Capture macro photos of teeny tiny flowers in detail

Just because a flower is small doesn’t mean there isn’t beauty to unlock and share. These yellow flowers, some may call them weeds, are smaller than my pinky fingernail. Macro to the rescue to show what is not visible to the naked eye. Gear For my scouring ditches I take minimal gear to stay nimble. The camera is the OM-1 from OM Systems. Lens is a 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens for maximum detail. Focus bracketing is the order of the day to attain enough depth of field. If the camera isn’t steady deep focus bracketing is not possible. Camera is mounted on the Platypod Ergo ball head and eXtreme base. I also use a 3 Legged Thing universal L-bracket to easily rotate the camera from horizontal to vertical compositions. There are camera specific brackets which are easier to use but more expensive. For light control and wind blocker a Wescott 20 inch scrim/reflector is employed. Focus When macro focusing, try to get a point just in front of where you would like focus to start. If you focus right on the front edge of your subject it will end up just a bit soft. When focus bracketing I suggest you start your focus at the front and have it move away from the camera. See your camera menus for the proper settings Another thing that will mess with your focus is camera movement. I recommend using either a remote trigger or at least adding a two second delay to your shutter. Teeny tiny flower Focus stacking needs to be stacked. You can do this in Adobe Photoshop. If you plan to do its of macro capture or are stacking over 20 images, I recommend getting Helicon Focus from Helicon Soft. It makes short work with better results when you have lots of images. The stack with which I’m working is 129 images. That would choke my computer using Photoshop layers and it is a breeze with Helicon. If you decide after using the trial you can buy a one year license, that is upgradable to a lifetime license with no penalty. Single exposure This was a frame from a a single exposure as I wanted to feature the spikes in the center of the flower allowing the foreground and background to be slightly out of focus. Just because you photographed a stack of images doesn’t mean you need to show them all in focus. This adds possibilities to how you process your photos. Yours in Creative Photography, Bob

May 8, 2025 - 17:01
 0
Capture macro photos of teeny tiny flowers in detail

Just because a flower is small doesn’t mean there isn’t beauty to unlock and share. These yellow flowers, some may call them weeds, are smaller than my pinky fingernail. Macro to the rescue to show what is not visible to the naked eye.

Gear

For my scouring ditches I take minimal gear to stay nimble. The camera is the OM-1 from OM Systems. Lens is a 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens for maximum detail. Focus bracketing is the order of the day to attain enough depth of field. If the camera isn’t steady deep focus bracketing is not possible. Camera is mounted on the Platypod Ergo ball head and eXtreme base. I also use a 3 Legged Thing universal L-bracket to easily rotate the camera from horizontal to vertical compositions. There are camera specific brackets which are easier to use but more expensive. For light control and wind blocker a Wescott 20 inch scrim/reflector is employed.

camera and platypod gear photo
My kit. OM-1 camera with 60mm macro lens mounted on a Platypod Ergo ball head and Platypod eXtreme base. 3 legged Thing L-bracket rounds out the kit.
camera and platypod gear photo
Adding the scrim allows for controlling the light and can help as a breeze-break as well.

Focus

When macro focusing, try to get a point just in front of where you would like focus to start. If you focus right on the front edge of your subject it will end up just a bit soft. When focus bracketing I suggest you start your focus at the front and have it move away from the camera. See your camera menus for the proper settings

Another thing that will mess with your focus is camera movement. I recommend using either a remote trigger or at least adding a two second delay to your shutter.

Teeny tiny flower

Focus stacking needs to be stacked. You can do this in Adobe Photoshop. If you plan to do its of macro capture or are stacking over 20 images, I recommend getting Helicon Focus from Helicon Soft. It makes short work with better results when you have lots of images. The stack with which I’m working is 129 images. That would choke my computer using Photoshop layers and it is a breeze with Helicon. If you decide after using the trial you can buy a one year license, that is upgradable to a lifetime license with no penalty.

macro flower image
My teeny tiny flower after stacking with Helicon Focus and processing with Adobe Photoshop with a quick pass through NIK Collection filters. Note that there is a little softness in the registration of some images. The wind was quite breezy but I liked the effect.

Single exposure

This was a frame from a a single exposure as I wanted to feature the spikes in the center of the flower allowing the foreground and background to be slightly out of focus. Just because you photographed a stack of images doesn’t mean you need to show them all in focus. This adds possibilities to how you process your photos.

Complete frame capture of another flower. I wanted just a small section featuring the interior of the flower and decided to to stack. The image headlining this post is a crop of the flower.

Yours in Creative Photography,

Bob