’ quickly becomes the most effective form of learning, but not by itself. When you encounter a problem that you can’t solve, reach out to me, google, user groups and knowledgeable friends. Further effort without help is unlikely to be productive. If you have already made an effort to solve a problem, your brain is focused on the question and primed by the effort so that the advice received will be meaningful and effective.

I’ve put links at the end of the Instructables to help solve problems and broaden your knowledge.

Learn, do, reflect, do again is a lifelong journey. Learn from those ahead, teach those behind. Enjoy the journey, share with those who travel with you.

Pre-requisite Knowlege

You might find this content difficult if you are brand new to photography. I do review some critical concepts, but these are designed as reminders. Macro photography is a particular case in photography, but basic photographic principles underpin it. If you don’t know the basics (exposure, depth of field etc.), I suggest you learn them before doing this instructable.

Likewise, if you are brand new to 3d printing, this is not a good first project. However, there are plenty of places to learn the basics. First, start with the manufacturer and their user groups. From there, All3DP is a good jumping-off point for 3D printing and related knowledge.

This instructable has four parts.

You don't need a multi-colour printer

You don’t need to have a multi-colour 3D printer to print these files. You have three choices with the files provided;

1. Single colour: Choose the standard file
2. Two colours: Choose the file with the “SC” suffix. Break apart and assign colour as per your system.

I have labelled the adaptors because they will sometimes be hard to tell apart. You’ll notice that the text quality is poor. Sadly the resolution of FDM printers limits text to a minimum of 5mm height, and I only had 3.5 to a maximum of 5mm of space. However, after testing, I found the text to be still readable, though not always easily (blue on black doesn’t help), so I have gone ahead with it. My apologies for the readability aspect. A better colour contrast will help.

Which adaptor is best?

I’m going to show you three adaptors, but you may not end up using all three. So instead, you will choose the ones that suit you best.

The following items will help when taking Macro photos, they are not essential, but they will make life easier and get better results. You can do without them for now, but as time goes on, you may feel compelled to get them.

• Tripod: Many don’t use a tripod for macro photography. They prefer the portability and speed of hand-holding. However, when your subject is tiny, movements become so large that focus and framing become difficult. In these cases, you will want both the camera and subject fixed to something solid. A tripod is more important in a studio environment.

• Camera remote: Even pushing down on the shutter button can cause movement that will affect your image. Fortunately, you can get a camera remote off eBay for about AUD 5.00.

• Tethering: Tethering refers to connecting your camera to a computer or phone. It allows you to remotely control your camera and see your composition on a monitor. Tethering need not be expensive. Often the software that comes with your camera can do it. If not, software like DigiCamControl is available free. There are also apps for smartphones that do the same thing.
• Lighting: The volume, direction and quality of light that hits your subject affects the image. Knowing the effects of each of these will help you create outstanding results. Flashes, diffusers and reflectors are just some of the tools available. See here for more details.

If you haven’t started to move away from automatic settings, now is a good time. Those automatic settings are designed for the sort of pictures most people take, not macro photography. You can use automatic settings, but you’ll end up with better images if you understand and use manual settings.

Manual mode is unfamiliar to most, but it need not be scary or complex. Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO are relatively easy to understand and appreciate their consequences. However, they all need to be considered as they interact with each other. So take one at a time, one easy step at a time.

Start with the one setting essential for the shot. Then ask which of the other two factors will need adjustment to get a good exposure.

You have to think and plan. Even then, problems will arise, and you will have to solve them. If you accept this and know it will take time, you will slip into a relaxed workflow and enjoy the process.

Set your camera to manual mode now

Aperture.

Aperture refers to an adjustable opening in your lens. The smaller it is, the less light gets through but, the more things are in focus. In macro photography, you generally want the aperture as small as possible so that as much as possible is in focus. However, in macro photography, too small an aperture can create effects that can degrade the image due to optical effects.

Till you are more aware of all the factors, we will set the aperture to F16. (You won't be able to automatically set the aperture with the reverse lens adaptor or lens tubes, I'll cover how to do this in the relevant sections)

Shutter Speed

Why do you have to think about shutter speed?

