Photo Clinic, Part 8
| Introduction | Photo Basics | Equipment | In the Water | Flash |
| Composition | Sick Photos | Close-up Lens | Macro | Wide Angle |
Close-up Photography:
A closeup lens lets you take pictures of medium-sized objects
much closer than the standard lens allows. (A standard 35 mm lens can only focus up to
2.75 feet away.) Some cameras have a "macro" focusing mode you can switch
to underwater, others require the addition of an external lens.
I call my closeup lens "the Fish-Butt lens," because
that's the typical picture you'll get. Chasing fish with the camera never works. Neither
does jabbing the camera at them at the last minute (to get the focal distance right). To
take closeup pictures of small fish, you need to settle down, breathe slowly, and wait
until the fish get used to you and come closer to investigate.
| What can a closeup set do for you? | |
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| In this photo of the bottom of Burreston Pond, the 35 mm lens
captures the general scene, with pond weed and "boiling" springs at the bottom.
Notice the bluish tint caused by the intervening water. Burreston
Pond, Bruce Argyle, August 1998 |
Now we attach a closeup lens. By getting close, we can see
the true color and texture of the pond's bottom. We can see the minnow among the tiny
weeds, which was invisible to the 35 mm lens. Burreston Pond,
Bruce Argyle, August 1998 |
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The closeup lens is great for invertebrates like snails, starfish, limpets, and urchins. And because the focus is less critical, these pictures blow up nicely. I never use my larger macro extension tube, because the closeup lens gives me better pictures. Kelp snail at San Clemente Island |
With a closeup lens focused at 14 to 18 inches, your picture area will be about five inches high by eight inches wide. This makes it a good choice for smaller fish, or for "face shots" of larger fish. The Nikonos also lets you use the closeup lens on your 28 mm lens, increasing the picture area for shots of slightly larger fish (the focusing distance remains the same).
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The Sea & Sea Seamaster Pro EX has a switch on the focusing knob that pops a tiny lens behind the main lens. You can now focus at 18 inches. This is handy. But there's no framer, so you aim through the viewfinder and guess the distance. |  |
For the Nikonos V, a close-up lens and framer will cost you around $200. The closeup lens focuses the camera about 14 inches in front of the lens. Does a Nikonos V with the closeup lens give you better pictures than a Sea & Sea camera with a built-in closeup switch? I don't know.
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This closeup lens kit installs over a 35-mm or 28-mm lens. (A larger framing wire is used with the 28 mm.) The sleave on the back of the closeup lens slides over the camera lens, and a screw tightens the sleave. The smaller silver rod slides onto the bracket on top of the camera, and the knobs tighten it up. The larger silver rod installs on the bracket on the bottom of the closeup lens, and the wire framer fits in the grip on the end of the rod. |
Shooting closeup photos with the MX-10 can be a bit tricky. You have two options:
| (MX-10 Option 1) For subjects that are around two to three feet away, you
can shoot in standard mode and close down the aperature. Use a fast film, such as 400 Max
print film. Close down to f-11 or even f-16 for bright subjects. The smaller aperature
allows a greater depth of focus, bringing the nearby subject into focus. Bluegill and diver at Blue Lake, shot with an MX-10 at f-16 using Kodak 400 Max film. Photo by Mike Engberson, September 1998 |
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(MX-10 Option 2) Use the macro conversion lens made for the MX-10. Although the kit is marketed as a "macro" lens, the picture size is rather large, and not really suitable for very small subjects. The picture size of this lens is about the same as the framer for the Nikonos closeup kit. |
Like macro extension tubes, the closeup lens uses a set focal length and aperature letting. My Nikonos closeup kit uses focus at infinity and aperature at f-22. I actually engraved "f-22, 1/60, infinity" on the side of my lens so I'd remember to set the camera correctly. The f-22 setting gives you some (about 8 inches) depth of field. However, if your lens-to-subject distance is perfect, you can play with the aperature setting to balance the ambient light.
The close-up lens is useful for portraits of smaller fish, like this juvenile garibaldi. The trick is getting their noses into the framer. Because, at f-22, the focus is less critical, you can fire the shutter with your subject slightly behind the framer. For this picture, the garibaldi was actually about 8 inches away from the framer. Juvenile garibaldi picture taken 1992 by Steven Argyle,
Catalina Island |
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This picture shows the closeup kit installed on a Nikonos V with 35-mm lens and two YS50 strobes. But I'll let you in on a secret: I don't use my system like this. I take the bottom rod and framer off. I mount two tiny flashlights on the strobe tray. The lights are aimed so, when the two beams converge on a fish's nose, he's exactly in the middle of where my framer WOULD have been. When I see a "bigger shot" I want, I stick the closeup lens in my BC pocket. I put it back on when I see a good closeup shot. |
| Want to see how you can make "aiming lights" from two UK Q-40 mini dive lights and a buck's worth of hardware? Click here for complete construction instructions! |
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Well, here's another option: tape two "penlight" size dive
flashlights to the top of your strobes so the flashlights (and strobes) aim directly at
the center of your framer. Then take the framer off and go diving. (This method has one
disadvantage: If a strobe is accidentally moved, you'll have no idea where to aim your
camera.) Garibaldis much a purple urchin at Ana Capa Island |
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Click on the
garibaldi |
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About the author: Bruce Argyle is the hassled father of 7 children. There's no truth to the rumor that he scuba dives just to get away from them, because his four older boys are divers, too. Dr. Argyle began taking bad scuba slides after he got discouraged about his bad scuba videos.
