Getting Closer

Macro photography

I’m quite sure I’ve mentioned this before and in the future I plan to make quite a detailed post about it, but if you’ve never tried macro photography, you really should.

And it’s not as if it’s an expensive proposition. I recently had to value my equipment for my insurance company and my Kenko extension tubes – the little gadgets that make all my macro shots possible – didn’t even make the list. They just got lumped in with the sub-£100 items. They are, without doubt, the best value addition to my photography gear. I spent more on my polarizing filter I hardly ever use!

So if you’re just getting into photography and are wondering what to buy next – a new zoom, a fast prime, a flash… consider getting yourself a set of extension tubes. It will change the way you take photographs.

Goodbye, Computer

I lit this with the flash behind the heat sink.

Last weekend I upgraded my computer. It was five years old and still going strong, but when I heard my brother was upgrading his machine I offered him £150 for his old parts because they were better than what I had.

Water droplets

Some more macro photography shots. Still getting all the tried and tested ideas out of my system. I was inspired by h2obyjoanna’s drop on a cd post to give water droplets on the surface of a CD/DVD a go so here are the picks of my attempt. I’ve increased the resolution a bit as well so they might take a fraction longer to load but they’ll show better as a result.

Flowers for St. Valentine’s Day: Behind the Scenes!

Time for your close-up...

I mentioned in another post that I was a bit slow not to include a picture of the set up I used to get my first macro shots – so here are a couple. After doing a few more shoots I would say a light stand is borderline essential for this kind of thing because hand holding the flash would get really tiresome really quickly.

As you can see I’m using ‘cheap’ gear – that’s a battery gripped 500D, a 430EX II flash and a 50mm f/1.8 II. But just because you’re using budget equipment doesn’t mean you get cheap results – examples below… 

Flowers for St. Valentine’s Day

Don’t say I never get you anything…

A few more macro shots from the weekend…

Just a few more pics from the weekend. There are only a handful but I was quite pleased with my return considering it was my first attempt.

More details about the setup:

• Canon 500D
• 50mm f/1.8
• 430EX II flash
• ETTL off-camera flash cord
• Light stand with tilting flash bracket
• Manfrotto tripod with ball head
• Rosco flash gels (strobist collection)

Probably the most important piece of equipment aside from the camera/lens is the tripod. If you don’t yet own a tripod,

Macro Photography: First attempt with Kenko Extension Tubes

My new iPhone wallpaper.

I took delivery on some Kenko tubes this morning and I was really excited to try them out. I love looking at macro shots, and I also like to add some abstraction to my own photographs so it’s surprising I’ve waited this long to get some dedicated macro gear. I did think about a dedicated macro lens, but the Kenko tubes have such good reviews I didn’t really see the point in spending more than I needed to.