Macro Photography On A Budget

Years ago photography was a favorite hobby of mine and I used to have all kinds of gear, including a macro lens. Macro photography is fun. You can take some pretty cool close up pictures of bugs, flowers, etc. Unfortunately, all my gear was stolen and my insurance at the time--I tend to learn these things the hard way--only covered the depreciated value of the stolen items. That sucked.

For me, lenses today can be pricey, especially since this is a hobby and not how I make my living. But you can use your normal lens as a macro lens through the use of a reversing ring. The ring screws onto the end of your lens and mounts that end onto the camera body so you're shooting through the opposite direction.

There are drawbacks. You control the aperture by hand. The thingamajig--forgive my technical language--that is normally inserted into the camera body isn't. I found I could use a rubber band to hold it open which results in a shorter depth of field as in the picture of my watch above. Or I could leave it as is with the smallest aperture as in the picture below which required more light and/or a longer exposure. Another drawback is the motion caused by holding the camera. I set mine up on a mini-tripod. I also used the timer to to take the picture so the movement caused by pushing the shutter release wouldn't blur the shot.

You'll also notice that it would be wise for me to clean my lens and camera each time I do this. This is not an optimum method for shooting macro, but it works as long as you have patience. Just the same, I think I'll start saving up.

Now if you want to see an awesome macro setup check this out.