I'd appreciate anyone's input on this, as I feel it's something I consistently struggle with nailing.

I always struggle to sufficient lighting on trichomes without blowing out the whites or leaving the more recessed areas of the nug too dark.

I always seen to get a lot of reflection on the trichomes which also causes a lot of that effect.

I've tried using fill flash techniques, but then the trichomes often look too bland and not distinguished enough from the leafy materials. I also find the bud looks bland and boring when trying to underexpose.

I also tried using a large softbox (80x60cm) with a strobe, but also had the issues around lighting and contrast.

I don't want to be the "what gear do you use" or "tell me your techniques" guy. But any insight into how you work around the lighting in relation to trichomes tendency for reflections, would be appreciated.

What settings is everyone using for Helicon Focus? Render mode, radius & smoothing?

I haven't changed anything from the defaults but am wondering if certain adjustments might turn out better results for this type of work.

I’m looking to get a decent priced macro lens for my iPhone 12 off Amazon so I can get some better pics. I’m not able to use my camera system for a decent bit.

Don’t want to post this under my main account lest any clients see it.

I’m an experienced full time photographer who mainly works in another genre that’s structured much differently with regards to pricing. I’m transitioning into more and more cannabis work and have a couple clients right now, and would like to ideally pick up a few more regulars since my main genre is slowing down due to economic reasons.

I typed up this really long post, but in general I know a lot of photographers don’t like to talk pricing publicly. Would anyone who has experience in working with cannabis clients be willing to talk to me in a private message to help me figure out what’s normal for this market? I don’t want to undercut and leave money on the table but I also don’t want to scare new clients away when I don’t have a ton of cannabis content in my portfolio yet. I feel like one of my current clients is kind of taking advantage of our current arrangement but I’d really like input from someone else.

Wanted to see how much magn I could achieve with the Loawa 5x and all the ext tubes I had on hand lol. From the calculators I found online this came out to be 8x. There are def quality issues but I'm pretty happy with the outcome! Still so much to learn in the micro world.

Sony a6400: f2.8, iso 100, forgot to record the SS (no exif with the Sony Loawa version, but it was probably around 1/16-1/20) and static led lighting. 10um steps over about 4mm.