Woodland Macro — Sony a7RIII

90mm Macro · floral & fungal · Mangerton Park · 10am–12pm · RAW

Metering modes

General

Multi — ETTR +0.3 to +0.7 EV. Overcast is low-contrast, one reading nails it.

Pale / white

Highlight or Multi −0.3 to −0.7 EV — protect bright petals & gills.

Busy bg

Spot (Std) on the subject — ignore background clutter.

Backlit

Spot on the glow — let surroundings fall dark.

Default

Multi + live histogram + Zebra carries ~80% of shots.

Aperture

f/8–f/11 single frame. Past f/11 diffraction softens the 42MP sensor.

Focus

Manual + Peaking + Focus Magnifier. AF hunts at macro — place the plane on gills/stamen.

Shutter

1/200 s or faster on anything the wind can move. Shoot the lulls.

ISO

Start 100; let it float to 1600–3200 (clean). Sharp beats low-ISO blur.

File / WB

RAW, Auto WB — warm it later, overcast colour edits beautifully.

Drive

Continuous burst — one frame lands in a still moment.

Raise shutter + shoot bursts; wait for lulls between gusts.

Use your body or bag as a windblock on the upwind side.

Clamp / plamp / tent peg to steady a stem or hold a distracting frond aside.

Fungi are low & sheltered — calmer subjects, higher keeper rate than tall flowers.

Focus stacking: a7RIII has no built-in bracketing — do it only on a truly still, sheltered subject. Default to single-frame f/8–f/11 today.

Tilting rear screen — shoot low fungi without lying in wet litter.

Kneeling pad / groundsheet + rain cover & microfibre (shower risk, canopy mist).

Small LED / headlamp — lift shadowed gills & undersides beneath logs.

Reflector / white card — bounce fill into shaded flowers.

SteadyShot on for handheld; tripod only for still-subject stacks.

Under canopy in the darker gullies, watch your shutter isn't dropping too low — that's where wind blur creeps back in.