Stuck at Home – Macro in the Backyard

Being stuck at home is not that fun but we can always head into our backyards for a small photography adventure.

I am lucky enough to live next to an Open Space and it is full of gorgeous oak trees, pretty little flowers, mushrooms and grasses. I head out there whenever the light is nice or I just want to get out of the house.

I love macro photography because it gives me a chance to just look at the space around me. I can just sit in the grass and find 20 differnt things to photograph in a 5 foot ratius. Then an hour passes by and I have ony thought about how beautiful all the small things are.

If you are new to macro photography, there are a few ways you can do it.

A macro lens – A lens that allows you to focus extremely close to the subject. I use the Zeiss Touit 50mm f/2.8 on my Fuji X-T2 camera. A macro lens is by far the best way to shoot macro but it is also the most expensive. A good macro lens can range in price from $300 to $1700 or more. A macro lens usually will get you a 1:1 magnification which means that the image on the sensor is the same size as real life. There are specailized macro lenses that will get you even more magnification like Loawa 25mm 5x Ultra Macro (that is a fun lens to use!)

2. Extension tubes – Tubes that go between your lens and camera body that move your lens further away from the cameras sensor which allows you to focus closer. The one downside to extension tubes is that you loose a lot of light so if you are not shooting outside in bright sun you might need to use a tripod. These will usually come in a set of 2 or 3 and you can stack as many as you want (the more you use the closer you can get but the more light you loose). A set of extension tubes will run you around $100.

3. Close-up filters – No light loss here, these filters screw onto the front of your lens and act like a magnifying lens. The down side to these is that there can be some loss of sharpness around the edges and sometime chromatic aborations. Although, ProMaster just announced a new Achromatic Filter for macro photography that uses a double, achromatic design which reduces chromatic distortion. I am excited to try that on top of my macro lens 🙂 Close-up filters will usually run around $75

How ever you choose to get close to you subject whether it is with a macro lens, extension tubes or closeup filters I guarantee that you will enjoy taking the time to appreciate the small things while you create beautiful images.

Here are some of my images taken in my backyard and the Open Space next to my home. I hope you enjoy them.