Some close-up photos

I played around recently with some closeup photography. My intention was to go out and make a picture of my wife's sunflower as if it were a rising sun. Last year I photographed a sunflower against a blue sky to make it the sun in that sky. I think the name "sunflower" influences how I look at that large flower.


However I was presented with a chance to picture a couple of insects too. I guess these aren't too remarkable, but it was something I haven't messed with for a while.


I'll briefly touch on how I did this. For me, close-up photography seems the most gear dependent type of photography. This type of imaging is the only one I've tried where my imagination and technique are gear-bound.

I was using my FX camera with an 80-200/2.8 lens on it. Attached to the lens was a Canon 500D closeup lens. This lens fixes the focus of the combination to about 1/2 meter. With my 80-200 items are recorded around 1/2 life size on the sensor. I keep the camera mounted on a mono-pod, the lens is set on infinity focus. To bring the subject into focus I rock the camera back and forth like Rainman and trip the shutter when the subject appears sharp in the viewfinder.

These look better at the larger size you can see by clicking the photos.