When is macro not macro?

I'd been thinking of taking a new direction for my black and white woodland project for some time. A close up direction. Having tried close focusing normal lenses I wasn't getting the kind of pictures I had in mind, so I stuck an extension tube on my 50mm lens the other day and gave that a try. It worked to a degree.

I had a few problems with it not focusing close enough for some ideas I got. I could have messed about with different extensions but it seemed like a good enough excuse for buying a shorter macro lens than the one I have (which I don't use for close up photos very often). At the back of my mind was using the shorter macro as an alternative for the 50mm. Don't ask me why! Anyway, I took the plunge and by Friday I had another new toy to play with.

Some people test lenses by shooting brick walls or test charts and then zooming in on the files to check for edge to edge sharpness. I stick the lens on a camera and go take the sort of pictures I always take. Then check that they are in focus where they should be. Job done. Despite the accepted wisdom these days being that a 60mm macro lens on a 35mm sensor camera is less than optimal, I happen to prefer it to the longer lens. At least for 'creative' pictures. I might not be using it as a true macro, but it gets closer than a standard lens would while still giving a broader view than a longer lens would.

As a non-macro lens it's fine, if slow to focus. It even works for sheepscapes.

My plan today was to leave the zoom lenses behind for my visit to the sheep sale. The 'new' macro went along for the ride to keep the usual selection company. In the end I wished I'd taken one fast zoom and the 20mm as I kept finding myself lacking reach or framing too tight. The light was as awful as ever with warm foregrounds and cool backgrounds, vice versa or worse!

I got one or two different pictures for my troubles but didn't manage to nail anything that stood out.

The pregnancy scanning was tricky to photograph well. A combination of the light and my restricted position accounted for my poor effort below.

It being a sale of traditional (Lonks and Gritstones) and rare breeds (Hebridean and Whitefaced Woodlands) I intended to photograph the traditional breeds mostly, but in the end I came away with more pictures of the Woodlands. The seem a more placid breed, and are very photogenic.

I'm not one of those people who waxes lyrical about the way certain lenses 'render' images, but there is something about the 28mm f1.8 Nikon I have which strikes a balance between sharpness, depth of field and the quality of the out of focus areas which appeals to me. Maybe it's just the focal length which does this, or maybe not. I do like the lens though. And it's a lightweight.

Capturing action in the sale ring is always difficult for me. Aside from the timing and focusing, getting a decent vantage point tends to beat me. I was using the flip down screen again, and again finding it frustrating. I think I have two choices. Abandon it for anything moving, or try a different system. Given that the latter option costs money, lot of money, I reckon I'll be taking the other choice. Maybe I should invest in some knee pads? Or a folding stool?

Sale ring inaction is much easier to deal with.

The over-long and repetitive gallery tells a slightly better tale of the sale. It's a bit of a mishmash with not much in the way of standalone images. That's the story of my photographic life!

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Up close

Having bought a macro lens specifically for photographing dragonflies then losing interest in that when I'd got the hang of it I reckon it's time to get shut of the thing. At 150mm I find it a bit too long for occasional close ups for my website, so something to replace it would be required. This morning I messed about with combinations of extension tubes and a teleconverter with my fast 85mm lens shooting stuff in my pond. That lens was chosen because it has a f1.8 aperture so using tubes and a converter won't lose too much light (mainly for focussing), and also because it's sharp with smooth out of focus areas.

I reckon it should do all I need it to do with the results only being for web use. And if I get the urge to photograph any small critters up close it should suffice for that too - if I use all my stalking skills. With no replacement macro lens required I can look think about a 28mm lens. Using the 14mm on the G2 has got me seeing in that field of view.

100% after processing (inc. some sharpening) - it'll do for me.

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Call me cheap

For a change I stuck my two cheapest zooms (both bought used for comparative peanuts) on a couple of bodies and went to see what I could find at the beach yesterday. Almost as soon as I arrived, to find the beach closed to cars, it began to rain. So I didn't stop long. What I tried to do was make a picture that showed the beach as deserted. I failed. Not easy making something empty look interestingly so.

There were a few other detail shots, details really, that which worked a little better. One experiment was to try the macro setting on one of the lenses. Previous attempts had lead me to think it wasn't so good but with some thought it seems to be reasonable. A trite shot of rust and paint looked pretty detailed on the computer screen at pixel-peeping level.

