RAUK - Archived Forum - macro photography for reptiles

hi

does anyone here ever use a poper macro lens for photographing reptiles, even if you rarely get close enough for 1:1?

cheers

tim

cheers mark

do you ever use lighting so you can use a faster shutter speed?

tim

cheers mark

i'm interested that you find the sigma 150mm a bit heavy. i'm also interested that you find flash impacts on the integrity of your shots, although possibly only to the well-trained eye.

your comments have been very helful.

thanks

tim

cheers mark and dave

next question is...would you say a decent 200mm lens is long enough or would you recommend a 300mm one.

cheers

tim

thanks lee

yes...cropped sensor so 200mm should be fine.

cheers

tim

Hi Tim etc - to add my two penneth

Macro lenses are very useful as they provide a seamless way of getting in close. I have used a 200mm 'normal' lens with an extension tube for snakes to moderate success but macro lenses are more flexible.

Re shutter speeds - there is a 'rule of thumb' to avoid camera shake of using a shutter speed of 'one over' the focal length in mm. In these days of cropped cameras read effective focal length - so for a 150mm lens on full frame this would be the next speed over 1/150 which would be 1/250, for a crop frame it would be 1/225 [i.e. 150x1.5=225] which in this instance would also be 1/250. The sigma 150mm is very good (as are most prime macro lenses in fact) and is heavy but this can help mitigate camera shake as the setup has more mass/inertia!

Technique also helps reduce shake, use a tripod, bean bag, coat, rucksack etc. If using a tripod/bean bag (and if you have enough time!) use the camera's mirror lock-up or live view, along with a cable release - which helps remove movement caused by 'mirror bounce'.

Many people do use flash to fill-in light the subject and allow smaller apertures/greater depth of field. The 'look' this creates is subject to personal preference. Flash durations are so short that this will help with camera shake - although if there is enough natural light coming in at the same time you can still get blur.

HTH Dominic

Common lizard, 90mm macro on Canon crop DSLR, 1/160 sec handheld. F5

Hi

 Virtually all my reptile photographs are hand held, I simply lean on something such as my knee or rucksack if I need extra stability. If I'm out and about I tend to take a thick, large bin bag rolled up in my kit bag to throw on wet or prickly areas so I can get in close.

 I mainly use a Canon 60mm F2.8 lens for most of my macro photography, although the Sigma 70-300 comes in handy when I cant get close. I do carry a ring flash with me for those times when lighting is poor, but rarely need to use it out doors

Some of my pics, all from my garden - aren't I lucky

great pics folks and thanks for the advice/help.

tim

Hi Tim.

I use a Nikon D200 with a Micro-Nikkor 200mm f2.8, which is effectively 300mm in old 35mm film terms.  It's a "proper macro lens" but only goes to 1:2 without extension tubes (which I have but have never used for herps).  I've got some pretty good results, but in the proper hands my set up would give "pro quality".  I also have a 105mm Micro-Nikkor but have never successfully used it for herps, as I find I need the extra length of the 200mm - someone with better field skills may find the 105mm okay.  A big problem I find with the 200mm is lack of depth of field.  Dominic's Common Lizard photo shows this extremely well.  I have used a single flash to allow a small aperture with reasonable results.

Cheers,

Tim.

Nice pics Brett,  I too have a Sigma macro. Its the 105mm.  It has performed well although I feel that in some situations I now need a better flash to increase the depth of field, and increase the shutter speed to get sharper shots.