EX128 How close can you go?

We have our focus group coming up on Macro Photography in November, I think it is a good time to get us thinking about getting up close. Whilst we won’t be sticking to any formal definition of macro photography in Len’s Club, we will encourage you to get in close to see what you can create.

Recently I have been comparing lenses whilst photographing flowers. And I have uncovered some surprising results. Well surprising for me. Probably uninteresting unless you happen to own the same lenses.

So this weeks exercise is to conduct the same experiment I did and then to explore with the results.

Step one

Test each lens you own to see how close it goes with the same subject. If it is a zoom lens, make sure you test the whole range of the zoom. IE at the widest end and the furtherest zoom end, and somewhere in the middle. Test each lens wide open to see what it does to the backgrounds. The subject needs to have depth and some separation of the background so that you can see what it looks like.

For example the macro lens on the new iphone is only on the widest angle lens. So depth of field effects are so much harder to create. Basically, more things will be in focus with a wider lens, and less with your longer lenses.

Step two

What did you learn? Which lens gets you closest in distance to your subject? Which lens magnifies the subject the most?

Step three

Now choose a lens you like the rendering, and how close it gets and how easy it is to use. Now go exploring with that lens. See what you can create.

Step four

Post your experiments with the different lenses if you think you have found an interesting result.

Post three or less of the images you created in step three.

Post your work in our forum here https://lensclub.discussion.community/post/ex128-how-close-can-you-go-11987978?pid=1328918450#post1328918450

Enjoy some fun…