FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I posted this in another forum but since this is specific to photography I will place it here also.
I have a SLR look-alike Fujifilm S2959 14MP and can't seem to get clear closeup pictures of small objects like two week old Dionaea or three week old Nepenthes. Even with the camera set to high macro and I attempt to shoot pitchers under .75" it's hard to get a good focus because the camera is reading the entire field of view rather than the small object in the cross-hairs. .75" and larger objects will usually become focused and clear if I am within 1 inch or closer. Is there a particular type of lens for magnifying tiny objects that a macro just can't do. The camera is a point and shoot but I have added a 58mm adapter and 72mm expansion adapter that allows for optional lenses and filters. I screwed on a 0.45 wide angle lens that has macro stamped on the tube but it just makes the image smaller so no help there. What lens am I looking for specifically, what is it called? Another problem when shooting under the fluorescent lights is what appears to be too bright light, should I get a filter set to correct this flaring effect? The flare I mentioned isn't a lens anomaly, the lighter flytrap seedlings next to the dark brown coir are washed out or whited out and have no detail. Is that what filters would correct. I added a 58mm adapter with threads to except additional lenses.

I have the same camera. I find that the regular macro setting tends to work a bit better with high lighting (unnatural light) than Super Macro mode.
I'm guessing you know to lightly hold down the shutter button as well to make it focus on the cross hairs. Have you changed your ISO settings? If you lowered them, it would probably help with the over-exposure?

It's set to the red icon "automatic" and I do use the cross-hairs and partial button press to check the focus before executing the picture. I guess I should get a filter set and create a location for shooting away from the bright fluorescent lights. I do take scads of pictures and then go thru them on the computer so the bad ones can be deleted and that works OK. I was just looking for a way to magnify the subjects to capture the minute details like the goo follicles on sundews and tiny pitchers on new Nep seedlings.
Thanks.

Hmm, see I manage with mine to get the very fine little sticky particles in photos - I think it's over-exposure with the florescents. Natural sunlight, I've found, even on dreary days tends to work better than even my MH bulbs lighting.

I'm going to start by saying, I know nothing about your camera.

That said: If you can set your fstop in the range of 11-16 that may help with your depth of field. In fact, if your camera auto adjusts this it may be so high that diffraction takes away from image resolution regardless of how many megapixels your camera can shoot. So if this is something you can adjust so that your 'effective fstop' is the in the 11-16 range, do so. I've found that range to be pretty optimal for macro shooting.

You wouldnt happen to know the closest focusing distance your current lens is rated at would you? If you do, that is tyically the minimum distance from the object to the camera's sensor. If the object is too small after all that you might consider a magnification extension. Keep in mind that as you magnify, you also magnify lens defects and instability in your shot.

Lighting can add different characteristics to your macro shots as well. For instance:
back lighting: can create silhouettes and halos
front lighting: gives everything a flat look, but also lights up everything that's visible.
side lighting: can enhance detail, but also hides stuff behind shadows
bottom/top lighting: deep shadows, overall lacking dimension

That said, if you can diffuse the top light significantly while you are taking your shot, you WILL get a better picture.