Macro on the cheap

I was scouring the internet a few nights back and ran across something I'd read about before and forgotten - using 2 lenses face-to-face to achieve macro photography. The idea wasn't new to me so I didn't save the link, and I'm sorry to say I've lost it.

So, with a nod to those that came before me....

I decided to mount my 24-105 lens on my 7D, mount the camera on a tripod and hand-hold my 50mm lens against the other. Before I go into detail, here's what I shot:

Sweetums! I found him on Amazon a couple years ago while searching for interesting characters to use while practicing photography stuff. He stands about 10" tall and has articulating mouth, neck, arms, waist and legs.

Since he's a monster, I played with some related lighting ideas for the fun of it. This was shot with just the mounted lens racked all the way out to 105mm, 1/25th sec, F/13 @ ISO 1600. I used some tungsten cabinet lights so I could dial in the look before bringing in the camera (the camera tripod had to be finagled around the light stand).

Next, I set the focus on both lenses to infinity, hand-held the 50mm lens against the other (still at 105mm), and moved the tripod in until I got a sharp focus. Unfortunately, being handheld I introduced a bit of vibration. This is the sharpest I could get:

 

Not bad though, huh?! That's pretty good considering how small his eyes are.

Now, if this was the method I wanted to pursue for macro photography on a regular basis I'd invest in a reversing ring so I could mount the 2 lenses together and eliminate the vibration issue. Using a remote trigger would be a good idea here too.

That's cool, but hand-holding has advantages too. Well, there is if your mounted lens has a larger diameter than your hand-held lens. With a smaller lens, you can shift it off center for some interesting perspectives and effects.

I pulled my mounted lens back to 67mm and got these 2 shots:

With the camera locked onto the tripod, I was still able to shift my perspective by simply sliding the 50mm lens around on the front of the 24-105. And, at 67mm you get a hard vignette that can create an interesting effect as well. But even the vignette can be artistically applied through strategic placement. By aligning the vignette with the shadow at the top of the eye, it effectively disappears.

Cool, huh?!

Hope you enjoy...