These orchids were captured at a flower show. Generally flower shows are an excellent venue to practice your close up and macro photography.

This image above has been captured with a Nikon D2H camera and the Nikon 105mm Micro lens. Close up lenses such as this from both Canon and Nikon make a huge difference in capturing nice flower images.

Tulip

I love tulips, they are probably one of my favourite flowers. This one has been captured at  a recent flower show I went to , the Toowoomba Flower Carnival. The image was captured with the Nikon D700 camera and 105mm Micro lens. Even though this is a close up lens I used it all day also for distant subjects and it performed by producing images that made me happy.

I hope you like it.

I love trying different lenses and seeing the different effects you can get. For instance with longer lenses you can get very nice selective focus, also great selective focus can be achieved with shorter focal length lenses but with large apertures. Different focal length lenses also give different perspectives of the subject. I have quite a bit on these topics here.

Poppies

A group of poppies which I captured at a recent flower carnival. The image has been taken with a Nikon D700 and 105mm Micro lens, this is one lens which I use and love due to its close focussing capability.

There are lots of different focal length macro lenses available but I seem to favour the 105mm. There are many examples of different lenses and cameras both Nikon and Canon where you can compare practical images and you need to give thought to practical issues such as minimum focussing distance and the magnification required.

Toowoomba Flower Carnival

Yesterday I went to the Toowoomba Flower Carnival, it was a beautiful mass of colours and patterns. The only equipment I used was the Nikon D700 and 105mm Micro lens.

I carried my backpack of photographic equipment around all day, but the only lens I used was the Nikon, Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED AF-S VR Micro Lens. It goes to prove that one single fixed focal length lens can be very flexible.

There was an amazing variety of flowers and I loved the multi coloured flower beds in different shapes.

There are general tips and reviews on photography at All Digital Photography.

Leaves

I love walking around and capturing a few images as I pass by. These leaves caught my eye and I could not resist a picture with the Sun glistening on them.

The camera used was a Nikon D700 camera and I used a Nikon 105mm f/2.8, VR, Micro lens, this is a wonderful lens.  The type of camera I used is not very important as most digital cameras today offer very similar features, but sometimes the lens is important. A Macro (Canon speak) or Micro (Nikon speak) will help you get to focus closer to your subject in close up Macro photography.

I love getting close and getting an intimate view and the Micro lens is wonderful for that. I also have a 200mm Micro lens and that one is better for insects and stuff like that where the subject is likely to fly away if I get too close, the 200mm lens gives a greater working distance from the subject. The 200mm is better for subjects like lizards and snakes where I do not wish to get too close.

Cats Paw

This Cats Paw, , flower has been photographed with a Nikon D2H camera and a 105mm Micro (Macro) lens.

Whether you shoot Nikon or Canon there are lenses to suit your needs, see some reviews at the following pages:

There are many lens options when shooting macro so choose carefully, the longer the macro lens the more clearance you have in camera to subject distance.

Orchid Flower, Toowoomba

An orchid flower photographed at Toowoomba, using a Nikon D2H and 105mm Micro lens.

http://www.alldigi.com/

It is always difficult to select the correct lens, even considering close up lenses there are many to choose from, in the Nikon range there are around 4-5 Micro lenses for close up photography. There is a great guide to most of the Nikon lenses at these Nikon Lens Reviews.

With close up lenses consider the focal length and how far from the subject you can approach, the longer the lens the more distance you have from the subject. This is important with subjects which may be frightened easily. With close up Micro lenses the longer the lens, the more difficult it is to stabilise the lens and camera to get sharp images.

There is a good range of Nikon lenses for flower photography with many being reviewed at Nikon Lens Reviews on the Digital Photography site.