I don't really know that much about photography, so would enjoy any critiquing of these two Macro shots of some White Rhino. I was too high to take notice of the name of my friends (Fancy pants digital SLR) camera, it may have been set to 18mm focus, but i was too drunk/high to pay proper attention. It might have been cannon. Is there any techniques i could use to get better pictures? should i be focusing on the centre of the buds, or the very tops? (you can see in the first photo that the top of the bud is out of focus) Flash on, or flash off? I'd like to get as many close up trichs in the photo as possible, with the majority of the Bud in the photo in focus. (is that possible?) (This pics are cropped 2560x1600 jpgs to abide by forum rules, the actual photos are like 10x bigger)
To get right up close, try trimming all of the leaves back so you can get in close without anything in the foreground. Trimming of the leaf tips on the buds themselves will expose even more. Great pics already though, and that WR looks the fucking real deal!!
yeah like that. Is it just better lighting? I know without a Macro lense i can't get photos like Weedidas (hes got amazing pics), but your pic above is definitely what I'm aiming for.
Not bad at all Joe! If you want everything in focus, try turning up the f-stop to increase your depth of field. The higher the f-stop number, the more items will be in focus. If you're using a DSLR, this should be easy to adjust via the menu and you should be able to tell what the f-stop number is by looking at the screen or through your eyepiece. Also, if the camera has a macro setting, avoid it unless it allows you to adjust the f-stop higher as most factory macro settings have a low depth of field. If you buy a macro lens (love mine), you'll have to deal with a substantially lesser depth of field as shown by one of my pics below. For now though, I'd suggest raising the f-number and then focus on the furthest part of the plant that you want in focus and adjust from there. Zoom in all the way with your lens and shoot as high of resolution as you can (I see you did that already). And yes, lighting is key, but a lot of good DSLR's will compensate with an adjusted flash intensity. When using the macro lens, a tripod is a must due to the small depth of field. The minute you focus, you're out of focus: