Canon EOS R6 for Macro Photography

[Kwazy]

Hi all,

I'm a big fan of close-ups and got the R6 primarily for this purpose. I've used the kit 24-105mm f4-7.1 STM lens for a bit before getting the 100mm f2.8L Macro USM, and the latter is the way to go for macro, hands down, so I'll be mostly using that from now on. I'd like to share some of my work, and will be adding to this thread as new notable captures are added to my collection. Hope you enjoy.

I do try to get as close to my subjects as possible, so cropping is usually minimal, mostly just removing the borders after focus stacking (but ok, not aaaalways. The images are resized down to be web-friendly.


Dragonfly - 100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM, 3-shot composite.

• Canon EOS R6
• RF100mm F2.8 L MACRO IS USM
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/5
• 1/2500 sec
• ISO 1000

 

[Kwazy]

 

[Kwazy]

This one was tough. One of the first focus bracketing shots I've taken, and I really like what's going on in the picture, so I'll try to keep it.
A lot of manual mask editing in photoshop here. Neither DPP nor PS were able to stack this one perfectly, and I'm still very new to this.

Any tips and tricks on bracketing and/or mask editing are appreciated!
Edit: Cleaned it up a bit.

• Canon EOS R6
• RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM
• 105.0 mm
• ƒ/9
• 1/200 sec
• ISO 5000

 

[Tim Mayo]

his one was tough. One of the first focus bracketing shots I've taken, and I really like what's going on in the picture, so I'll try to keep it.
A lot of manual mask editing in photoshop here. Neither DPP nor PS were able to stack this one perfectly, and I'm still very new to this.

Great shot Mike. It definitely makes it more interesting to see all the little ants running around. I can't offer much help on bracketing I'm afraid, it's not something I've played around with too much.

 

[Kwazy]

Great shot Mike. It definitely makes it more interesting to see all the little ants running around. I can't offer much help on bracketing I'm afraid, it's not something I've played around with too much.

Thanks Tim! I've got a tiny bit of experience in this now. Involves using a smudge tool to get the "background" over the blurry parts, and mask brushing/erasing. Seems crude and time consuming, but that's the game I guess.

 

[Kwazy]

Bumblebee doing its thing

• Canon EOS R6
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/7.1
• 1/2000 sec
• ISO 1000

Caught a hoverfly hovering for a second. They don't do it as often as their name implies!

• Canon EOS R6
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/200 sec
• ISO 2500

 

[Kwazy]

Another Dragonfly.
4-image composite and lots of manual editing in PS. Getting the hang of it : )

• Canon EOS R6
• RF100mm F2.8 L MACRO IS USM
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/400 sec
• ISO 500

 

[Hali]

This one was tough. One of the first focus bracketing shots I've taken, and I really like what's going on in the picture, so I'll try to keep it.
A lot of manual mask editing in photoshop here. Neither DPP nor PS were able to stack this one perfectly, and I'm still very new to this.

Any tips and tricks on bracketing and/or mask editing are appreciated!
I will edit/update this image if I'm able to fix it up some more.

Hi Kwazy!
The R6 is an awesome camera for macro! I used it almost exclusively for that in Costa Rica. If you like stacking I would recommend you try Helicon Focus software. It is worth the investment and it does a much better job than PS can with focus stacking (it's all it does and it integrates with PS and lighroom).

Overall I really like that shot, (They all are really nice, you have got the hang of it!) I love how it tilts to the left and the activity that is going on inside the leaves it great. My only change is that I would think about doing some cloning out of the leaf on the top, to me it unbalances the image because it pulls the eye out of the frame on the top when everything else curves gently to the left.

 

[Kwazy]

Thanks Hali!

You're right about the leaf. Now that you've pointed it out it looks really out of place to me as well. I'll get rid of it!
I will look into Helicon. In general I'm not very happy with how well PS and DPP stack, it's hit-or-miss. In some cases it's perfect, while in others I get a mess back. This all being new to me, I'm enjoying making the adjustments by hand, and am in the process of a fully-manual stack of a bee picture, as it moved too much during the shooting and the software can't deal with it at all; but it's quite time consuming, and I imagine it'll get old very quickly. Perhaps Helicon can do a better job.

 

[Kwazy]

Manual composite from 8 photos. Stacking software couldn't handle this one.
Edit: added a few more layers.

• Canon EOS R6
• RF100mm F2.8 L MACRO IS USM
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/5
• 1/640 sec
• ISO 8000