Can You Do Macro Photography with a LED-light?

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[MicaelWidell]

Thanks for watching! Also find me in these places:

[diaryofcreation]

One thing I like do in Macro Video is shoot at a higher frame Rate. 120-240fps and then slow it down. It smooths everything out and brings movements more down to scale, if you know what I mean 😄

[stephenbarlow]

For stills photography, a flash makes handheld macro photography possible, because the burst of the flash is very brief, acting like a virtual high speed shutter. So the synch speed may only be 1/200th of a second, but the burst of the flash may be 1/10000th of a second or faster, making this the effective shutter speed (not the shutter speed set on the camera), if flash is the predominate source of light i.e. full flash photography. To get sharp handheld macro photos with a continuous light source, you are going to need a minimum of 1/1000th of a second shutter speed or likely far faster to get consistently sharp photos, because with a continuous light, it is the shutter speed on the camera which controls the freezing effect, as a continuous light source has no freezing ability as it is continuous throughout the whole exposure. The actual shutter speed needed for consistently sharp photos, will depend on magnification. So to get a fast enough shutter speed, you are going to need either an incredibly bright continuous light, or a very high ISO.

For a portable rest, I would recommend some sort of stick, it can be a garden cane, a walking pole, or a monopod, not used as a monopod, but fully extended. Then grip the pole with your left hand, just below where you want your camera, then rest the end of the lens on your left hand gripping the stick and push rubber bit of the viewfinder onto your eyebrow. This can create incredible stability with practise. The advantage of this approach is you can rapidly adjust the height, by just sliding your hand gripping the stick up or down. Also, you can fine tune the distance for say stacking, by simply tilting the stick backwards or forwards. A monopod used conventionally, isn't very practical for macro photography, due to how awkward it is to adjust the height. Yet with the stick, you can go from eye level, to just above the ground in seconds.

Successful macro photography relies on finding big concentrations of insects, so when you fail in one approach, you can find something else nearby. Unfortunately, insects are rapidly declining, and I'm struggling to find the insect numbers I used to find, which is why I haven't been doing so much macro photography lately.

[davidgatzen]

The LED light is more useful for macro video than macro photography.

I think you can use the LED light for macro photography if you are using a tripod in a studio, and you are shooting a subject that does not move like flowers, because then you can use a low shutter speed.

I think you can shoot an insect using an LED light outside, if you use a tripod, the insect is not moving, and the insect is on a steady object like a rock or a tree. If the insect is on a flower, you may be able to use something like an umbrella, to block the wind, so that the flower does not move too much. It does not take much wind to move a flower or a leaf. In general, I think a flash is better for photographing insects outside.

One advantage of using a LED light for macro photography, is that you have more light for focusing, but a flash's high speed and power is a bigger advantage for shooting moving insects outside.

[guybob]

That first, first person trail walking shots really brought the immersion up for me like i was walking the trail too. With the birds and forest sounds very relaxing! Also I need some of those articulating arms.

[davidchilton]

What would be ideal for you Miceal, is a pair of gaitors. I use them over here all the time (Australia), in the scrub and long grass, incase of snakes. But they are also great for ticks and grass-burrs. Ticks, especially if you spray a bit of repellent around the top. And also, those woolen sleeve things they put on car seatbelts, are cheap, but make a good neck buffer from the camers strap. Cheers.

[rossk]

Ticks are a problem in my area too, and I wondered why they don't transfer infection until they've fed for hours so I looked into it. It turns out the delay is because the bacteria lives in the blood sack and when the tick starts feeding the bacteria begins to migrate to the ticks saliva glands so they can enter the host and that process is what can take many hours.

[IanWilkinson]

Thanks for experimenting with an LED light — I think I'll stick to flash though. By the way @ 03:55 we call these, crane flies :)

[davegibson]

Hi Micael, for video macro I suggest using a gimbal for getting steady vids. Great video, many thanks.

[holdmylenscap]

Hi Micael, great video as usual but you should raise the ISO to 640 instead of 400 as you would get better image quality as that's the second ISO base. I use LED lights for hand held macro shots. One tip: instead of using a battery on the LED use a dummy battery and have a powerbank in your pocket :) Saves a lot of weight on the camera. Also have a look at this LED light: Falcon Eyes RX-8T I find this for macro pretty usable.

[gordonmiles]

I use an "L" bracket rather than the hotshoe. It gets the arm out of your face and doesn't interfere with focusing. It works for me

[ProudNothing]

Thanks for the video!! I was wondering this too, would love to have the continuous light, but I love the way the flash makes them pop. For video the led is a must!

