Thursday, November 18, 2010

Photography Book -- Part 5

This part of the book is all about shooting close up. The first section is titled "Working at Close Range" and tells about how to use special accessories and lenses for close up photography. Macro lenses fall into two categories. A true macro lens is designed and specially corrected for high quality close-up work. Macro zoom lenses allow photography in the close-up range but it is often not continuous. Usually you simply asjust the focusing ring to a special setting that pulls in a limited range of magnifications. Accessory devices that modify prime lenses for close up work may be combined singly or in combination with one another, offering numerous ways of working at close range.

Extension tubes and bellows permit varied magnification and produce quality images, even at great reproduction. On the negative side, they reduce the amount of light transmitted by the lens, which limits the range of stop-action photography under ambient light and creates problems when you are working in the wind. Most extension tubes couple to all the camera's automatic functions, except auto-focus. Bellows are designed for high magnification work. They are constructed with two sets of rails -- one for changing camera position, the other for adjusting the extension.

Teleconverters conveniently increase the focal length of the prime lens by 2X or 1.4X while maintaining the lens' full focusing range. Telephoto lenses allow you to maintain adequate working distances from wary subjects. Adapting a wide-angle lens for close-up work is best accomplished with a short extension tube. Tilt-shift lenses make maximum use of depth of field making it possible to use larger apertures and faster shutter speeds that freeze motion. They allow the film plane to be aligned with the subject plane with minimal framing compromise.

The next section is titled "Wild Flora" and is about conventional and offbeat approaches to one of natures most expressive subjects. This section is all about how to get the most out of shooting flowers and other such plants and the best ways to do so. Taking into consideration the wind and light (if you are shooting at high noon). And knowing what lenses are going to make the most of your shooting of these subjects.

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