Up Close with Nature

I was in Langkawi as one of the four guest speakers for the Langkawi Birding & Fotofest (Nov 19 - 21). As soon as I arrived at the hotel at Datai Bay in the evening on the 18th, one of the friendly staff there showed me a colugo perching on a tree near the hotel porch. I had only the Tamron 17-50 with me though at that time. This was shot with the pop-up flash at high ISO. Not a good one but okay

I have tried photomerging 3 or 4 images into one in CS3 before but I have never tried 6. Besides, all my previous photomergings were done in a single axis i.e. either X axis or Y axis. However, just yesterday I took a 6 images of a mating pair of assassin bugs in both X and Y directions with the intention of photomerging them. Why photomerge? At its minimum magnification of 1:1, the MPE65 can

The MPE65 is a great macro lens which can go from 1:1 to 5:1, but it is strictly a macro lens and will not allow you to go lower than its minimum magnification of 1:1. Translation: if you use it on a cropped sensor i.e APS-C body like my 40D, you will see 22.2mm filling up the width of the frame at the MPE65's minimum magnification of 1:1. Of course, if you use the MPE65 on a full frame body

What is Extension Tube? Extension Tube is a great and comparatively inexpensive way to get started in macro photography. You can match it with a nifty fifty (50mm F1.8 lens) and get more than 1:1 magnification. You can also use it with your existing 1:1 macro lens and go beyond 1:1 magnification (life size). Extension Tube is available in Canon mount, Nikon mount, Sony mount etc. If you are not

A mating pair of  giraffe weevil / long necked beetle, Paracycnotrachelus sp. Ever since i spotted my first giraffe weevil back in March 8, 2008, I have been on the look out for for a mating pair. Finally, I got lucky on Oct 9, 2010. We found not just one but  two mating pairs on that day! If you search "giraffe weevil" on google.com, you can actually find my first giraffe weevil

There are a few ways to achieve more than 1:1 magnification. This is just one of them. I will be sharing a few other methods too soon. If you have been drooling over the MPE65 and MT24EX, drool no more! LOL. Thanks to KJ Teng for the heads-up. This may just be what you have been waiting for: It's called DMF Supermacro, a reverse lens adapter with twin flash. Note: the camera body and lens

Natural light macro / close-up photography tips: In this post, I will be sharing tips on shooting with natural light. Although all my shots here are macro and/or close-up shots, the same tips apply for non-macro photography as well, i.e. landscape, product, etc. Note: for flash macro/close up photography, check out this post. I seldom shoot with natural light with my MPE65. Even at its minimum