[visceraljourney]

Things that might help a lot for macro videography:

- shooting at a slow framerate - 60 or 120 fps. Reduces the shake and gives you more frames in focus. And human eye is not really used to how insects move, so it will often percieve slowed down video like a real time one.
- using monopod. It takes too much time to set up a tripod and the insect will probably get away. Monopod is much better at this.
- holding your camera with TWO hands is essential, otherwise your just wont be able to minimize the shakeness
- making your camera more heavy, preferably adding a cage, extra handle, external monitor, etc. The heavier your camera, the more stable it is
- dont forget to stab it in post, always adds some extra stability
- just go for lesser magnification
I've been trying to shoot macro video this way, mostly hand held (without monopod, but I will try to incorporate it more in my future shots), you can check the quality of the final video here for example:

[geekinthegarden]

Just found this as I'm gathering the bits to get a macro rig up and running. I'm hoping to get a bit of practice in before spring so that I can have macro B roll in my gardening vids.

Instead of a magic arm, you could have tried a camera top handle on the hot shoe mount putting it out over the lens and inserted the mount for the light into the end of the handle. It would have been more rigid than the magic arm (I find that they keep moving about and unscrewing themselves at the least convenient time).

It struck me that yes, that is a powerful light, but how much of the light generated actually lands on the subject rather than spilling over to the leaves, other flowers, branches, your hand, etc? If only 10% of the light emitted is actually hitting the target area then would having several smaller, less powerful lights all pointing towards the subject result in more light actually hitting it? Three smaller lights could be aimed from the top, left and right sides.

I'm actually just waiting for some Velcro straps to arrive with a cold shoe mount on so that I can strap the light straight onto the lens hood so it is as close as possible. If it works, it will also mean that I just slip the light into and out of the cold shoe.

I should be able to get the flash into it as well and that way half the distance from the flash to the subject which will quadruple to light hitting it. I think that I might be able to have 3 cold shoes on the end - it depends on the weight of the lights, but mine isn't as large as yours and I have 2 light flashguns, so use the panel for a modelling light and then the flash for the photos. I need the hot shoe for the wireless flash controller.



Failing that I might have to look at some 15mm rod solution.

[whosthebrightestmonkeyinth]

Yeah you can. I do with a cheap Neewer adjustable power light that you can put soft gels on!

[charlesmoeller-vunq]

Thank you for sharing Macro is awesome and the subject doesnt sue if they are unhappy.

[HUNrobar]

Great comments here! I'd like to add that it's probably more ideal to find situations where you can photo stack anyways (subject not moving, even for just a few seconds). This way, with a camera having built in focus bracketing like your new olympus + 60mm macro, you can use wider aperture and concentrate on keeping the body as still as possible, no need to bother with moving around for focusing. Also, the smaller sensor means that you can keep magnification relatively low, which helps as well. For shutter speeds I think you need to go much higher in most situations, treat it like wildlife photography and push as high as possible.

It's probably best to avoid super shiny subjects or very dark environments, the rectangular reflection is not so nice and a front diffusion might cut out too much light. Mounting the led to the tripod thread at the bottom should give you better stability, using a bracket or even some arca swiss plates have extra mounting points. Using support helps a lot with video. Higher shutter speed + fps should be pretty helpful for getting clear footage, 1/60 gets pretty blurry if you try to stabilize shaky macro video.. Davinci resolve can stabilize footage quite well, you can also track any adjustments easily to the subject, I highly recommend it. I'll experiment again with led macro, it's definitely possible to make decent video outside, sliders are worth trying too. Sadly my GX80 camera only focus bracket without flash (for real panasonic, why??) but I don't have the 60mm macro :(

[dougsmit]

While the title got my hopes up that you were doing 'photography' the video still really emphasized videography which is necessary for YouTubers but not what I was wanting. I do agree that those articulating arms are not good and hard to use. I get better results from mounting from a 'frame' fashioned from a piece of light weight hardwood which attaches to the bottom of the camera reducing strain on the hotshoe. The idea is to find a rounded branch and cut away the parts that are not needed. My favorite is Crepe Mytrle which won't grow as far north as you are but I'm sure Sweden has wood that works similarly. One thing you really missed covering is whether there was any effect on the behavior of your insects by approaching them with a huge and bright light. Did they move away faster or were they less aware of your presence than when you are a huge shadow when using flash? Your video convinced me that I will continue shooting stills with flash. I believe the short answer here is "No!"

[paulstickley]

The main reason I use flash for insect photography is because of the short flash duration. My flash fires around 1/4000 sec or faster and I setup the camera to expose the subject with mainly light from the flash. Shooting this way means subject movement and hand movement become unimportant because the image is captured so fast. Video is another ball game all together. I do use constant light for static shots and maybe also use a tripod.

[bamsemh]

Of course. The question though is if it will be diffused well enough, and if the object will let you go close enough 😅 I'm still just using flash and diy Pringles tube diffuser 💪