This gave me the impetus to try the lens out under more controlled conditions to see if it would serve for doing product shots for my website. If it did it would save me buying a short focal length macro lens as my long macro lens is a bit awkward to use for this work. Camera on tripod, ISO low, aperture stopped down and hey presto. Close enough for rock and roll!

Zooming in to 100% and it looks too good - showing up dust and flaws! More than adequate for my purposes. My bad impression of the lens before must have been due to operator error. No surprise there.

This little experiment also made me think that using available light might be a better plan than the messing around with flashguns I've been trying. Pick an overcast day and lock the camera down so shutter speed isn't an issue and I should be okay. With my improved processing skills cutting out the background, when required, is a lot easier than it used to be. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

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Never work with children or animals

When I offered to photograph some friends' snakes I thought they would be obliging subjects. Turns out that they are either camera shy, or (with the sun on their backs) escapologists. They also slither on the ground - requiring the photographer to do likewise. This is not good news for an ageing bloke with dodgy knees, hip, and back.

Despite the problems I'd quite like another crack at the snakes. They have interesting skins and make nice shapes. Consideration would have to be made as to background, and a raised working surface would help my old bones!

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Simple macro set up

One of the blogs I follow is strobist.com. Although I'm not into the sort of photography it is about it is thought provoking at times. Today's post made me think that the same simple improvisation might work for macro photography. So I gave it a try.

Luckily my 'wildflower meadow' is blooming and, depsite the rain, attracting insects - as well as frogs and voles. In a break in the rain I went bug hunting. The cool, damp conditions meant that what flies that were around were easily approachable. Unfortunately I forgot that the ISO performance of the D90 isn't what I've got used to, so there was more noise, and less detail, than I could have got. But it was only a testing session. Both the pictures below are cropped a bit.

In really close on a shiny fly the flash overdid things beyond the point of recovery on the computer. As a first try it worked well. I think that using one flash strapped to the lens hood, and another on a bracket, varying the output of each might work well. It might be a bit unwieldy though!

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First impressions

The new toy

Having taken the plunge yesterday, and spending some time familiarising myself with the controls, I had my first chance to try my new toy out this afternoon. That's it on the right, a Fuji X10.

Is it the future? Not yet it ain't. For what it is, a souped-up compact it's really good. As a functional camera it relies too much on menus for my liking, although I'm sure that with familiarity I'll get it set to a way that suits me. The viewfinder will take some getting used to. At least with it only giving a partial view of what appears on screen parallax isn't too much of a problem, and with 12mp to play with images can be cropped back without too much loss of image size.

Macro setting

There are some features I really like. The macro capability is great, and I can see it providing me with some interesting images when I get to grips with it. The small sensor's depth of field lends itself to close-up shooting.

I also like the size of the camera. It's unobtrusive in the extreme. It's also very quiet, and can be switched to a silent mode.

My first digital camera, all 1.3mp of it's sensor, was a Fuji as was my second. When I bought my third, a canon S3IS, I wasn't as keen on the colours it produced. The X10 makes as lovely pictures as my previous Fujis did. So that's nice.

All in all I find it hard to fault the files, JPEGs at this stage, that I've got. Had I gone straight from the S3IS to the X10 I would have been overjoyed and thought I'd reached Nirvana. But having got used to full frame Nikon files I have become spoiled. These are nice, but there is something about full frame that gives a different look to the pictures. It's hard to define, but it's definitely there.

However, this camera isn't a DSLR. It's a different tool for a different job. It's for taking fishing when I need to cut down on gear, and for taking round town, and anywhere else I go, where a DSLR draws attention to you. It'll get used a fair bit.

I do miss framing through a viewfinder, although it was better than squinting at the screen this afternoon in the bright sunshine when the screen was hard to see clearly. Nor do I like the arm's length hold when framing with the screen, but it has the advantage of making you look like a happy snapper.

It was fun wandering around for an hour or so seeing what the camera can do. It can do a lot.

A square crop seemed to suit this shot

I'm not sure about the native 4:3 aspect ratio in general, but it worked for this shot. Lovely blues and yellow.

