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How to Focus Closer When Using Teleconverters

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In a previous post, I explained how you can use an extension tube to focus closer with your lens. Using one of these hollow tubes can help you fill the frame when doing close-up photography of things like flowers or butterflies.

Well, when you’re also using a teleconverter on your lens, it’s important to attach the extension tube in between the teleconverter and the lens (so, the teleconverter should be closest to the camera body). This is a little trick that I just learned from an article by Arthur Morris in the latest issue of Nature Photographer Magazine.

I was interested to find out just how much the order matters, so I did a few tests with my Canon 300mm f/4L (a lens that I love to use for close-up photos) and a 25mm extension tube. Here’s a table that summarizes my results: [Read more…] about How to Focus Closer When Using Teleconverters

9 tips for photographing wildflowers with a point and shoot camera

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Photo by Steve Berardi (shot with a Canon G10 point and shoot camera)
Although wildflowers are best photographed with an SLR camera, it’s still possible to take some pretty good shots with a plain old point and shoot camera. And, sometimes this may be the only camera you have with you at the time, either because you’re backpacking far into the wilderness and want to travel light, or maybe you haven’t made the jump to an SLR just yet.

The biggest problem you’ll run into with the point and shoot camera is the large depth of field you get from the super small sensor. This limits some of your options, but there’s a few ways to get around it, and as always, light also plays a huge role in the success of a photo.

So, here are a few tips for photographing wildflowers when you’re limited to a point and shoot camera: [Read more…] about 9 tips for photographing wildflowers with a point and shoot camera

How to create intimate portraits of nature

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Bigelow's Monkeyflower / Photos by Steve Berardi
Bigelow's Monkeyflower / Photos by Steve Berardi
Which of the two photos above do you like better?

They were both taken of the same flower, with the same camera settings. The only difference between the two shots is the position of the camera.

I’ll take a wild guess that you like the first one more. And, I think this photo is better because it has more of an intimate and friendly feeling to it. [Read more…] about How to create intimate portraits of nature