practice, practice and more practice

[annie]

 

been trying to practice close up with the 75-300 lens....

[KateW]

That is superb! Lovely colour and perfectly sharp.

[bugmeister]

Gorgeous colour and the focus point is spot on the pointy bit in the middle

[KateW]

pointy bit in the middle

 

Is that the botanical term?

[annie]

it's the standing back bit, rather than the getting right in there like with the raynox that's gets me all confused.

[bugmeister]

Remember the minimum focussing distance for your lens. You can't get any closer and still have anything in focus

[NannyFerret]

That's a beautiful shot, Annie.

[annie]

I know how you showed me that bugs,,,but I am still fighting against the habit of getting the camera as close as I can...lol

 

tis a struggle!

[geodar]

nice, but when shooting a single subject in the wild, have a look around the whole image through the view finder. looking for the best angle and what's in the backgrounds.

a sharp, stunning image is often spoilt a little by a distracting background as we tend to concentrate on the main image.

some carry pieces of different coloured plain paper around with them to put behind the subject not only to hide any distractions behind but it also highlights the subject.

saying that, it may not be as easy or basic as it sounds when out in the field to remove the odd background bits n bobs. 

geoff

[Guest DaveW]

The problem with autofocus and often manual focus is people have stopped using all the screen to judge what is in or out of focus and now only use it for basically framing the image.  Few now use the Depth of Field Preview Button because the screen darkens and your eye needs a few moments to get used to the gloom to see anything:-

 

[fuzzyedges]

it's the standing back bit, rather than the getting right in there like with the raynox that's gets me all confused.

Being new to this close up lark Its worth mentioning that there seems to be 2 basic types

1 as close as you can get for record and fill the frame with the subject

2 not too close looking for the artistic effect

 

It seems to me if you are using the raynox or extension tubes due to the very short focus area you end up in the first catogary where a long macro means you have greater chances of moving in and out including more of the surrounding area I find its easier to find your subject with a long macro and gradually move in but that may just be me getting used to it