DIY Macro Photography Part 1 of 2

Putting baby in the produce, or my first venture in macro photography.

Some time ago I stumbled across a technique that

allows you to fairly extreme macro shots without the need for a specialized lens. I didn't jump on the opportunity to try it out because I honestly didn't care about the world of macro photography. Why would I want to waste my time taking close up pictures of plants and bugs in the backyard? Macro photography just seemed like a hop skip and a jump away from taking pictures of babies in a head of lettuce. I fully admit my aversion was probably fueled by some odd art school hangup, but regardless I never considered photographing the world on such a such a small scale.

Yesterday I was in need of excuse to be outside with my camera on such a beautiful day (one of 18 in a Seattle summer). I remembered back to that article I had read some time ago. My inner MacGyver said that mashing two lenses together with a fistful of rubber bands was a great idea Ann Geddes be dammed.

Well it turned out to be really fun. Before I knew it an hour had passed I had trapped and frozen a Bee (he had it coming), forced my cousin to stare into the sun and generally went around looking crazed in peoples front yards hunting for flowers. I had become that guy, and was loving it. Photography has always been my reason to explore the world around me, and this was giving me a whole new world to venture into.

Here are some of the photos from that hour:

I was amazed at how rich the colors were in these photos, and I realized how much potential shooting in this manner had. Once I started looking at how beautifully abstract some of the images were I became really excited to go out and do some purposeful shoots at this scale.

I love the fact that shooting like this is really surprising accessible to photographers with almost no investment. You certainly can spend the cash to get a nice macro lens or a bellows setup but for most people its not worth the investment.

So tomorrow I will go over the technique I used to get these shots. Most of the things you need are probably already sitting in your camera bag right now.

Whitman