-My Experience- Tiny Creatures and Close-Up Lenses

-My Experience-

Tiny Creatures and Close-Up Lenses

Mr. Chandan D. N. Gaonkar of Panaji (Goa-India) is an emerging photo artist. He has been a contributor for our blog since its inception. This time he is before us with his experience about clicking tiny creatures with close-up lenses. This technique is quite simple and has been very popular among the beginners.

--Dr. Pankaj Sharma

"Mother Nature has blessed the earth with innumerable living beings. Small creatures have their own world. Their shapes, vibrant colors, textures and activities are real pleasure for our eyes. It is always very delightful to see these little beings in their own world that is far from the crowd of human life. Whenever I shoot these creatures, my first intention is to respect Mother Nature. I never disturb my subjects, and give them proper respect. There are times when I have to keep waiting for them for their best moments. But this stay also gives me a deep satisfaction.

Photographing small creatures requires a special macro lens which is often very expensive. The close-up lenses of different powers are the good alternative to a macro lens. These lenses permit a normal or a zoom lens to focus at the small objects by going close to them, the same as a magnifying glass helps us observing the small subjects closely. These lenses can be screwed on the front of lens, and are easy to use. They are of different powers, like +1, +2 and +4. We have to choose the power of lens according to the size of the subject. If the subject is small, we need a high power lens (such as +4). On the other hand, if the subject is a bit big, use of a lens of +1 or +2 power is enough. If case, the subject is too much tiny, we can use the combination of two or more lenses (such as +4 and +1 or +4 and +2). But the grouping of two or more lenses can decrease the quality of picture.

Although the images with above lenses are not very much good in quality, yet we can get satisfactory results by keeping a few points in our mind:

* We should not use very high power of close up lens. Likewise the combination of two or more lenses should also be avoided.

* We have to click the images in proper light.

* The use of small-size aperture helps in getting the images with proper sharpness and depth.

* Resting the camera on a firm tripod is always recommended as this prevents shake while close-focusing.

* Use of fill in flash is very helpful in low light condition."

--Chandan D. N. Gaonkar