A shot 'from the hip'

This current trend towards smaller sensors is not the way forward for me. They are good, and getting better, but they are being driven by a fad for making cameras as small as possible in order to compete with the ever improving phone-cameras. The technology must surely be available to put a large sensor in a small body with an integral viewfinder and simple analog controls.

No doubt I'll have more adventures from compact camera land anon.

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New toy and pond progress

I got to really like the Sigma 70-300, at first for close up stuff and then finding it useful for wandering round with. As value for money it is hard to fault, but once the macro lens was purchased it's limitations in that department were shown up, and it's 'agricultural' operation grated compared to my Nikon zoom - the lack of stabilisation was also a problem for Mr Wobbly-Hands. So I bit the bullet and got myself the Nikon version. It's great! Not had the weather or the time to put it to much use, but my resident robin posed the other morning.

Slight crop

A rainy Sunday saw me scratching my head for subjects, until it went dark and I took a couple of snails into the garage for a studio shoot. Using the macro lens, flash bracket and flash with a Lumiquest Mini Softbox I got some reasonable results. A better 'set' than a big rotting log is required!

Today was supposed to be fine, but it was showery. I just managed to gather some clay to provide a substrate to plant water plants in the pond in a dry spell. When the rain drifted away I added the clay to the pond and pressed some plant roots into it to add to the few I had planted in upturned turf sods. Once they all take hold it will start to look a bit more naturalised and the greenery will cover the exposed pond liner.

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The nights are drawing in

As the days shorten dusk comes earlier, so it's time to get in the garage again. My first attempts in the 'studio' gave me food for thought.With a little improvisation I have improved on the set-up somewhat. Still a way to go, but the basic idea is sorted.

By juggling the off and on camera flash levels, and the position of the flash on the tripod I got somewhere towards decent results in as far as softening the shadows went. being able to review each shot immediately makes it really simple to make changes. Digital is brilliant!

It's surprising how quickly snails move, so the ability to rotate the 'set' was handy, as was having the camera free from a tripod and flash cables. A bit of wood dumped on some gravel wasn't the most convincing 'set', but at least with things as small as slugs and snails it shouldn't be too difficult to improve on that. It would be fine for woodlice and other bugs though. One thing's for certain. Working with the subjects on a raised platform is much easier than trying to photograph then at ground level!

I think a better solution to the lighting would be two off-camera, diffused strobes triggered wirelessly with no flash from the camera itself. Although I am quite happy with what I've managed so far.

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Before the rain arrives

With the pond resting I made the most of another sunny Sunday afternoon for a wander with the camera in a couple of the usual haunts. The local nature reserve was quiet and, like everywhere, turning autumnal. I was too lazy to put the flash bracket on the macro lens so tried shooting pond skaters in the dipping pond without it. depth of field was a problem given the way I was forced to shoot - lying on the board walk trying hard to keep the camera out of the water! I couldn't quite get close enough without overbalancing, so a half frame crop.

Leaving the pit I headed into open country, where a sheltered track between a hedge and a pine coppice (edged with willow and oak) proved to be the favoured spot for a number of green veined whites and speckled woods. Trying to photograph the speckled woods as they worked their way down among the grass was futile without the flash. Too late I attached the flash bracket. This brought better results on some flies feasting on one of the last of the umbellifers.

My last efforts were of a green veined white that remained in situ for longer than they usually do. Had it not been for a blade of grass between me and the butterfly this would have been a better shot. Still one of my better butterfly pics though.

With one more day of dryness predicted I'll make the most of it with the camera before knuckling down to some real world work.

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Pond blog : 6

I managed to get the pond dried out a bit more this morning in the hot sun. Pity the days are getting shorter and the sun isn't on the pond for so long now. After my evening meal I hope I managed to get the edge level. It doesn't look much different in the photo below to how it did last time. Now I have to decide if I line the hole with sand or carpet. Another day of drying won't go amiss.

Vimto is a great wasp attractant. The dregs in a glass gave me the opportunity to trap a couple of the stripy insects and cool them down for another macro attempt. I need more practice with the manual focusing with all three extension tubes attached. The bounce card worked well on the flash though.

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The Lair of the Slug

Summer is drawing to its inevitable close. Cool nights and sunny days that don't warm until late morning. I took the chance to visit the dragonfly pond where common darters were copulating and ovipositing in profusion. Brown hawkers were in evidence, one also egg laying, and another brighter hawker came to inspect me. I tried for some flight shots but it was too close at times. I did manage to identify it as a southern hawker from one of the blurry photos.

