macro photography for reptiles

Hi Tim etc - to add my two penneth

Macro lenses are very useful as they provide a seamless way of getting in close. I have used a 200mm 'normal' lens with an extension tube for snakes to moderate success but macro lenses are more flexible.

Re shutter speeds - there is a 'rule of thumb' to avoid camera shake of using a shutter speed of 'one over' the focal length in mm. In these days of cropped cameras read effective focal length - so for a 150mm lens on full frame this would be the next speed over 1/150 which would be 1/250, for a crop frame it would be 1/225 [i.e. 150x1.5=225] which in this instance would also be 1/250. The sigma 150mm is very good (as are most prime macro lenses in fact) and is heavy but this can help mitigate camera shake as the setup has more mass/inertia!

Technique also helps reduce shake, use a tripod, bean bag, coat, rucksack etc. If using a tripod/bean bag (and if you have enough time!) use the camera's mirror lock-up or live view, along with a cable release - which helps remove movement caused by 'mirror bounce'.

Many people do use flash to fill-in light the subject and allow smaller apertures/greater depth of field. The 'look' this creates is subject to personal preference. Flash durations are so short that this will help with camera shake - although if there is enough natural light coming in at the same time you can still get blur.

HTH Dominic

Common lizard, 90mm macro on Canon crop DSLR, 1/160 sec handheld. F5

great pics folks and thanks for the advice/help.

tim

Nice pics Brett,  I too have a Sigma macro. Its the 105mm.  It has performed well although I feel that in some situations I now need a better flash to increase the depth of field, and increase the shutter speed to get sharper shots.