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Maximilian Simson

How to take colorful macro photos of crystals without a microscope

What is Birefringence?

Birefringence is an effect that causes psychedelic rainbow colours to appear in otherwise transparent materials. Such as the magnifying glass in the pictures above.
But actually, it’s a little more complicated than that:

Birefringent materials (mostly crystals) split an entering light ray into two rays that are both polarized with the vibration directions oriented at right angles to one another, and traveling at different velocities. When placed between two crossed polarizing filters, such materials appear in bright colors. With only polarized light entering the subject, one wave gets retarded with respect to the other and interference occurs between the waves as they pass through the second polarizer.
Even though you can create fantastic results just using two CPL filters, best results will be achieved with linear polarizers.

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How to easily convert your kit lens into a macro lens

Are you looking for an affordable but also electronic macro lens? Or maybe you have an old kit lens, that’s just sitting around, collecting dust since your last upgrade?

Well, then read on, because in this article I am going to share one cool hack that will allow you too transform almost any kit or standard zoom lens into a capable macro lens!

And I am not talking about reversing the lens or mounting it on extension tubes, we’re actually going to convert the lens for good. And it’s incredibly simple.

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Birefringence: How to photograph rainbow colors at home

What does “Cross Polarization” mean?

Cross polarization is a technique that allows us to virtually eliminate specular highlights from images by using polarized light, but it also holds a lot of creative potential, as it can be used to bring out eye-catching rainbow gradients in subjects such as plastics, ice and certain crystals.

In the industry this technique is used e.g. to locate areas of stress in plastic, but it also holds a lot of potential for interesting macro images:

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What is cross polarization and how you can use it in your photography

Cross polarization is a technique that uses two polarizing filters – one on the light source and on e on the camera lens – to get rid of unwanted specular reflections.

The following slideshow illustrates the effect at varying degrees, depending on the orientation of the filters with respect to each other.

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Here’s the complete macro setup for photographing your own eye

The World of Macro Photography is full of fascinating subjects, but eyes and irises have got to be among the most mesmerizing ones.
And as with most captivating subjects, capturing it can be quite a challenge. In this article, I will share tips, tricks, and all the know-how you’ll need to create photographs, just like the one above, yourself.

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Pros and cons of teleconverters for macro photography

What are teleconverters and how do they work?

Tele-converters are handy lens add-ons that multiply the focal length of the lens they are attached to. They can be mounted in between the camera body and lens (typically a telephoto lens) and increase the focal length of the lens which they are attached to.

By how much is dependent on their power, which is stated as a factor. E.g. a 1.4x teleconverter multiplies the original focal length of a lens by 1.4. As a result a 100mm lens would turn into a 140mm lens, a 200mm lens would turn into a 280mm lens, and so on. Most common are 1.4x or 2x converters, but occasionally converters as strong as 3x can be found as well.

Why am I telling you this in a macro blog? Well, the beauty of these converters is that their power not only applies to the focal length of regular lenses, but to the magnification ratio of macro lenses just as well!

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Everything you need to know for filming and photographing soap bubbles

There are certain subjects in the macro world, which are so fascinating and absorbing that almost every macro photographer will point a camera at them at some point. And no matter how many photos you take or see of these subjects, their charm does not seem to wear off. Just think of snowflakes, the compound eyes of insects or the refractive nature of water droplets. Or, of course, the psychedelic colour plays of soap film: [Read More…]

Refractions 101: Follow this guide to take stunning refraction photos

Refraction photography is an exciting subject that enjoys increasing popularity amongst photographers. You have probably seen refraction photos before, where an out-of-focus background appears sharply defined inside a crystal ball or a dew drop for example. In today’s post we will examine this phenomenon and learn how to take stunning photos, taking advantage of this fascinating effect.

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A guide to handheld focus-stacking

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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