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Category: Macro

  • Macro
    Fuji X-T1 macro experiments - fly on a leaf

    Fuji X-T1 macro experiments

    Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been taking some Fuji X-T1 macro pictures with a Tamron 90mm f/2.8 K mount macro lens and couple of add on extension tubes to increase the magnification. Although I’ve used the Tamron several times I’ve been considering buying the Fuji 60mm f/2.4 autofocus macro lens, which is available second hand for about £300, but I wanted to see how the Tamron performed before taking the plunge and buying one. Fuji X-T1 Macro pictures...
  • Macro
    Macro photos - A small hoverfly

    Garden Insects

    Over the last few weeks it’s become a bit of a habit to go into the garden at some point in the day with my camera to see if I can get any pictures of the insects and spiders which crawl and fly around the plants. Although neither my wife Janice or I are naturally gifted gardeners, we have been steadily improving the condition of the garden and introducing more plants and flowers  in order to encourage more insects and...
  • Macro
    Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro pictures - Wasp

    Garden macro photos

    I went into the garden this afternoon to get some macro pictures with my Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens and Pentax K-5 DSLR. I’ve been using the K5 quite a bit over the last few weeks instead of my Nex 6, simply because I’m going to take it on holiday in a few weeks along with a couple of Pentax film cameras. When I put the pictures through post processing in Lightroom I was struck by how clean and well...
  • Macro
    Macro picture of Dragonfly - Caught in profile

    Macro photography – Small golden dragonfly

    Dragonflies have alway been a problem for me to photograph, so I am particularly pleased that I managed to get quite close to a small golden dragonfly today when I had my specialist macro lens fitted to my Sony Nex 6. I’m not sure of the species, but I found this dragonfly sitting on the end of a stick which was acting as a stake for a small tree. Normally if I find a dragonfly sitting anywhere it will be...
  • Macro
    Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro pictures - Ladybird and soldier beetles

    Butterflies and other insects

    It’s been a hot day here today and I’ve been out with my macro lens trying to get some interesting insect pictures. Although it is hot, almost as soon as I got to Priors wood (where I usually go to get insect pictures) the sun went in and the light levels dropped quite a lot. Although that didn’t make it in anyway impossible to take pictures, it meant about 3 stops less light, so most of these were taken at...
  • Macro
    Macro picture of Chives 1

    Macro picture of Chives

    Whilst I was writing my post about macro options at the weekend I felt inspired to go out into the garden with my Tamron 90mm macro lens mounted on my Nex 6 to put into practice some of the techniques I’d been writing about. This picture was taken in the small herb garden where we have mint, basil etc growing and I found the chives had small flowers growing. I got down low so I could focus on one flower...
  • Macro
    Sony Nex 6 with Tamron 90mm macro lens - Last year's fruit

    A walk with a macro lens

    This post is about the pictures I took with a Tamron 90mm Macro lens fitted to a Sony NEX 6. The last few months have been cold and wet but today has brought a change with some sun and a nice increase to the temperature so I thought I would go out and try to get some pictures to show the start of spring. I’ve recently bought a Pentax K mount to NEX adaptor to let me fit my existing...
  • Macro
    Macro photography - Green Fly 3

    Macro photography – Green Fly

    We are on our way to Durham in the north of England for a holiday and stopped off at my Mother-in-laws house in Loughborough. I had a walk round in garden and found a Golden Rod bush covered in green flies having a wonderful time flitting about the bush. I got my Pentax K-5 and Tamron 90mm Macro and took a few pictures, this one being the best. Unfortunately I hadn’t realised that my wife had borroed the camera and...
  • Macro
    Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro picture - Macro shot of a Grasshopper

    Macro Photography – Grasshopper

    I found this little grasshopper in a wooded area of Stevenage called Prior’s Wood yesterday. I could hear the grasshoppers all around as I walked about looking for butterflies. Unfortunately the butterfly population this year seems to be severely depleted, with only a few Marbled White, small Skippers and the common Tortoiseshell, Comma etc about. A couple of years ago I went to the same area and you could almost guarantee some great pictures just by pointing your camera at...
  • Macro
    LF106 wireless trigger set

    LF106 Wireless flash trigger

    This is a quick post on a set of extremely cheap wireless flash triggers I bought from Amazon UK for about £15. They are of an unknown manufacture, just called LF106 on Amazon and come with one transmitter unit and two receivers. The receivers each take a pair of commonly available AAA batteries and can be switched to up to 16 different channels so they can be used when other photographers are in the same area and using the same...
  • Macro
    Macro photography garden spider 4

