My First DSLR - Canon 600D

[khurram_aziz]

Target: the background should be adequately exposed
Scene: just one side lamp far away and TV light

Nothing could be worse

Kept slightly longer exposure with second curtain flash synch; took few photos as due to slightly longer exposure was getting blurry subject; he was playing game and was not bothering to "hold" :-# We can try Continuous Shooting that I didnt tried it as my subject was busy playing game and I knew he is not going anywhere!

1/4 (ISO 400) | 1/4 (ISO 1600)

• With higher ISO the flash light spreads more. Using second curtain synch and slightly longer exposures; the two flash blinks are noticeable. I used the Hyper-fast Blinkers tip (Refer to Index).
• Thanks to IS feature of kit lens for 1/4 without tripod.

Bouncing the flash; grabbed a magazine. The walls and curtains were pink; shade is evident. It improved the situation and allowed me to increase the shutter speed

1/30 (ISO: 1600) | 1/50 (ISO: 1600)

Bounce was working; grabbed an A4 sheet placed it at an angle for partial bounce and acting as diffuser and it further improved the things

1/50 (ISO: 1600)

• Using the diffuser and bounce the light is spreading more allowing us to increase shutter speed or decrease ISO; we can now experiment to get the required balance

All the these JPEGs are without any editing / post-processing

[enerlevel]

Since u r doing lots of research on flash photography so i have a question.

What settings or technique should be used if u want the background to be adequately exposed alongwith subject with pop-up flash only??

Right now i am using ISO1600 with F3-5.6 and 1/30-1/60sec. But still the background is not exposed enough which is usual for a flash shot.

there are various tings you could try to do on the "manual mode".
first , i would try to do settings without the flash... set yourself to 6400 iso and F3 (wide) , then try to fall down to 1/10sec. this will help in more light and you will not require the the flash.
if you still think you want more light and have to use flash, then there is a defuser for built in flash, you can use tht and play with the flash compensation inside your camera... usually i go for -1 if objects are too near, this helps me adjust the skin tones. for far objects , i use 0 or +1 .... try it and report bak...

[khurram_aziz]

I dont think "flash is bad"; its another tool built right into the camera and one should use it where needed.

The only issue with the built-in flash; other than its smaller size is I guess there is no way to manually control the power of built-in flash keeping ISOs lower and it continue to work in ETTL mode...diffuser (even an A4 sheet) helps as indirectly it increases the flash power; spread it more and soften it as well allowing to play with FEC...

[enerlevel]

I dont think "flash is bad"; its another tool built right into the camera and one should use it where needed.

The only issue with the built-in flash; other than its smaller size is I guess there is no way to manually control the power of built-in flash keeping ISOs lower and it continue to work in ETTL mode...diffuser (even an A4 sheet) helps as indirectly it increases the flash power; spread it more and soften it as well allowing to play with FEC...

actually there is .... u can control the built in flash with the flash compensation function

[khurram_aziz]

Outdoor | Outdoor /w Flash

[khurram_aziz]

After taking snaps of friends and family; the next thing I guess every enthusiast try is "Macro Photography"; probably because its the cheapest thing to try and there exist tricks that one can try it for free!

Take a look at https://www.pakwheels.com/forums/photography/176394-how-do-macro-photography-tips-etc thread! The first obvious thing to try was Reversing the Lens as suggested in the linked thread. Earlier I didnt bought the Lens Filters and was hesitant inserting my "naked lenses". Digged my older SLR and used its Zuiko 50mm; its front diameter was narrower and pushed perfectly into the camera body!

Zuiko 50mm/f1.4 by khurramaziz, on Flickr

Reversing the Lens by khurramaziz, on Flickr

[khurram_aziz]

The lens' blades were not opening for higher f-Number; figured out that I have to press its two buttons; doing so give much better depth of field!

Blades of Zuiko 50mm by khurramaziz, on Flickr

Reversing the Lens by khurramaziz, on Flickr

[khurram_aziz]

Its hard to manage the lens and camera; check the above linked thread; @aesiege posted pictures of the tip how you can free your one hand...(Y)

With this "Reversing the lens"; I guess its waste of time going after insects etc...so for second go I sticked to indoor static subjects and results were better

Macro by khurramaziz, on Flickr

Macro by khurramaziz, on Flickr

[khurram_aziz]

Macro Photography gives whole new meaning to the useless things :-# Found an old bill!

1Re Bill by khurramaziz, on Flickr

[khurram_aziz]

The good old manual lens was sweet; these old lenses have aperture ring that one can set and open the lens blades accordingly and being of smaller size are much easier to handle!

[khurram_aziz]

//youtu.be/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSi6pS4VFSE

Macro Lens, Tripod, Cable Release and Macro Flash...This is too much
Before going after Macro Lens etc there are some "other things" to look into...