Although I failed to manage any pics of mating darters I did get one of two in tandem laying eggs in the margins. Taken with natural light I was quite please with this effort.

I snuck up on a resting darter too. I thought I'd try some super macro with my new extension tubes, but by the time I'd got everything set up it had flown away. So I left the flash attached after removing the tubes and wandered off, snapping a first attempt at a crane fly on my way to the hidden pond.

I was too clumsy in my approach to the hidden pond and disturbed three ovipositing brown hawkers, which was a shame. There wasn't much else in evidence, the clouds had put the dragonflies down at the dragonfly pond too. Off to the duck pond next. On arrival I saw the unmistakeable azure streak of a kingfisher. The bird didn't reappear, but this might be a place worth an early morning visit to try and catch it with the camera before too many dog walkers get out and about.

I took a last fruitless look at the dragonfly pond before heading for the litter pit and surrounding ponds. The sun was still in hiding and not much was seen, and nothing photographed, at the litter pit. The newt ponds had to be worth a look.

As I locked the car up I heard the mew of a buzzard, eventually catching a glimpse of it as it wheeled awy to the south. The sun had come out again and two dragonflies hawked over a clearing in some scrubby trees. Too far off for a photograph, they wouldn't come any closer.

The flowers there are all but gone by the ponds, and only a few white butterflies were around, although a hawker (southern or migrant, it was hard to tell) buzzed me. Something barked hoarsely in the thicket. I knew it was a deer and turned my flashgun off. There was a rustle and at least three deer ran slowly through the thicket. I still had the camera set to back button focus (but forgot I had) and fluffed any chance I might have had of a photo. Knowing where the deer would have headed I removed the flash bracket and reset the shutter release. It was no surprise to fail to find the deer. They'd melted away. Aside from the hawker the only other odonates were a couple of emerald damsels.

The wood was the next place to check out. Walking down the side of the wood I noticed something black on the track. It could have been some dung but it looked to have legs. I guess it was a newt that had got squashed. There is a pond by the side of the path, it may well have come from there.

I photographed some insects on the last of the umbellifers, tried for some autumnal shots of sloes and failed, then went into the wood. Deer tracks were evident, but it was cool and quiet, save for some briefly raucous jackdaws. Time for tea. Passing a thistle head I made an effort and something arty-farty. I'm not too sure I pulled it off.

During this outing I mused on how I could photograph slugs and snails. Nocturnally active molluscs that are difficult to focus on with no light. It struck me that as they aren't likely to run away I could take them indoors. In to the garage at least. By the time I had finished my evening meal I'd forgotten all about this. When I was thinking of bed I had a wander round the garden and saw a big brown slug. I got the camera ready, setting it up to use the in-camera flash to trigger the flashgun remotely. I attached the flashgun to a table-tripod I have and added my bounce card to soften the light. The next job was to build the set and add the cast of one.

The stage was easy. One of the turfs cut from the pond would do, which I placed on a plastic lid to keep the soil off my workbench. The slug was plucked from the lawn with a gloved hand and deposited on the sod. All I had to do was wait for it to unfurl and I'd be in business.

Lights. Camera. Action!

What I should have done was clip the grass. The star was reluctant and managed to hide behind the short green blades. A pair of scissors did the trick.

Next time I'll make a better job of things, but it was a fun start. One thing I will do is get a cake-maker's turntable to put the turf on. Ol' Sluggy had a habit of turning away from the lens. Playing around with the lighting will also be done. Either with another flash gun, different diffusion, or some small studio lights.

Speedy the Slug

There's more scope for this table-top studio work. Snails and woodlice come to mind as potential subjects that can be photographed inside on easily made convincing sets.

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New toys

Having got the hang of my new macro lens I've added a set of extension tubes which have put me back to stage one again! The increased magnification makes keeping the camera steady even more critical to ensure the correct plane is in focus.

I caught a wasp and put it in the fridge to slow it down. Unfortunately it warmed up and flew away before I could get enough practice in. Still, it was a start.

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Sunny afternoon clichés

Two for the price of one

Making hay while the sun shines

Right on track

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