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
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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.
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.
How I built my own DIY wide-angle macro lens
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The wide-angle paradox
As we know, wide angle lenses show a larger field of view and therefore make things appear smaller and appear further away than they are. Which contradicts the concept of macro photography, where we want our subject to be projected onto the sensor at a magnification ratio of at least 1.0x. So how can we combine a wide angle perspective and macro macro-capabilities?
The concept of wide-angle macro photography is not exactly new and there are other photographers out there, who built their own super-wide macro lenses. There even are a couple lenses on the market that provide 1.0x at a15mm focal length, but I much rather an interesting DIY project than spending 500$ on a niche lens.
Create rainbow flares with a CD for colorful macro photography
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The glorious colours of summer are fading away, and the windy weather makes outdoor macros difficult. In other words, it’s the perfect time to take photography inside and stage creative photos with things around the house. Anything could be an ingredient in your creative recipe. These ingredients can be simple things, such as in this example: A CD, a Milkweed seed and some water, put together on a reflective piece of glass, made for the images in this article.
An in-depth look at the best macro photography light modifiers you can buy, or make yourself
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Even though speedlights are incredibly useful for macro photography, they’re light does not always look flattering. Harsh shadows in unwanted places, blown-out highlights and strong aberrations are common issues. And even though strong, directed light can look good in many cases, diffused light looks more natural and generally more pleasing to the eye too.
The two following photos illustrate that effect:
How to convert almost any standard zoom lens into a macro lens
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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 to 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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