In short, I have Nikon P900 camera, which is mostly a point and shoot camera
It has a “macro mode” which lets me focus at smaller objects and zoom a bit more than usual
I just use the regular flash attached to the camera, so the issue is that some pics of bugs end up with really harsh lighting like this
If you look online for “photography for dummies” on shutter speed, apeture, and ISO, you should find some decent guides.
But basically: if you’re using it as a point and shoot, and not manually adjusting those things, the camera is trying to balance the amount of light coming in to estimate a good shot. The shots that are blown out are the camera being all, “huh pretty dark, let’s take in more light to illuminate what’s there”. The later two photos have more objects close to the camera that reflect light back, so the camera’s all “looks good enough! don’t need more light” and tones it down a little.
You’ll want to tweak the manual settings to let in less light (so, faster shutter speed/smaller apeture/always forget which one for ISO but you’ll have to experiment to find what works for you anyways so I’m sure it’s figure-out-able).
Disclaimer: I do photography for funsies, if anyone’s got corrections please feel free.
I seee, I’ll try some things out and let you know, I could have looked up a guide but I thought ppl who already partake in macro photography might know some tricks!
thanks tho :)
I also have a P900, and agree that @cowpokeamericana has identified the problem. The P900 makes this very easy to correct for when you are taking the picture. There is a button on the back that says “OK” and around this what I think of as a “spinner button” which can be pressed in any one of the four cardinal directions and also rotated. In most modes (even the default fully automatic mode) if you press this spinner button to the right, and then rotate it clockwise, and press to the right again, you will darken the intended brightness of the photos you will take. This is called “Exposure Compensation.” Doing so will tend to make the background on your photos very dark, but the bugs you are flashing will be less washed out. Depending on how far you spin this button you can decide how much you darken the overall photo. Exposure Compensation can also be used to brighten the photos, which is very useful when taking pictures of birds against a bright sky. Instead of the sky looking pleasantly hued and the bird looking like a silhouette, you can adjust the exposure so that the sky is washed out but the bird is very clearly visible.
wow im totally stuck
I knew I was missing out on smth, my camera is honestly a relic, guess what
the scroll wheel/spinner button stopped working recently, the right button on the wheel also stopped working, the menu button doesnt work either
but thanks a lot I have somewhat figured out what to do now!!
Another option would be to use a flash “diffuser”, that often helps for close subjects. I’m always using it for “macro” when I don’t forget it.
External flashes often have one included, some kind of pane/shutter that you can flip in front of the flash when needed, letting the light through but also softening the lighting.
Maybe you could find something that fits your flash (on aliexpress, amazon, etc), easy to add or remove when more or less light is needed…
If you do a bit of googling on flash diffusers you can find home made solutions - maybe putting some cloth or plastic in front of the flash can help soften and diffuse the light.
You specifically ask for advice about using the flash, so maybe I’m out of order but… are you sure you actually need a flash at all for these images? Maybe yes, if it’s very dark, but just wondering.
Firstly, you might want to consider shooting in RAW. That way, you’ll have a lot more flexibility with adjusting brightness and exposure in post. All the photos in your post could be edited so that the highlights aren’t too bright and you can see the colours better, etc.
About manual mode: I recommend this for macro anyway, since I find dealing with the settings is a lot less hassle than dealing with the automatic adjustments, especially with flash. Basically, with Flash, you can change either aperture, ISO, or flash brightness as needed (shutter speed is usually fixed with flash photography, so you can ignore that, and with an inbuilt flash, the flash brightness may not be adjustable as well). After a few days you should get a feeling for which combination works when and what to adjust (this is kinda hard to say because this is setup-specific and the combinations I use won’t work for you).
About diffusors: It is VERY easy to make one at home for free, so I cannot recommend one enough. The homemade versions are usually a lot better than the (cheap) commercial ones as well because they are custom to your setup. All you need is a relatively stiff plastic sheet ideally in translucent white or in transparent and you glue a translucent white material to it (paper, fabric, etc.), some opaque material, some tinfoil, scissors, and some tape. If it is something you’re interested in, I can give you more detailed instructions and pictures. The two that I’ve made have followed the Cygnustech design.
I have a decent Idea about daylight macro shots! but those things dont make much difference when using a flash sometimes, I just need to figure out what all I need to consider when using a flash
I usually go out to photograph at night so most of those need flash, in the day I rarely use flash :)
but but but, pls do leave some tips, I often end up taking multiple trial shots and maybe this will help me get bettter!
@deniszp@HappyBird44@s-e I can try to look for one online! are these adjustable in size perhaps? also I have tried holding a piece of paper infront of my flash, not sure if that made a difference (I had no idea what i was doing, some pics were better others not)
thanks!
I will look into this! Im not sure what format my pics are in the camera and im not sure how to tell but when I download its always a jpeg.
I have been using manual mode a whole bunch past 1 year (camera is 6-7 years old I think but I used it for birds mainly at first so yea)
The aperture changing button stopped working, so im left with ISO? theres a number on the screen which goes from 1/2 → 1/4000 not sure if thats shutterspeed or ISO, I shall try to figure out what im looking at soon
pls do send the diffuser instructions, it seems very doable!!
Psssst If you want a really low-tech flash diffuser …you’ve got a pop-up flash, right? Two or three layers of the frosted “invisible” cellophane tape over the flash face works quite well, in my experience. I’ll sometimes get a bit of overhighlighting, but the tape really cuts down on it.
The 1/2 to 1/4000 is the shutter speed. The ISO would be set from the menu, but if that’s not working, I’d try experimenting with the presets (they should be available through the wheel on the top, just behind the lens zoom toggle). I don’t know which ones are available on the 900 (I’ve got a P520, which is even older), but I’ve also had good luck shooting in Sports (or Burst) mode in low light.
A small one can be taped to the camera body. If it’s going to be a dedicated photography torch, you can do the cellotape trick on the torch lens as well.
Yes, a roll of tape is one of the things that I keep in my field kit.
