Pam's Canon 60D with Canon 60mm f/2.8 macro lens tripod mounted photographing one of my turtles (inset)Before I entered the DSLR world I had an Olympus 5060 bridge camera. One of the reasons I held onto it for so long was because of its articulating LCD screen. I was just really useful for low angle and high angle shots. Pam's Canon 60D has a flip-out LCD screen that makes macro photography much more comfortable, if not just plain easier. For our fourth of four DSLR Photography Lessons I met her at the usual downtown St. Petersburg spot for a lesson on the very difficult macro photography.
Here is what I used to think: just buy a macro lens, and boom, you can get those insect shots where you see each segment of the insect's eye. Umm, no. In reality those shots use a very complex setup and either a dead, or at least drugged, insect.
For our lesson we used the available flora around Beach Drive, which provided a surprisingly ample selection from berries on an evergreen bush, to red flowers not yet in bloom, to a full bloom bird of paradise flower.
Rain did force us back into cover on the Museum of Fine Arts' front promenade, but that was fine as I was ready for such an occassion for inside my pocket nestled one of my turtle friends who normally resides on my desk. These shooting conditions also allowed use of Pam's 430 EX II external flash. Without the flash, we needed an exposure of two minutes to produce a well exposed shot! With the flash, we were able to use 1/60th of a second.
Though this was the last lesson of a 4-pack of lessons, Pam will sign-up for another 4-pack and continue our weekly lessons next week debuting her new Canon 70-200mm f/4 lens. Thanks Pam and I look forward to introducing you to some of my pelican friends at The Pier!
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