[khurram_aziz]

From Wikipedia

A teleconverter (sometimes called tele extender) is a secondary lens which is mounted between the camera and a photographic lens. Its job is to enlarge the central part of an image obtained by the objective lens. For example, a 2× teleconverter for a 35 mm camera enlarges the central 12×18 mm part of an image to the size of 24×36 mm in the standard 35 mm film format. Teleconverters are typically made in 1.4×, 1.7×, 2× and 3× models, of which 1.4× and 2× are most common. The use of a 2× teleconverter gives the effect of using a lens with twice the focal length. It also decreases the intensity of the light reaching the film by a factor of 4 (an equivalent of doubling the focal ratio) as well as the resolution (by a factor of 2).

Teleconverters are installed in between the camera body and the lens...

//youtu.be/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZpgXkEXYlU

Interesting; but I guess not so useful; as the lens still is not going to focus on near objects...

[khurram_aziz]

There are different type of teleconverters that are mounted on the front of the lens; similar to the lens filter...

A teleside converter is a secondary lens which is mounted on the front of a photographic lens to increase the effective focal length of the lens they are attached to. They are used on cameras and video cameras with non–interchangeable lenses to increase the magnification of the image.

Canon offering is called "Close-up" Lens, and its not just for Canon lenses; it comes in standard sizes and can be mounted on other brand lenses.

//youtu.be/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7rrEQxjHmA
.
//youtu.be/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LFiMKiOMgc

This is recommended for lenses having 70mm-300mm focal lenghts. The "D" series incorporates double-element achromatic design for maximum optical performance. 500D meaning it can make the lens focus on objects at 500mm distance. We need 500D with 67mm diameter (the diameter of my 18-135mm kit lens) but apparently it doesnt come in 67mm; the closest is 500D /w 72mm thats for about 288$ on Amazon and for that I will need a "step-up" adapter that will be attached first to the lens and then this close-up filter. Not sounding good...

[khurram_aziz]

From wikipedia

An extension tube is an accessory for cameras with interchangeable lenses, used primarily for macro photography. The tube contains no optical elements; its sole purpose is to move the lens farther from the image plane. The farther away the lens is, the closer the focus, the greater the magnification, and also the greater the loss of light (requiring a longer exposure time). Lenses classically focus closer than infinity by moving all optical elements farther from the film or sensor; an extension tube simply imposes this movement

//youtu.be/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNeTFbJ9YVw

There are expensive Extension Tubes with all the required electrical and mechanical things to provide auto-focus, TTL and aperture control etc. Kenko is considered good and its Canon kit (3 extensions) is 160$. Canon also offers EF 25-II (139$) and EF 12-II (88$) extension tubes.

[khurram_aziz]

So what to get? Whatever is available

• I checked with Global Photos (Canon Reseller) and Billu Photos and just Reverse Lens Ring (so you dont have to hold with hand) and Macro Lenses (and these are not cheap) available. The guy @ Billu Photos informed that new shipment is coming "soon" and there might be extension tubes in this shipment...lets see!
• There are lot of third party teleconverters and extension tubes available on sites like eBay and Amazon. I tried reaching couple of sellers on these sites, but so far no success...some are not agreed to ship to Pakistan and some are not agreed to receive payment other than PayPal :S:-!(A)

Seeing no luck; I decided to seek my brother's help and yesterday we ordered third party Teleside Converter, Raynox DCR-250 from Amazon for 44 pounds (6k+). It will be shipped to him in UK and he will bring it along on coming up Eid.

//youtu.be/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y52lkj74LBg

@aesiege has it and one can see his threads how it performs. It works with 52mm to 67mm filter sizes; so should work fine with my 18-135mm kit lens. Sir jee...start this Macro / Teleside Converter's seperate thread posting how it works and results etc

[enerlevel]

i think you should just have gotten the macro lens..... look at the video, the guy can hardly hold the camera still... how will get take pics? not to mention, the IQ will dramatically fall with such type of mods.

[khurram_aziz]

i think you should just have gotten the macro lens..... look at the video, the guy can hardly hold the camera still... how will get take pics? not to mention, the IQ will dramatically fall with such type of mods.

Macro lenses are not cheap
The IS comes only in "L" and its way out of budget, lets see...shouq kahan tuk kaeem rehta hey!

[enerlevel]

hey look wat i found for u ......

Canon 50mm Macro

get this lens and its going to act like your 50mm plus macro...... search on ebay and then ur bro can buy it..... i found one as low as 125£

[khurram_aziz]

Yes; I have my eyes on this...Its available @ Chamberlain Road. When I saw images taken from it on Flickr the first thought was...I should had gone for this 50mm instead of 50mm/f1.8.

Many use Macro Lenses for Portraits and even prefer it as macro lenses give better contrasts i guess?

[enerlevel]

well the problem with me is that without IS i cant seem to take sharp images.... hence i went for 17-55 f2.8 which is usable in the night as well as the day.... but now one problem i have is changing from crop to full frame as this lens does not support full frame....

i seriously think u should stop spending so much money bro..... i mean look from where your budget started and now where u are...... if u really want to spend, then spend on the lens.. which is the main eye of your camera... as i think its high time to upgrade from kit lens...