Shutter speed governs how long light is hitting the sensor. You need a certain amount of light to get a good exposure. The faster the shutter speed, the less light hits the sensor. Conversely, the less light available in the environment, the slower the shutter speed needs to get a good exposure. The problem is that when the shutter speed is too low, the camera’s shaking creates blur. There are alternatives ways of coping with less light, but each has its downside.

How to set shutter speed in the Macro context

When your lens is reversed, or you use a macro tube, you can still use your camera’s controls to set the camera's shutter speed. But, again, your camera should tell you if you are under or overexposed.

If you are hand-holding, don’t go below about 1/60th of a second shutter speed. Set higher if your images look blurry, and focus is not the issue.

If you increase your shutter speed, you will have to increase the iso or the amount of light.

Focus

In macro photography, it’s easier to focus by moving the camera, or the subject, back and forth rather than using the focus rings.

Warning

Because the area in sharp focus is tiny, you will find focusing finicky, particularly if you use your camera’s magnify function to get focus. Even slight movements can move the focus target out of the frame! This situation is where you’ll appreciate the support for your camera or object.

If hand-holding, you may have to take many images before you nail the focus. It's worth persisting.

Check focus carefully before moving on to the next setup. The small screen on your camera will make an image look sharper than it actually is. To overcome this, use the zoom feature on the screen to check focus when reviewing the image.

BTW: In the final lesson of this series, you will build a set of focus rails. These allow you to move the camera backwards and forwards in small amounts.

Flash tends to be the best solution.

Since a flash happens very quickly. 1/400 of a sec at full power and 1/20,000 of a sec at low power) it will stop the blur issue caused by a slow shutter. When using a flash, there are many considerations, but there isn’t time to go into them here. Instead, I’ll give you this link as a first reference, then discuss the method I use for my cheap add-on flash.

1. set the shutter speed to your camera’s ‘sync speed’, usually 200 to 250th of a second. (Refer to your camera manual)
2. Set the flash to ‘manual.’
3. Set the power to 1/32
4. Take an image
5. Review the image
   1. If the image is too dark,
      1. increase the power
      2. move the flash closer
      3. add another flash or reflector.
   2. If it's too dark, do the opposite.
6. Repeat till you're happy with the image.

I find this method remarkably quick and helps develop a ‘feel’ for the amount of light you need.

Technical

• Low iso: Set your iso as low as you can to ensure the maximum image quality

• Shoot raw: This gives you more chance to recover images in post-production

• Mirror lock-up. If you have a mirror, lock it in the up position. The mirror movement can cause a shake.

Aesthetics and Composition

1. Choose a compelling view. Macro photography can reveal a novel perspective. (An ant becomes a monster). You can reveal something striking about a familiar subject. (Leaves can be hairy!). Things that you typically barely notice may turn out to be strikingly beautiful when you choose your view them carefully.
2. Audience. While your primary motivation will probably be your own satisfaction, at some point, it’s worth asking yourself what might engage your audience. What subjects? What would your audience like to see revealed about those objects?
3. Make the subject obvious. Your audience shouldn’t struggle to see what the picture is about.
4. On the other hand, the background is important too. The background should provide context for the subject and lead the viewer’s eye to it rather than compete.
5. Know your subject and tell a story. If the subject is an ant: “What species is it?”, “What are they known for?”, “What is interesting about them?” Use this knowledge when composing your shot. Is there a body part you should feature like massive jaws?
6. Composition and lighting. While I don’t have space here to explain compositional rules, a critical piece of advice to novices is to move the camera or your subject around to get the best perspective and avoid the first thing you see or the easiest. Camera, subject background are all elements at your disposal. Think of all the different perspectives: above, eye level, below, left, right, tilted. Don’t be afraid to try something different. When you become frustrated because things don’t turn out as good as you thought, find resources that help you with composition. The experience you have had will make the principles easier to learn.
7. Keep it simple. More often than not, deleting elements from a composition will improve it. Keep subtracting till there is no more improvement.

Well, that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the introduction

Next lesson

In part #2 you will...

1. Learn about reverse lens adaptors
2. Print your own
3. Take your first macro images

See you then, Peter