My take on Macro Photography

Jumping Spiders are my favorite :D SX50 HS with
Raynox DCR - 250

I must admit that there are times when you just run out of birds to shoot. There are days where the birds are just not quite into getting themselves photographed :D It's either you couldn't get close or you ended up somewhere where they are too scarce. I usually just drive around my island. I've been to a lot of access roads that are not frequently traveled in the hopes of finding birding spots. I usually travel alone in my trusty xrm 125. So I'm usually either parked by the side of the road or moving on slow and stopping when I find or hear something. I do venture out into some places every now and then leaving my bike behind - where its safe to leave it behind. Usually its somewhere I frequent and people are already familiar with me and me with them. As I've mentioned, there have been a lot of times when I don't find anything to shoot, until this one time when I decided - why not shoot flowers and insects? They're beautiful too! And the next thing that came in mind was Macro photography. So I got more curious about it and looked it up - How do I  get up close and how do I increase the magnification? What do I need to get for my SX50 (which was my only camera that time) to achieve macro shots?

This spider was about 3mm.

Googling got me into a lot of articles and found out that there was only one option for me to do macro with my SX50 - get a macro filter/diopter. I bought me a Raynox DCR-250. It is a snap on macro lens that allows you to get high magnification. Couple it with a 1200mm telephoto and a x2 digital teleconverter and you will be speechless...well not really...since when I tried it the first time I was cursing half the time and wowing and chimping on my lcd screen. It was so much fun I almost forgot about the birds.

I learned a lot from that experience and played around a bit to get myself more acquainted. First thing I realized was that the focusing was fixed. You yourself have to move. Also I had to hold my breath most of the time just to take a photo since all that high magnification also magnified the shake. Two, depth of field was really narrow. I could only go as far as F8. Three, you have to take a lot of shots. Trust me, you don't want to go home only to find out that most of your shots were really out of focus. It's better to have taken too many than to have taken too few and not one was in focus. Four, a tripod is useful for stationary subjects but if you're out there going for insects, a tripod will only be in the way. By the time you're done moving your tripod to get within focusing distance your subject won't be there. Mind you just a little bit of movement can already affect the focusing. So if you have your camera on a tripod, and you're trying to photograph a jumping spider - Good luck!

My SX50 HS with Raynox DCR 250 and DIY macro flash diffuser

As for lighting, well, natural light is still good. But using flash does make your photos look better - ea. Catchlight. I had to come up with my own DIY flash diffuser. And I came up with one made primarily from a plastic bottle and added in a plastic tab from a cotton swab container which I cut in a way where one end inserts into the hotshoe and the other has one end of a toothpaste tube cap glued to it. More about it on the next post.

Like I said - there was a point where I almost forgot about the birds. I was no longer giving them much attention as I used to since I was usually looking down looking for jumping spiders and other insects. It is a world of unseen beauty right under our noses, and I almost wanted to do Macro photography full time. Primarily because it was convenient - I didn't have to go far to find my subjects :D This was the start of me venturing more into photography.

Why shoot RAW?

There are times when you are caught unprepared specially when you're shooting outdoors. Sometimes the light won't cooperate like when you have a few clouds rolling by and the sun does a peek-a-boo game with you. Other times when a lifer or rare bird is perched out in the open and you set the right exposure and then it just flies right into a shaded area and you have no choice but to shoot with your current settings because you might just miss your chance. Sometimes it's the other way around. You have your exposure set for low light and all of the sudden the sun comes shining in.

Here's an example, shot with my 650D + 300mm F4L non-IS:

Over exposed - highlights blown out

Here's what raw can give you. Processed in Lightroom.

Shooting RAW has its drawbacks too.
1. It takes up a lot of your storage (size varies per camera).
2. It affects your buffer size.
3. You have to do the processing yourself. Which is actually an advantage too. But this can be a problem if you have to meet a deadline or if you are pressed for time.

There are more advantages and disadvantages. I can only share what I know. For me the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

How I got started with Photography and my first cameras

Here's how I normally use it for - Identification.
Female Blue Rock Thrush

I've been playing with a camera for a year now as of this writing. I was not really into it at first. How I got into photography started with Birding (link directs to my birding blog). I had to get me a camera that will help me photograph birds so I can identify them later on when I get home.

My Canon SX50 HS

My first camera is a Canon Powershot SX50 HS (i still have it).  I chose it because of its reach. For roughly $500 you have the reach of a telephoto lens with/without a teleconverter. With that same amount you can only get a new entry level dslr body with a kit lens. You could buy a used dslr and lens but the lens would probably be a 300mm the longest with bad, if not so-so image quality. With the SX50 and its 1200 mm optical zoom, it was the cheapest and ideal option available for me. And I was glad I bought it - because some birds are just too small and too shy. So the ability to zoom in and fill the frame was invaluable.  I didn't really mind image quality at first until I joined a facebook group for local bird photographers.  And that's how I started taking photography seriously.

Brown Shrike

I could get good photos with the SX50 provided I got close to the subject and get results that would rival or come close to what you can get with an entry-level dslr.  Getting close was always the best way to get better images.  I started comparing my photos with those with high-end dslrs and telephoto L lenses and said to myself - "well, you get what you pay for." It was not always the gear as most would say but a better camera would still matter if you want the best-quality images.  Since I couldn't afford to get a better camera I started educating myself further to improve with what I got. Google was my friend (and yours too :D) . I already knew that I should learn to shoot in Manual and what the other modes were for and when best to use them. I started shooting raw and learned how to post process.  And had a better understanding on how Shutter speed, Aperture and ISO worked together.  I saw a significant improvement with my photos over time, though for me they were still not quite there ( I'm pretty sure you can say the same =D ).


For a while I've been shooting with just my SX50 until I was able to save up and buy a used Canon 650 D and a 300mm F4L non-is. I find the 300mm reach really short for bird photography but a dslr coupled with a sharp prime has its advantages. I got the 650D for P20k and the 300mm F4L for P25k (that's around $1000 for both). It is still quite a fortune to spend but it was a bargain considering that the 300mm F4L non-is is considered one of the sharpest L lenses Canon has ever made. Originally priced at around $1000, I think. Which is about the same amount I spent on both body and lens. Some say it is sharper than the IS version. As for the body, it came with an extra battery, a bag, kit lens already had a uv filter, though it had around 20k actuations (checked using magic lantern), it was still a good buy. Oh, and it didn't come with that strap that hurts the back of your neck.  I heard it's discontinued with the introduction of the 700D. Which isn't much of an improvement of the 650D and still runs about P28k - with kit lens and P23k - body only. Anyway, I'll be sharing stuff on here with what I've learned so far and some DIY stuff too.