I wanted to try some macrophotography, my new camera has 2 modes for this, supermacro and regular macro. The super macro allows the camera to focus 1 cm from the front of the lense, standard macro allows you to use the zoom.

Now I have fairly shaky hands, my camera does have anti-shake, but I havent seen how well it works yet.

Do you suppose it would be easier for me to take pictures with a tripod? Theres no bugs or anything for me to take pictures of right now because its winter, but any suggestions for things I can practice with right now??

I wanted to try some macrophotography, my new camera has 2 modes for this, supermacro and regular macro. The super macro allows the camera to focus 1 cm from the front of the lense, standard macro allows you to use the zoom.

Now I have fairly shaky hands, my camera does have anti-shake, but I havent seen how well it works yet.

Do you suppose it would be easier for me to take pictures with a tripod? Theres no bugs or anything for me to take pictures of right now because its winter, but any suggestions for things I can practice with right now??

Small toys, coins, small figurines, and hhhmmm......maybe a boxer nose? :)

I just tried a coin. It took me forever to find the right spot that wouldnt cast a shadow over the coin. http://www.megapixelworld.com/photography/showphoto.php?photo=1836&cat=504 its still pending approval. I probably couldve fiddled with it in photoshop to make it a little brighter/sharper.

I just tried a coin. It took me forever to find the right spot that wouldnt cast a shadow over the coin. http://www.megapixelworld.com/photography/showphoto.php?photo=1836&cat=504 its still pending approval. I probably couldve fiddled with it in photoshop to make it a little brighter/sharper.

What you need is better lighting. Try this thread: http://www.megapixelworld.com/board/showthread.php?t=87

I read through it, looks simple enough. Is the diffuser just canvas in a frame??

I read through it, looks simple enough. Is the diffuser just canvas in a frame??

Actually, I think vellum is a type of paper. I have not built one of these myself(it's on my TO DO list) but there are others on here that have and may be able to give you more detailed suggestions. Looking forward to seeing what you end up taking pictures of!

I tried to find a site i have seen before,but without luck,so i will try to describe what i read there and how a professional photographer take a very good macro photo.
Imagine a little white tent(the same we use for camping,but very tiny and instead of the zip there is a hole)they place the subject into the tent and two lamps,one right and the other left, outside the tent and at the frond place through the hole they put the camera on a tripod.
The white cloth of the tent works like a diffuser and the results are photos without shadows,very clear and sharp like these we see on the magazines.
You could buy the tent online,but it's very easy to create your own little tent using 3-4 white towels

I read through it, looks simple enough. Is the diffuser just canvas in a frame??
As diffuser you could use a white towel,a bake paper,a white painting glass and if you want to play with the colors you can take some colored tissue paper(spell well?) and place them between the subject and the source light
In macrophotography a remote control is very helpful,first avoid the shake of the camera and second you can use you other hand to hold the diffuser so you will not need to frame it. ;)