Once I got over the first sticker shock for macro photography equipment, I sat down and thought about what to do. $1500 for something I wasn't even all that excited about was out of a question, so the first thing to figure out whether I even really wanted to pursue it any further.
That meant more googling for examples of macro photography beyond pretty flowers and bug-eyed...uh...bugs, and finally, I came across this:
Instead of manipulating the scene or dwelling on technical sophistication, Miki Asai puts emphasis on the"(photographer's) own passion and patience" as the most important element of macro photography. This photo was taken in her backyard after a rain storm. She noticed rain water that accumulated in a pan and an ant crawling on its edge. She carefully dropped pebbles in the water to entice the ant to walk on them and get to the water.
Asai's simple yet distinctive aesthetic style, reminiscent of Japanese flower arrangements, and her respect for living subjects really inspired me. "I am trying to show the world the beauty of small things normally unseen," says she. And she accomplishes this with pretty basic gear: Canon EOS Rebel T3i (entry-level DSLR) with EF-S60mm F2.8 macro USM (a middle-of-the road macro lens) on a good tripod, with some cropping and color adjustment on Adobe Lightroom.
I get it now. It's not the camera that takes the picture, stupid!
Nonetheless. It seemed like there was no way around some initial investment for me to pursue this form of photography. Some beginner's guides mentioned point-and-shoot cameras with macro settings; I also read about a couple of "cheap" tricks, like using extension rings and reversing the regular lens. For a quick second, I thought about my 15 year old Pentax K100, which I hadn't even touched for good six, seven years, but decided that it was far too outdated to be useful. Besides, $100-200 I put into these inexpensive options will become obsolete very quickly if I decide to get serious. If I lose interest, then, they will go into my digital equipment grave yard (where I store outdated cell phones, tablets, camcorders, etc.).
Then, I thought of my Pixel 2 camera, which takes pretty darned good pictures. A couple of years ago, I bought a set of clip-on lenses that attached to cell phones. They were really cheap (like $12 for three lenses), and the macro lens didn't work at all. But are there anything better out there that can at least give me a little taste of macro photography? This was an attractive possibility for me. Even if I end up getting DSLR, I'll always use my phone for more casual photography and an attached lens will not go to waste entirely.
So I boldly went where everyone with such a question would go: Amazon.com.
Comments