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Nature and Wildlife
Photography
Photographing wildlife is a fun and reward-
ing pastime that can also be intensely frus-
trating. If you know what you want to
photograph it can mean standing out in the
freezing cold or blazing heat for hours on
end, waiting for the right animal to show up.
But when you get that one shot you’ve been
waiting for, it’s well worth it.
Wildlife photography is another one of
those areas of photography where people’s
opinions differ on whether or not you
should use flash. I tend not to use flash very
often to avoid scaring off the animals. But,
as with any type of photography, there are
circumstances in which you might want to
use a flash, such as if the animal is backlit
and you want some fill-flash.
140 Part II ✦ Creating Great Photos with the Creative Lighting System
Macro and close-up
photography tips
✦ Use Close-up filters. Close-up fil-
ters are like magnifying glasses for
your lenses. If you can’t afford a
macro lens or you’re not sure if
you’d use one enough to justify
the expense, these filters may be
the way to go. They screw directly
on the front of your lens just like
any other filter and can be screwed
together in order to increase the
magnification more. They work
fairly well and are usually priced in
the thirty-dollar range. Using close-
up filters can soften your image a
little especially when using more
than one at a time.
✦ Try extension tubes. Adding
extension tubes enables you to get
a closer focus distance with your
lenses. For many, this is a less
expensive alternative to purchasing
a dedicated macro lens. Extension
tubes mount on your camera body
in between the camera and the
lens, an extension ring allows you
to get closer to the subject by mov-
ing the lens forward thereby
changing the focal range or the
focusing distance of the lens.
✦ Consider reversing rings. These
attachments allow you to attach
the lens to your camera backwards
which means you can focus
extremely close. Think this won’t
work? Have you ever looked into
the wrong end of a pair of binocu-
lars? Flipping the camera lens
around works the same way.
True Macro
Most real macro lenses are in the 50 to 60mm focal length range. True macro work
is done at 1:1 perspective ratio, with the image recorded on the film or sensor being
the exact same size as the actual subject. The longer focal length lenses that claim to
be macro are usually 1:2, or about half size. Although they claim to be macro, they
are not —they allow the illusion of macro via telephoto.
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