ViewBug community member Jacc shares the story and tricks on how he captured this sharp eye iris shot.
How did you capture this macro shot?
I remember this photo was taken at my home, I was shooting with my 105mm nikon lens, The idea was to shoot an object in which I could reflect myself shooting. I wanted this image to be a bit different from the usual reflection pictures. I wanted to reflect my silhouette with a "taking a photo" posture. So I had to consider fast shutter speed to avoid blurriness on the moving eye and a good ISO to capture the Iris without noise. For the silhouette I decided to place a Nikon flash behind me, that was reflecting on a white wall. With the use of the camera flash I was able to trigger the flash behind me. I tried many shutter speeds till I got exactly what I was looking for.
What equipment did you use?
I used a Nikon 300D, 105 mm nikon lens, Manfrotto carbon tripod, SB610 nikon flash. I upgraded last year my equipment into a: Nikon D800 with a 28-300mm lens and a SB 910 flash with a gray Fong Lightsphere. That's the equipment I carry around when I'm traveling.
What inspired you to take this photo?
What inspired me was the beautiful green gray eyes that my wife has, shiny and full of live. I used Capture NX2 and Silver Efex Pro. The first software is to do the basic things (cleaning the image, light, contrast,cropping, etc) and to transform from Raw to JPG, the second software was to convert it into B&W.
Any advice for others trying to capture something similar?
Try to visualize the picture you want to see as a final result and work towards it. I advice to try and shoot, try and shoot till you are satisfied with the result. Learn to know your camera and make use of natural and flash lights.
Check out Jacc's profile to see more macro and portrait shots.
