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This 5x macro is possibly the strangest lens you’ve ever seen

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There are a lot of oddball lenses out there these days. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Look at Laowa’s crazy lookin’ 24mm f/14 2x macro probe lens, for example. I’ve played with that one myself and it’s a lot of fun and pretty awesome. The Yasuhara Nanoha Macro Lens for Sony, though, takes the reach much further, going all the way to 5x. And the best bit? It costs a mere $399.

You might wonder what’s so unusual about it. Well, for a start it’s got a strange removable hood thing that houses several LED lights, powered by USB (yup, it’ snot for firmware updates, just powering LEDs).  But that’s not all. This thing… Well, Arthur Reutov’s made a video about it. So, why don’t you have a watch?

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Winners of 2020 International Garden Photographer of the Year show how much beauty there is in your own backyard

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The coronavirus has stopped us in our tracks and prevented us from traveling, exploring, and taking photos at new places. But hey, this is our chance to rediscover our own city, neighborhood, even our own backyard. International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) 2020 winners will inspire you to get out and find all the hidden beauty of your own backyard.

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How to create a DIY macro flash diffuser using a Pringles tube

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Macro is a challenging subject to photograph. Light, especially, can be a real struggle, so you often need to add extra light to overcome the bellows extension factor inherent in all true macro lenses. But dedicated macro flashes and ring flashes can be very expensive (at least if you want a good one). Are there other options?

Well, you can butcher a Pringles tube. We posted a tutorial on this way back in 2011 to be able to make use fo the popup flash for macro, but this video from photographer Micael Widell shows a similar method using an on-camera flash, allowing you to get much more power for those extreme close-ups.

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Six macro photography ideas that you’ve (probably) never tried before

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A few days ago, we spoke about five reasons to use vintage macro lenses. And if you don’t know where to start shooting, here are some pretty cool ideas. In this video, COOPH gives you six macro photography ideas that you have probably never seen or tried before. Let’s see what they’ve got for us and get inspired.

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The NiSi NM-180 Macro Focusing Rail makes shooting for focus stacking a breeze

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While more commonly known for their filters and their upcoming cine lenses, NiSi recently announced their new NM-180 Macro Focusing Rail. Focusing rails are essential pieces of kit for serious macro photographers that allow them to create images that might otherwise be impossible, but how well does the new NiSi NM-180 stack up? Maybe pun intended.

I’ve been using the NiSi Macro Focusing Rail for a few weeks now. The short version of this review is that for what it costs, it’s an extremely well-made device, that has some thoughtful design considerations and does exactly what it’s supposed to. In my opinion, it’s well worth what it costs. But how do focusing rails work and why do you need one?

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Use these seven simple tips to take your close-up photos to the next level

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Do you want to capture sharp close-up and macro images? Are you looking for beautiful colors in your macro images? Do you want to photograph well-exposed close-ups and macro photos in a low light? Then you are in the right place.

Because today I am going to share with you 7 simple tips for macro photography. I use these 7 tips always to capture beautiful macro images of nature and wildlife. And I am sure these tips will be helpful to you as well. And the best part is? All of these macro photography tips are easy to apply. No matter if you are a beginner or Intermediate level photographer, you can pick up these tips and start creating stunning macro images.

Let’s dive right in!

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NiSi releases its first macro focusing rail for precise focus control

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Lens and filter manufacturer, NiSi is branching out into macro with their brand new NM-180 Macro Focusing Rail. And from looking at the video and visuals sent over to us, it looks pretty good, with a range of features and design choices that are quite interesting.

Macro focusing rails aren’t a new idea, but they haven’t been really updated in a while and there are a lot of terrible ones out there on the market. They’re designed to help you get more precise movements due to the super shallow depth of field you have when shooting macro. And NiSi’s offering appears to have some cool tricks up its sleeve.

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A guide to handheld focus-stacking

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Handheld focus stacking is a brilliant solution for many scenarios. It saves you all the troubles of using a focusing rail in the field and provides a maximum of flexibility.
Whenever you need more depth of field than you can get with trading off image quality, this is the way to work around it.

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Here is a photo of a praying mantis repairing a broken heart

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You don’t need to travel far to get fantastic nature photos. If you’re at the right place at the right time, you’ll end up with amazing shots even in your neighborhood. This photo from Zoheir Brihoum is a perfect example. Zoheir photographed a praying mantis “repairing a broken heart,” and it’s one of those images that you want to come back to.

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First hands on review with the NiSi close-up lens

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I was on thin ice again when I received the Nisi close-up Lens a few days ago. It meant that I had to immerse myself in macro photography, something which takes years of practice to master.

The close-up lens works as a magnifying glass that you can attach to a telelens. In practice, this means that you can get much closer to your subject and that you can shoot macro without having to invest in a more expensive dedicated macro lens.

In these corona times, macro photography is a great past time activity, and you can just walk into your garden to find interesting subjects and compositions.

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