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Absolutely wonderful intro to macro .I can say this video is better than some professional macro photographer talking about say intro to macro.I do macro photography.Hope to see some more videos on macro.Best of luck.

Thank you so much for your special video for macrophotography of wild life. I was fully impressed and encouraged by your video series including gimbal review(part1 to 3). I usually use Canon EF 100mm macro or RF 100mm macro lenses with extension tube for taking short video of japanese butterflies, various insects and flowers. Today I have joined to your member. I hope your health and successes in nature photography!

Good one Scott ! I took a lot time to figure out a few of the points in this video. Waiting for the next to shorten the learning curve.

Really helpful video. I just got a macro lens and I’m going out tomorrow morning to give it a try.

I'd never seen the AK unit. Very cool! Thanks

Scott - Great information - Thanks

A very nice addition to my macro kit.......knee pads. Sounds crazy..but if you're doing a lot of macro on some very unforgiving surfaces, you'll thank me later. Nice video Scott.

Enjoyed the video, Scott. I started my photography journey with macro…Nikon D5000 and the Tammy 90mm. Absolutely loved this combo and had more fun with macro back then when I used to run and gun. I don’t do so much of this type of macro anymore; most of my stuff is early morning “natural” setups (I don’t have to chase anything as the bugs are still roosting). Also owned the Tokina for a while - fantastic lens. Great price and I believe sharper than the Brand by a wee smidge (at that point I was with Canon). No need for AF and IS etc. Like you, I jump between macro and birds. Great images Scott. Always been a big fan.

I enjoyed this - glad I got to catch it live. 🙂

I started with macro before becoming a wildlife photographer. I think you did an excellent job for a wildlife photographer wanting to add macro to your game. I too like to shoot both macro and wildlife at eye level, just makes it a little more personal. Also agree that most wildlife photographers won't want to mess with focus stacking when you are mainly out to shoot wildlife. in my opinion stacking is better used when macro is you main intention for that outing. For people that don't want black backgrounds, set camera exposure to just slightly under expose the background and the flash to fill in and freeze the subject. This is just a starting point as it's not that simple but it is a start.

Scott, I was just looking at a Nikon macro and asking myself if I had enough interest to justify the plunge. :) Very helpful to have a video with a focus on practical value.

Hi Scott, thanks for the video. I am a hobbyist bird photographer and when out and about like to take the occasional macro photo, well close closeup. My main camera is the Sony a7iv with the 100-400 GM lens. I have an old Nikon D90 and wondering what your thoughts are with D90 with the lens you use for macro? I also have a Z50 with the two kit lens. Should I use the D90 or the Z50? I have the FTZ adapter so could try both I guess. Or would the little pancake kit lens with the Z50 get me by? The Z50 kit would be lighter I guess. I don’t want to be changing lenses on the a7iv. Thanks again.

Brilliant. I also do both bird and macro in the field. But without flash yet. Too cumbersome for me. I use D500 and 200-500 zoom at 500mm and nikon 85mm macro . Looking forward to your next video ;-)

Scott, thanks for always bringing such great contents in your videos. Question: Would you consider making a future episode on resizing for different purposes? Since you do uploads for various online channels as well as you do prints I'm wondering how your output workflow looks like. I'd like to learn a lot more about this. Thanks Nick

Thank you for this! I recently started dipping my toes into macro and everything I have been seeing is about stacking, which was leaving me pretty dissatisfied with the outcomes. I think I have a flash lying around somewhere I’ll try out next time!

Hi Scott, the diffuser link is not going to the diffuser, is going to the Tokina lens. Great video!

D500 is great for macro, BUT the D850 (if you already have one) has almost the same pixel density so you can choose between a more "environmental" shot and a "portrait" version. I don't understand his point about having a dedicated setup, either. When I go out, it's very purpose driven. If not, I'll be carrying WAY too much gear.

Does the Z9 3d Subject tracking work with insects? F.e. does it stay locked on on flying butterflies?

Hey Scott what is the reason to downsize images as low as 1500 pixels wide. For Flickr I downsize to 3000x2000 and for instagram downsize to 2700 wide. Do you downsize this low for copyright reasons?

That is not a ring flash! A ring flash the light goes all the way round. The flash you showed is a twin macro flash so the photographer has more control over the lighting. Most twin light flashes have left and right independent controls, plus most one can detach the lights to create better lighting for the situation. Thought you might like to know.

One thing that makes me wonder if I even should watch this is the extreme drop off of the light intensity towards the background in the announcement image - this to me points to too strong flash usage because all macro photographers that I personally know do everything in their powers to avoid that black background... There also seems to be a lack of shadows, that too is a hallmark of a suboptimal lighting setup... I just hope we don't get any gems like the "shallow depth of field is linked to the focal length" (which it isn't in any type of photography but especially not true in macro photography - DOF always depends on magnification, towards infinity it's common practice to use the focal length instead but you could use straight magnification there too), or that DOF is 1/3rd before and 2/3rd behind the focal plane (which isn't true at large magnification ratios, up until a magnification of 1:5 it's much more evenly distributed at 1/2 in front of the focal plane and 1/2 behind the focal plane). And because of that DOF distribution you are wasting quite a bit of possible DOF if you use autofocus on for example the eyes of your subject if they are prominent, like in a preying mantis or a dragonfly. In both these cases it is better to focus a bit further into the subject to have as much of the subject covered by the DOF - the autofocus would probably place the focal plane on the closest bit of detail of your subject - thus wasting half of the precious DOF for the air in front of your subject.