Experiments in macro

I've been meaning to try reverse-lens macro shots for a few days now but haven't really had the time. Thankfully a quick look at some of the stunning photos that my friends have been uploading on Flickr has spurred me into action and I tried my hand at a few tonight.

Arthur (our coffee table succulent) was once again my main subject. It took quite a few tries to get the technique involved and even then I'm still not getting perfect shots. Here's the best of the bunch and I must say that I'm quite pleased with the result even if it isn't exactly perfect.



For those of you that aren't familiar with the reverse-lens macro trick, it's basically a cheap alternative to using a real macro lens (which are usually pretty pricey). It involves detaching your lens from the camera body and turning it around so you basically take the shot 'backwards' with the front of the lens facing the camera. This creates the 1:1 ratio or greater effect of a macro lens and it also allows you to get a nice shallow depth of field because you can't close your aperture. The downside of this technique is that you have to manually focus the lens backwards and hold it by hand during the exposure which can be pretty hard at those focal lengths.

I was taking the pictures with a single tungsten overhead light so that might have made things more difficult. I'd imagine that outdoors shots in bright sunlight could be done with a faster shutter speed but then I'd have to worry about the wind moving my subject. Alison and I are thinking of heading to the botanical gardens this weekend for celebrate spring and take some flower pictures so I guess I'd better keep practicing this week if I intend to get some good shots. :)