Using Your Camera as a Ruler - _TNY_4317
This tiny tiny little spiderling is too young for me to figure out which species it is, but it looks quite cute with the eye size relative to the body being so much bigger. Most likely it is some sort of orb weaver so let's say Araneidae sp. then.
Anyways, this was shot at 5:1 magnification which at first sounds impressive compared to regular 1:1 macro, but also quite abstract - how small is that really?
Did you know that if you know the magnification level a shot was taken at you can actually measure stuff in the photo in Photoshop and calculate length?
Well you can and here's how. Obviously the distance you're measuring has to be somewhat paralell to the focus plane, but let's assume so. Also, you need to know the width of your camera's sensor. For full-frame this is 36 mm.
First user the Ruler tool and place a start and end for what you want to measure.
Then note the length in pixels in the info palette (next to "L:").
Now put that number into this equation: Actual size in mm = (sensor width x measured length in pixels) / (Magnification x width of photo in pixels)
Using this equation, I was able to figure out that the spiderling was just 1.3 mm (0.051") in length.
If you're using a Canon MP-E65mm lens, it is actually possible to extract the exact magnification level from the EXIF of a RAW shot taken with that lens. Would it be interesting if I described how?
Using Your Camera as a Ruler - _TNY_4317
This tiny tiny little spiderling is too young for me to figure out which species it is, but it looks quite cute with the eye size relative to the body being so much bigger. Most likely it is some sort of orb weaver so let's say Araneidae sp. then.
Anyways, this was shot at 5:1 magnification which at first sounds impressive compared to regular 1:1 macro, but also quite abstract - how small is that really?
Did you know that if you know the magnification level a shot was taken at you can actually measure stuff in the photo in Photoshop and calculate length?
Well you can and here's how. Obviously the distance you're measuring has to be somewhat paralell to the focus plane, but let's assume so. Also, you need to know the width of your camera's sensor. For full-frame this is 36 mm.
First user the Ruler tool and place a start and end for what you want to measure.
Then note the length in pixels in the info palette (next to "L:").
Now put that number into this equation: Actual size in mm = (sensor width x measured length in pixels) / (Magnification x width of photo in pixels)
Using this equation, I was able to figure out that the spiderling was just 1.3 mm (0.051") in length.
If you're using a Canon MP-E65mm lens, it is actually possible to extract the exact magnification level from the EXIF of a RAW shot taken with that lens. Would it be interesting if I described how?