A few flowers in Macro

These are just a few images taken today with my new piece(s) of kit.











Due to lack of funds, and my impatience at wanting to get more into Macro photography i decided, instead of waiting X amount of months before i could afford to buy a decent macro lens i went down the much cheaper route instead and purchased a set of 4 Polaroid screw on close up lenses, they are double threaded so all 4 can be joined together. You have a 1x, 2x, 4x and 10x lens giving you in total 17x mag. 1st tried them on the standard 18/55mm lens but thought i would try them on my Sigma macro lens. They seem to work well between 70mm and 135mm with all 4 of them on, after that point though its impossible to focus. Something a proper Macro lens would not struggle with. But hey, what can you expect for £12 . As they say you get what you pay for, and personally i think its £12 well spent.

Images 1&2 are very tiny flowers, well ones a weed. Image 3 is just a comparison shot, unless you know the flower it can be hard to compare it for size.

Images 1&2 data : TV 1/200, AV 22.0, ISO 200, Focal length 70mm with ext TTL flash, and all 4 lenses on Sigma Lens

Images 4&5

Pansy

4 : TV 1/200, AV 20.0, ISO 100, 70mm Focal Length with 1x,2x and 4x lenses fitted on Sigma lens, EXT TTL flash
5 : Same as above with all 4 lenses

C&C more than welcome

Well, you certainly didn't make things easy for yourself with that tiny weed , what a challenge.

Some very interesting and good initial results Mark.

Look forward to seeing more.

1st one is my favourite.

Thanks Sharon It did take quite a few shots with the 1st one, trying to get the focusing right was very hard, i am always a little wobbly when holding the lens, with the added thing of manual focusing i really needed another pair of hands I am very happy with my results up to now though, but i could do with a little tripod when i am doing this type of photography, just to take away the shake. Also allow me to shoot easier at garden flower level, getting down there sint a problem, getting back up is another thing,lol. My new wireless remote will come in handy as well

Oh, ain't that the truth. Mark I once fell bum first into a flower barrel while taking pictures of bee's on my chives.....couldn't get out again without a very undignified scramble.

I will be interested to see how you get on with the tripod, what sort are you considering for garden level work? I really should use one but am too impatient .

I have to say the remotes are a godsend..... though I don't have a fancy wireless one like Skyline.

lol Sharon, i can just picture it now One of those `you`ve been framed moments`

As Daisy said, you did set your self a hard task with these small plants. I like the first two the best Mark.

Thanks Ken. 1 & 2 for me too personally, i do like pansies too but color does not seem right with this one, im sure this one is supposed to be purple, yellow and black, the petals do not look that purple to me. .
I like throwing myself in at the deep end Ken, any normal person might start big and work their way down to smaller things, not me

You will see a much clearer image Mark when you use a tripod and set it on 2 seconds. Or as Daisy said, you could get a fancy wireless remote like mine for under 12 quid lol.
i wouldn't even attempt weeds that small. I have to see them first

I did Dave, buy a wireless remote that is, not as fancy as yours but it works well I could not buy a tripod and not a remote, need to eliminate all causes of vibrations when taking an image, once set up i`ll go for the 2 sec exposure too and take it from there I did think the use of flash was something that was recommended though when taking macro shots?

Ever considered using something like a bag of rice, pasta etc to rest the camera on rather like a small bean bag?

Steve