Close-Up Photography

Images & Text © 1994-97 Jay J. Pulli





A few years ago I bought a Nikon 105mm f2.8 AF-D Micro Nikkor lens to rekindle my interest in close-up photography. I remember enjoying using my father's old 55 mm Macro Nikkor when I was a kid, an extraordinarily sharp lens. Somwhere in the vast expanses of my junk I still have the negatives I used to shoot with it on the beaches of Wellfleet, MA. But now that my 40-ish eyeballs are suffering from too much computer work and I'm into AF systems, I figured I'd buy the 105. Hey, there was a $50 rebate at the time.

Close-up photography is a lot harder than I remember. When you get close-up, your depth of field shrinks to millimeters, and autofocus becomes useless. Sure, the camera will focus, but the point of focus that it will chose often renders the image different from what you had in mind. Yes, you can stop the lens down to f22, but the viewfinder is awfully dark then. Add the slightest wind and you're really in trouble. Good close up photography takes planning and luck.

Out here in the suburbs of Washington D.C., growing roses is a popular pastime. Not with me though, I only grow things I can throw on top of pasta. But I certainly appreciate my neighbor's efforts to provide me with subjects to photograph. There was virtually no wind this day, and the late afternoon warm light provided perfect illumination. Nikon N90, 105 mm f2.5 AFD Micro Nikkor, Fuji Velvia film, Bogen 3221 tripod.

When conditions are favorable, these large purple weeds grow like weeds in my neighborhood, attracting dozens of swallow-tail butterflies. They seem to come out about 5 PM, just when I'm getting home from work and looking for an excuse not to get back on the computer. For these images, I used an on-camera SB-25 Speedlight for fill. Holding the light off-camera with an SC-17 Sync Cord would probably have been better, but these guys move and I had a hard enough time keeping up with them without worrying about a camera in one hand and a flash in the other. It helps to have an assistant in these situations. Nikon N90, 105 mm f2.5 AFD Micro Nikkor, Fuji Velvia film.

I usually try to avoid taking pictures at high noon, but when I first bought the new micro, I took it along with me during my lunchtime stroll. I ran across these three tulips; the overhead sun shown right down into the tulip bulbs, giving them a sort of internal lightbulb. This was accentuated by the dark green background in the shade. It's one of my favorites. The lavendar was shot in my garden. When it's in bloom, it attracts bees like crazy, but they move so fast that I've never really gotten a good shot of them.




These last three shots were taken during my May 1997 trip to Cape Cod, MA. It was real windy that week, and close up photos were hard to obtain. Sensia 100 film.



Apparently Nikon is about to introduce a 70-180 f4.5-5.6 AFD zoom Micro Nikkor lens with ED glass and a built in tripod collar that focuses down to 1.25 ft. It should be a great lens, but I'll guess that it will be at least $1200.

Please visit my other photography sites which you can access from my main Photo Page. These include my Italian Image of the Week, images of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, my Cecilia Bartoli site, my Lighthouses of Cape Cod site, and my Scottish Games site. If you are interested in my technical work in acoustics and seismology, see my Home Page