Hi 1x community! First, sorry for my bad English. Two year ago, I decided to buy "Nikon AF Micro Nikkor 105mm" from a friend, for 266 euro. He never used it, and he decided to sell it to me. I want to know what do you think about it?

 

Also I want to say that I am a macro photography fan, I am 18 years soon.. and still trying to improve my skills but it is very hard to learn something new in macro photography. I can't find any tutorial what can help me to get photos like 1x photographers. But I think that, just looking some of your photos I can improve my skills. Also I want to learn how to modify my photos, because I know like 0 about post-processing, I have photos where I need to change something in background (modify dark areas, distracting areas, etc), or to remove objects, where I need to work only on some areas, so I will be very happy if you recommend me what to learn (something good and easier), (pirated or free), but where I have a lot of options :) Thank you in advice! It's a honor to see your work!

You've had the lens for two years. What do you think of it?? I've read nothing but good comments about that lens over the years. I have the older Ai-S manual focus version of the same lens and love it. I see no use for auto-focus in macro photography, so I would never think to buy an auto-focus macro lens.

 

I will probably catch a lot of grief for this but.... The vast majority of "wow factor" macro photography on 1x is heavily manipulated in post. So I would just pick a few and ask the photographers directly how they achieved their look. I don't really submit any macro stuff here because mine is far too pedestrian for 1x.

 

 

I can say that I am very happy with them, in my opinion are good enough to make beautiful macro photos. But also I wanted to know what says the macro photographers about them, if they are using something like this, or they go for better macro lens.

Also thank you a lot for your advice, Clyde, but I think that it is a little "brutal" to go and send them messages: "hey how do you make your macro photos? what lens do you use? what program do you use to modify your photos", I think that it is annoying and impolite, and also some of them probably want to keep secret their techniques. So this is why I want to open a discussion here, it is a free group, everyone can participate to discussions, and who may want to help me will do.

I don't know much if anything about macro, but the way I read your post you're mainly asking for advice in post-processing, right?

 

I'm not sure post-processing in macrophotography is much different than in another genre and I guess people use more or less the same tools, albeit, as Clyde suggest, sometimes pushing the sliders quite a lot! lol

 

I guess you already know but the main pieces of software out there are Adobe's Lightroom and Photoshop. That's not free and I doubt many will encourage piracy openly in a forum like this one...

 

If you're looking for free alternatives, I started a thread some time ago... here it is: http://1x.com/forum/editing/388/1374354935

 

From what you say "remove objects", "work only on some areas" you're probably going to need something with layers and masks and local editing possibilities (clone, dodge/burn... etc) like photoshop or gimp.

 

From the little I know by looking at the macro gallery here at 1X, if that's the look you want to get, you might want to play with:

 

- sharpening

- white balance and saturation for punchy somehow unrealistic colors

 

That's my 2 cents, waiting that someone with more knowledge comes around ;)

 

Cheers,

paco.

Thank you Paco! You are right, probably I will try to go for free softwares like Gimp. I already installed it in the computer, but maybe I need a lot of work to learn it!

Look for tutorials on youtube, probably the most efficient way of learning unless you have someone next to you that can teach you.

Chis you have a few nice photos in your gallery.

 

Anyone can correct what I am adding here. The software generally fall under two categories:

 

Cataloging and some adjustment:

These are similar to Aperture (for Macs only) and Lightroom which is a well known program. How ever there are a few others like DXO Optics, Corel Aftershot.

 

Mostly editing programs:

Photoshop family (Elements, CS6, CC), Corel Paintshop, Perfect Photo Suite, GIMP.

 

You also get other software or add ons to software that help do specific things that software can't do, or does it easier. For macro work you might want to look for "focus stacking" software.

 

A lot of these programs can also be found for free trials. Keep in mind that while "non-destructive" editing is great, keeps your original as is and saves space it does lock you to a specific program as the editing means nothing between different software.

 

I will not support pirated paths. I will rather do nothing with my pictures rather than use something illegal. Actually with time and patience you can achieve most of what you do before clicking the picture. A pair of scissors, a black cardboard box, a piece of thread and you can modify the area for something you want to photograph which can take less time than editing in software.

 

Well, yes of course, you don't start "brutal" but the history here is that most folks are pretty open to sharing "how to" information. Those that don't will probably just ignore you. It never hurts to ask politely imo.

 

Thank you! I agree, this is the best way to learn it. I already started.

 

Thank you for your help, Almulla! You are right. I think that will be much better than editing in software.

 

Thanks Clyde, probably you are right. I will give a try then :)

 

Hi Chris,

 

You have got a top notch lens for sure, i've had this one for two years and I find it very good.

Had a look at your portfolio, your shots are already quite good, ! In my opinion there's no need to post process too much, I agree with A Almulla, it is always better to get a good shot when shooting than trying to correct our mistakes afterwards.

Good luck with your photos, macro needs a lot of patience !

 

Marie-Claude

 

Thank you Marie-Claude! I will keep that in my mind! Now, I am waiting for the spring flowers :))

Hi Cris!

I have that lens and tried to use it for butterflies. If you look at the manual (you can download it from Nikon if you need to) the DoF is extremely narrow no matter what aperture you're using or from what distance you're shooting. I was getting very poor results in that I wanted more of the butterflies in full focus. On the other hand, from looking at your page you are actually taking advantage of narrow DoF. You're doing very good work as is. Just keep shooting. Your talent will tell you what to do next. Oh, and don't worry about your English. It's certainly not your fault that the website operates in a foreign language.

(English has become the predominate second language more or less world wide. As a native English speaker that's good for me, but not so good for everyone else. English is an awful language to learn. It's a mix of the Germanic Anglo-Saxon, Latin from the Roman occupation and French from the Norman occupation. The language is one inconsistency after the other. For example, my name Leigh is pronounced as Lee. What is the "gh" on the end for? Who knows, but it shows up in a lot of English words and is never pronounced.) Just keep shooting. Best regards, Leigh

Hi Leigh! Thank you a lot for your beautiful words. You are right about English, but I really need to learn it. It's very important. And.. I will keep shooting, that's sure! :) Greetings!