    Macro photography garden spider

    I bought a new flash gun for my Pentax K-5 at Christmas which I’ve been experimenting with over the last few months. Today I went out into the garden with my Tamron 90mm lens and a Raynox 250 Close up adapter fitted, to try some macro pictures with the lens set to F/32 to maximize the Depth of field. The shot shown above was my most successful picture, taken of a tiny garden spider sitting on a leaf sunning him(her?)self....
  • Macro
    Fly

    Macro Photography – Bluebottle Fly

    This is another macro shot, this time taken with a Tamron 70-300mm Maco zoom on a Pentax K200D DSLR. Unfortunately the fly wouldn’t turn round so I could capture him (her?) full in the face but it’s quite a detailed shot anyway. Pentax K200D Tamron 70-300mm Macro Zoom iso800 /250sec f/13 Related articles Hoverfly on flower (simonhawketts.wordpress.com) Macro photography – Scorpion Fly (simonhawketts.wordpress.com)
  • Macro
    Soldier Beetle

    Macro Photography – Soldier beetle

    This is a Soldier Beetle which I found in the field across the road from our house in May 2012. I believe the Latin name for this variety is Cantharis Rustica. This was taken with a Pentax K-r and a Tamron 90mm f/2.8 1:1 macro lens. In order to hand hold the camera and get enough depth of field to keep the beetle in focus I had to raise the iso to 2200 to get the shot at 1/125 @...
  • Macro
    Bokeh

    Bokeh

    This image was one I selected from the large backlog of pictures I have sitting in my Lightroom library. I am not feeling well today but I wanted to post an image so I was looking through the set of pictures I took in the garden when I got my Tamron 90mm Macro lens. This one struck me as a good demonstration of the bokeh obtained with this lens. Pentax K-5 Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro 1/100sec iso200 f/2.8 Related articles...
  • Macro
    Natural Patterns in Nature 5

    Natural Patterns in Nature

    Flowers are great subjects for pictures, especially if you can get close enough to see the flower properly. I found this flower in Knebworth, and I was immediately drawn to the brilliant symmetrical natural patterns it displayed. I don’t know what the actual botanical name of the plant is but it’s a fantastic example of the way nature throws up patterns. Pentax K-5 Tamron 90mm f/2.8 1/250 sec f/11 iso1600
  • Macro
    Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro picture - Scorpion fly

    Macro photography – Scorpion Fly

    This little chap is a scorpion fly, so called because it’s tail has a large red bulbous end which curls back over it’s body and has a sharp end, making it look like a scorpion poised to attack. It is, however, completely harmless (well to humans). I took this picture with my Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens fitted to a Pentax K-r DSLR in Jun 2012 in the Priors Wood area of Stevenage. Pentax K-r Tamron 90mm f/8 @ 1/180sec...
  • Macro
    Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro picture - Bumble bee extreme closeup

    Macro photography – Bumble bee

    I Love macro photography; the great thing is you can find subjects almost anywhere you look. I found this bumble bee on a wild flower in a field just outside my house in June last year whilst I was out with my new Tamron 90mm macro lens. This type of subject is the reason I got the macro lens. I already owned a Tamron 70-300 mm Tele zoom with macro facility, but it will only produce a 1:2 magnification ratio,...
  • Macro
    hoverfly on flower

    Picture of a Hoverfly on a flower

    This image of a hoverfly on a flower, was taken with a Pentax K-r DSLT using a Tamron 70-300 mm Macro Zoom. Considering the camera and lens involved, I think this is quite a good quality image. The Pentax K-r does not have a sensor of the same calibre as the K-5, and the Tamron 70-300 lens cost me only £90, but at normal image size there is not noticeable noise in the image, and this was taken at iso3200...
  • Macro
    Macro Photography, A bite to eat

    Macro Photography, A Bite to Eat

    This picture, which I’ve called ‘Macro Photography, A bite to eat’, was taken with my Tamron 90mm 1:1 macro lens in a field quite near my house in Stevenage, Hertfordshire UK. The insect is a soldier beetle which was walking up the stalk of a plant when I took this picture from above looking down into the undergrowth. The actual picture has been swung through 180 degrees; the insect was actually walking up the back of the stalk, but I...
  • Macro
    Macro Photography - Hoverfly with Pollen 6

    Macro Photography – Hoverfly with Pollen

    Early last year I bought myself a Tamron 90mm 1:1 macro lens for my Pentax K-r. Subsequently I upgraded the K-r to a K-5 and the image above is one of the first which I took with this combination. It’s taken at quite a high iso and this is because the picture was taken using the unique feature of the Pentax K-5, which is the ability to set the shutter speed and the aperture and let the camera adjust the...

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