Spring is in the air, my friends. Flowers will bloom, birds will sing, and insanely expensive outfits that no one will ever wear will stroll the runway. Ahh, yes, I can envision it all now and that hat is ridiculous.
Surely, a good number of you will journey to the Flower and Garden Festival at EPCOT starting in as little as 14 days. Get your cameras ready to capture all those glorious colors.
For close-ups, you’ll need to use the Macro setting on your point and shoot. The symbol for Macro is a flower. That’s easy to remember. By using this setting, you’re informing your camera that you’re going to be very close to your subject and need it to focus at close range. Make use of natural lighting as much as possible.
As much as this photograph is near to the center of the flower, it’s possible to get even closer. The only croping I did was the way I shot the image. Nothing was changed later on.
These photos were taken with the Nikon Coolpix 7600.
For even tips on photographing topiaries, take a gander at my blog from last year.
Hi Debbie – Lisa’s on vacation now, that’s why you’re getting Scott and I! I was going to say the same thing Scott said. I back up and use my 18-200 lens.
Also, you could try using macro filters. They aren’t that expensive compaired to a macro lens. You won’t get quite as good a shot as you would with a macro lens, but it’ll be better than your lens alone. I’m considering these myself.
Another inexpensive option is to use a lens extender. The extender moves your lens further away from the camera’s sensor, which increases magnification.
If you search “lens extender versus filters for macro” on google you’ll find tons of forum discussions with good information.
I’ve gotten Macro-like photos using my 18-200mm lens. The trick is to use it from a distance whereas, with a macro lens, you can be very close to the subject.
Look up each of your lens’ specifications and see what the minimum focusing distance is for each. That will give you an idea how far away you’ll need to be when you are at Epcot.
Have fun!
Okay Lisa (and Barrie and Scott)–
This blog touches on something I have been wondering about this week. Great timing!
I am taking my Mom to the Flower Festival the weekend it opens. I have a Pentax SLR K100D w/three different lenses (kit lens, 50-100,and 50mm prime). NO MACROS.
I’m wondering how in the world I can get good close-ups of the blooms w/o a macro and cropping endlessly? Any good ideas??