reversed lens'
informationPosted by Mark Saturday, May 26 2007 17:22:31How, what , why, where....
Sometimes I get the question how I do reversed lens'. And also what does your setup look like. So to save me some time writing the same words ;) here you go.
1st a photo of my camera with a reversed lens (I know...bad photo) D70
one from the D300 with sb400 and other diffuser (sort of clothing from MarkinsQ3)
Also some tubes can be seen here. Very cheap ones from ebay.
Br-2a
Mounted to the body is the Br-2a with a reversed 24mm lens screwed on it.
The diffuser is a made of a simple peace of plastic cut from a milkcan. Below a pic of the Br-2a alone. You can see the 52mm thread which goes on the front side of the lens. The other side is nikon mount.
You can use primes and zooms but I prefer primes. The wider the lens the larger the magnification will be. 50 gives 1:1 and for example 28 gives 2:1 below a link with all the info.
here is a link with lots of info on magnification ratios
Tripod
For these kind of photos I never use a tripod. The distance between front lens and bug is very short. 52,5mm (I meassured it ;). Although I could use the sturdiness of one it is clumsy in the field. Instead I use my arms, legs and whatever nature has to make myself sturdy. With the help of fast shutterspeed between 1/100 - 1/500 (thanks to the flash) I can freeze my motion and that of the wind or insect itself.
Diffuser
To avoid harsh light on the subjects I use a homemade diffuser. Its a piece of plastic cut from a milkjug. It is semi translucent and a little curved. The pop-up flash delivers the lightpower and is almost always set to full power. Only with white backgrounds I use 1/2 power.
f-stop and viewfinder
Most times I try to achieve maximum DOF in my photos. I set my aperture at f16 or a little less depending on the situation. One can inmation that the viewfinder is almost black now. To see something thrue the viewfinder I keep the aperture open with the aperture lever with my left hand pointfinger. Soo now I have good sight and can achieve accurate focus. The tricky thing is to maintain focus when releasing the aperture lever and then pushing the shutter release button.
Focus
Because the setup is all manual, achieving focus is also a bit tricky. Not only is your working space minimal. Every movement you make is like an earthquake in japan. Soo I try to keep both eyes open. One looking at my subject over the camera and one thrue the viewfinder. I try to look at a leading line towards the subject and follow that. If you get to the field of focus you can see a colorblob of the subject in its surroundings. Now to achieve perfect focus I rock forward and back untill I can predict when to release the lever and snap the pic. If I have to go fast I try to predict the 1st time but then you are in the hands of pure luck.
Stalking
Another question people ask is. How do you get the bugs posing in those ways. Do you spray something on them or maby put them first in the freezer. No tricks on any of them. I hate it when people do that. Only thing I have done once or twice is to get a leave and try to get them on it. (most times they won't)
What I do is go real slow. Trying not to look at my subject. Let them know you mean no harm. Give them room to escape easily. And just hang around for some time. If I go directly to a damsel for example they won't stay put. If you are lucky they come back to the same spot.
Soo go slow and hide behind your camera. Make sure you have all the setting done before approaching. The only thing you have to worry about is achieving perfect focus. Also try to frame the shot before approach. If you know what kind of shot you want you don't have to figure that out once there.
Photos
In the category photos you will see some of my work with this technique. The lens' I used are a 28mm Yashica and a 24mm sigma. This year I use the sigma most but if you are new to this you may want to try a 50mm first.
cheers, Mark
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