A blog on gardening, life by the sea, photography and wildlife

Wednesday 2 April 2014

Macro photos part 2

The problem with macro lenses that have a short focal length (ie shorter that 100mm) is that to get really close to achieve the maximum 1-1 magnification in some instances you end up blocking the light from the subject you are attempting to photograph . I have this problem since my lens is a 40mm 2.8 Micro Nikkor.
One solution is the use of a ring flash or light that surrounds the lens since the standard camera flash is mounted in the wrong place for such shots, or focus back from the subject and post crop the image.
I used an inexpensive LED version of a ring flash for the following pictures of moss and lichen on my brick wall which faces north and is ideal for them. Magnification is close to 1-1 on the pictures

I couldn`t see this tiny 3mm ant on moss with the naked eye until I looked through the macro lens and saw what it was after, young and adult aphids.


first off couldn`t resist this tiny 1cm flower the Common Storksbill
                                                              3 different moss types






Lichen on a brick wall


Morning dew (and aphid) on strawberry leaf

My setup

4 comments:

  1. I have just that problem when taking macros too but I can't find a ring flash in the Panasonic FZ72 accessories. I have tried a dedicated macro lens but to be honest couldn't get the hand of it as my subject appeared in a circle.

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  2. I am not sure what the options are Sue with a zoom lens bridge camera since I have always used prime lenses. The type I use screws into the lens filter thread if you have a threaded end to the lens it should work see my picture, They are for sale on Ebay

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  3. I haven't a clue what you are talking about David - all a bit techno for me - but the pictures are a-maz-ing, especially the one of the ant - excellent.

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  4. sorry Elaine I do try to make the explanation as simple as possible

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