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How To Make Any Lens a Macro Lens

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Yucca photographed with close-up filterClose-up and macro photography is one of the most popular ways to capture the beauty of nature: whether it’s photographing tiny insects to show their amazing detail or just a simple close-up of a plant (like the Yucca leaves above).

When you think of macro photography, you might think you need a special lens, but there’s actually a few options for turning any lens into a macro lens, saving you money (and space in your backpack!).

First, it’s helpful to understand what makes a macro lens a macro lens. Well, it’s super simple: the macro lens is built to focus extremely close to objects. That’s it. A macro lens is usually at least 50mm too, but the most important part is that it focuses close.

The good news is that there’s two simple ways to make ANY lens focus closer:

  1. Extension tubes
  2. Close-up filters

I’ve already talked about extension tubes a lot here on PhotoNaturalist, and they’re excellent options because they don’t affect image quality at all. [Read more…] about How To Make Any Lens a Macro Lens

5 Essential Tools For Closeup Photography

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Tidy Tips / Photo by Steve Berardi
Photo by Steve Berardi
As nature photographers, we usually have to limit the amount of gear we carry (and that is certainly a good thing).

But, there’s always that list of “essential” items we bring on a hike, so here’s a little peek at what I carry in my bag when I know I’ll be doing some closeup photography:

#1 – Light Diffuser

Since you won’t always have the most ideal lighting conditions, it’s helpful to carry around some tools to help you control the light. A light diffuser will probably be the one you use the most, because they help balance the light on your subject. You can get a light diffuser at a camera store, or make your own out of a wire clothes hanger and a shower curtain. [Read more…] about 5 Essential Tools For Closeup Photography

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

How to get a closer focus with your lens

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800px-extensiontube5733Every lens has a minimum focusing distance: the closest point where the lens can get a sharp focus. Generally, the longer the focal length of the lens, the greater the minimum focusing distance.

Most of the time, this distance isn’t too important: with longer lenses you’ll generally be photographing a distant subject, because you just can’t get close to it.

But, sometimes you can get close to your subject and you’ll want to use a long lens to get that great bokeh (a result of the narrower angle of view). Good examples of this include wildflowers and butterflies. In these cases, to fill the frame with your subject, you’ll usually need to focus closer than that minimum focusing distance.

So, how do you make your lens focus closer? [Read more…] about How to get a closer focus with your lens