Christmas Clean-up

Holiday tip: check those trash bags before you carry them out to the curb!

A Little Macro Primer - Close Up Filters

Want to try your hand at macro photography, but you are hesitant to drop $500 plus on a macro lens? Then this little demo is for you. I am going to explain two tools that I use when shooting macro. Neither one is terribly complex and by photographic equipment standards, both are fairly inexpensive.

In this first article, I want to talk about close up filters. I am always surprised that more people don't seem to know about these, because they are easy to use and carry, and can even be used with some point and shoot type cameras. In fact, I first tried these with a Fuji S5000, and then later purchased a set for my Nikon DSLR.



To use a close-up filter, you attach it to your lens just like you would any other filter. You can also add more than one of these filters at once, enabling you to greatly increase the magnification of your macro subject.

There is a quality cost for doing so, though. The higher the magnification, the more you will see chromatic abberation or color fringing around the edges of an object. To demonstrate this, I have taken photos of a couple of household objects at various magnifications.

Here is our base photograph taken with my Tamron lens @300mm.


Below on the left is pretty much the same shot, same lens, but with a +1 filter added (I did have to adjust the camera closer). As you can see, there is not a great deal of difference between the +1 and the base photo. When I add the +2 close up filter (right), the difference is a bit more obvious.


At +4 (left) you can see the color change around some of the edges of the ruler. On the right is a photo with all three filters stacked, for a +7 magnification.


Look closely at the shadow around the bottom of the ruler for a hint of blue that should not be there.


Macro photographers tend to work with a very narrow depth of field, and these filters are no exception. Aside from the color issue, you will notice that less and less of the ruler is in focus as our magnification increases. You can extend the depth to some extent by controlling the aperture.

With the set I own, you have to stack them with the lowest magnification closest to the lens, then build up. If you put the +4 on first, the next filter will rub against the glass, because the curvature of the glass extends beyond the depth of the mounting ring.


You should be able to find them at any good camera shop. If you want to find them online, check out Adorama.

What can you really do with these? See the photo below:

My next post on macro photography will cover reversing a lens to create a "macro" lens.

Visit my photography site at PatterPhotography.com

'Phlora and Phauna in Photos' Exhibit

Beginning November 28, I will have three pieces on display at the High Road Gallery in Worthington, Ohio. The exhibit features work by members of the Westbridge Camera Club and runs from November 28 - December 22, 2007. I had the opportunity to see a few other pieces when I dropped off my work while they were working quickly to set up the exhibit. I can't wait to see the whole body of work, there are some very talented photographers in the Columbus area! If you happen to be in the Columbus, Ohio area during December, be sure to check out the High Road Gallery.

Visit my photography site at PatterPhotography.com

Online Store in the Beginning Stages

I recently added the ability to purchase prints from this site. Click on the link to Purchase Prints or look for the purchase link as you click through the images. There are currently only a few prints available, but I will be adding more soon. If you are interested in a print that is not yet available, please email me.

Preparing for the High Road Gallery Exhibit

Beginning tomorrow, I will have three pieces on display at the High Road Gallery in Worthington, Ohio. The exhibit features work by members of the Westbridge Camera Club and runs from November 28 - December 22, 2007.

I spent a good bit of time preparing my work for the exhibit, but for the smaller pieces, I still managed to be finishing up at the last minute. My three main pieces are all 16x20 matted and framed. Believe it or not, that was the easy part, because I've done matting and framing before and because I went with the Johnny Cash approach. They are all three dressed in black. Black frames, black mat. There is a lot of competition for a viewer's attention at this exhibit, with at least 29 members of Westbridge signed up to participate. So my theory was to make the image as striking as possible, and a poor choice of mat color was not the kind of 'striking' I had in mind. Anyway, they look sharp, if I do say so myself.

What was more challenging for me was the matted prints that we could put in the bins, for sale. This was challenging because I didn't know exactly what to expect, or what was expected. However, the fine folks at the Westbridge Camera Club recently put on a matting and framing seminar (note: I am trying to be very careful with the spelling of matting. I am mortified that I might slip in the word 'mating' instead and end up with a lot of traffic coming in to The Patter). That, plus I figured the monthly photo contest format was a good clue as to how most people would present their work.

In the end I selected eight 8x10 prints, and took the easier, but more expensive route and used precut mats. That worked out just fine, except I needed board for the back of the matting. I checked around at some local arts and crafts shops, hoping to find something pre-cut, since I really was getting down to the wire after Thanksgiving. I also needed to find cellophane sleeves to cover the final work, so that the prints and mats would not be damaged by potential buyers as they look through the bins.

On the final day, I discovered that one of the local art supply stores, Prizm, carries the sleeves and they are cheap! They also carried mounting board in 11x14; however, they only had that size in the most expense material - a whopping $15 for 5 pieces. So I was going to be shelling out $30 for my eight prints. Good bye profit!

Luckily, I decided to try Jo-Ann Fabrics, which has a nice framing department. It turns out they sell the scrap matting, for needlepoint projects I think. But the stuff is acid free, archive friendly, etc., and $2 per 11x14 board. So now I'm out the door for $16, cool.

One last hurdle though. As I was finishing the mounting, I discovered my mounting boards from Jo-Ann's were almost all a bit oversized compared to the precut mats! So I ran back to Prizm (returning the expensive mounting board) and purchased this tool, a craft cutter. I had seen these elsewhere and liked the idea. Let me tell you, this thing made quick work of trimming the backer boards to size. I had everything put together, used the top mat as a guide, and ran the Carl Craft Cutter along the side. In 2 or 3 passes I had the mats sized nicely and neatly, and in a few more minutes, sealed in the cellophane sleeves.

All in all, it was a lot of work and a good bit of rushing around. But seeing the end results is worth it. Now I can't wait to see the whole exhibit!

September News

Lately I have been working on redesigning the site a bit, which includes
the addition of the new home page. I have added a new section, True Nature, in addition to the Nature gallery. My nature gallery tends toward the tranquil side of nature -
beautiful sunrises, macro shots of dragonflies. These are images I really enjoy seeking out and capturing.

But much of what I find is not so tranquil, it is a harsher aspect of nature. It may be one insect devouring another, a snakeskin being picked over by a bee, or just a heron with a fish in its mouth. Sometimes these images are even harder to capture than those in the Nature gallery, and I find them interesting and exciting in their own way.
Still, they seem incongruous displayed next to a quiet winter sunset, so
I have created a gallery for each. Please check back
for updates.

Welcome to The Patter!

For those who don't know, and this will include almost all of humankind, back in the 90's The Patter was a little humor magazine that I published. Published is probably too important a term, unless the term publishing means to you "a photocopy of a desktop published rag". In that case, the word 'publish' is right on the mark.

In any case, this was a little magazine that I wrote, illustrated and distributed to unsuspecting friends and family members for a time. After two or three years of 'The Patter', I stopped publishing 'The Patter' because I was certain something bigger was looming on the horizon. Something big that had to do with the internet. After more than a decade of intense research, I have determined that that 'something' is called 'blogging'. Now that 'blogs' have been popular for years, I am fairly certain that they are here to stay. Although by taking the step of starting this blog, I fully expect the entire blogging scene to collapse over night. So to the rest of the bloggers out there, I say, "I'm sorry".

Rather than being just a humor blog however, I intend for this incarnation of the Patter to focus a little on photography as well. Yes, right here in black and white, I will share some of my most embarrassing moments as a photographer. And maybe a few tips and tricks I've learned along the way.