Wildlife Photography

[mdees88]

That's super cool. Fantastic photo, by the way.

Thanks. I could only send him one photo and it was a tough choice. I really liked the green anole image and it was pretty sharp. Here it is again if anyone would like to see it. I know it is buried in this thread somewhere...

I've been going through some of my older images while transferring them to my desktop and I found one that would have liked to send.

This was one of my first attempts at macro with the R7, before I had a dedicated macro lens. I shot this damselfly with a $75 50mm 1.8 STM lens and a couple extension tubes. It would have been a great point to make that you do not need the best quality lenses to get decent "macro-ish" shots. Many people already have a cheap 50mm prime in their kit, oh well...

Good for anyone here to know though. If you want a little more magnification and want to try some semi-macro shots, you can pick up a set of extension tubes for around $50. Then you can use them with your kit lens to get some more close-up images.

I actually did a test the other day on a Canon 18-55mm kit lens and my rebel t7i to see how it performed with the tubes installed. Here is the lens by itself, and how close you can get to the dime.

This image was with a 12mm extension tube installed...

This was with a 20mm extension tube installed...

And this is with a 30mm tube installed.

It's a pretty significant difference. The biggest con to this setup is the working distance is reduced so you have to get VERY close to your subject to get these shots. This last shot is how close I was with the 20mm extension tube installed. With the 30mm tube, the dime was almost touching the lens. Not many insects will tolerate you getting as close as the 20mm tube gets you, let alone the 30mm. A dedicated macro lens will allow you to get even more magnification without getting so close to the subject. But for $50 these work quite well...

 

[Bakbuk]

Thanks. I could only send him one photo and it was a tough choice. I really liked the green anole image and it was pretty sharp. Here it is again if anyone would like to see it. I know it is buried in this thread somewhere...

View attachment 3350175

I've been going through some of my older images while transferring them to my desktop and I found one that would have liked to send.

This was one of my first attempts at macro with the R7, before I had a dedicated macro lens. I shot this damselfly with a $75 50mm 1.8 STM lens and a couple extension tubes. It would have been a great point to make that you do not need the best quality lenses to get decent "macro-ish" shots. Many people already have a cheap 50mm prime in their kit, oh well...

Good for anyone here to know though. If you want a little more magnification and want to try some semi-macro shots, you can pick up a set of extension tubes for around $50. Then you can use them with your kit lens to get some more close-up images.


View attachment 3350227


I actually did a test the other day on a Canon 18-55mm kit lens and my rebel t7i to see how it performed with the tubes installed. Here is the lens by itself, and how close you can get to the dime.

View attachment 3350183



This image was with a 12mm extension tube installed...


View attachment 3350184



This was with a 20mm extension tube installed...

View attachment 3350185


And this is with a 30mm tube installed.

View attachment 3350188




It's a pretty significant difference. The biggest con to this setup is the working distance is reduced so you have to get VERY close to your subject to get these shots. This last shot is how close I was with the 20mm extension tube installed. With the 30mm tube, the dime was almost touching the lens. Not many insects will tolerate you getting as close as the 20mm tube gets you, let alone the 30mm. A dedicated macro lens will allow you to get even more magnification without getting so close to the subject. But for $50 these work quite well...

View attachment 3350222

That's incredible. Thanks for the tips/info and keep up the great work.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

 

[azurbanclucker]

View attachment 3351818

The symmetry in this is awesome.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

The symmetry in this is awesome.

Thank you, definitely not my best photo but certainly one of my favourites!

 

[mdees88]

View attachment 3351818

Great shot. I think it would benefit from a 1:1 crop. Here it is after some lightroom magic...

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

Great shot. I think it would benefit from a 1:1 crop. Here it is after some lightroom magic...

View attachment 3352087

It's a good edit but honestly the image was so contrasted white/black that saving it made it lose a lot of its quality. Therefore didn't add it to my queue to edit properly, and see little point to do so.

Did you remove the leaves? I find they add to the aesthetic.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

 

[mdees88]

It's a good edit but honestly the image was so contrasted white/black that saving it made it lose a lot of its quality. Therefore didn't add it to my queue to edit properly, and see little point to do so.

Did you remove the leaves? I find they add to the aesthetic.

Once I cropped in, the leaves were only on the left side of the image which caused it to lose its symmetry so I cloned them out.

Very nice portrait. That background is perfect...

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

Merry Christmas to all my fellow photographers, thanks for helping me so much during my first year! Love you all.