One task I had when I was in New Plymouth was to find a good magnifying glass, or loupe, so I could see more detail of the intriguing litter critters. I wanted a decent quality lens, preferably with a light, but wasn't sure where to look. I asked at SpecSavers when I had my eye test, and also looked at craft shops and The Warehouse - nothing doing there except plastic ones with no light. There are plenty on TradeMe but they are hard to assess from a picture. A friend suggested Philatelic Distributors and I struck gold with a 20x pull out magnifier with an LED light.
I love getting close-ups of wee critters - it's opened a new world to me and given me an appreciation of Mother Nature's efficient recycling system; if only humans were as good! My camera is great; using macro mode and then zooming up on screen I get to see details that aren't apparent with my sight - it got me wondering if I could get even closer using both the camera and the loupe.
Here are some macro photos that I've taken recently...
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This beetle was on the same tree with all the holes drilled in it - I wonder
if this is the adult? |
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A willing fly on a rhubarb leaf - it didn't budge an inch whilst I
manoeuvred to get as close as possible. It looks like a wee tick at the base
of its wing |
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| Native snails are hard to get in focus in close-ups because of their depth |
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| A small huhu grub - its mouthparts are amazing |
Yesterday I experimented taking a photo by holding the loupe up to the viewfinder of the camera. I found a willing spider and tried different methods - most of which needed four hands. The LED light on the loupe was a bit fierce at times and the photos aren't sharp enough to keep but thought I'd pop them up on the blog so I can see what progress I make over the next few months.
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| Spider - using just the macro function on the camera |
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| Macro on camera plus light |
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Macro on camera plus light plus holding viewfinder up to loupe to magnify
the image. Note the blue colour aberration caused by the loupe. |
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| Another spider that offered to pose - isn't he a cutie |
YouTube has lots of videos with helpful hints on macro photography, including
this one that shows you how to make your own LED ring light; this would give a more even light across the subject.
I have more photos for the next blog - I hope I'm not boring you :)
