By Rob Moody
Spring is a great time to use that macro lens. In gardens all over, the butterflies are starting to appear. You might already live in a part of the country where butterflies visit your backyard. If not, local botanical gardens might have a butterfly pavilion or event that happens in the spring time each year.
Of all the creatures or animals you could photograph, butterflies are one of the easiest to get good pictures of. They spend their time flying around gracefully visiting flowers for nectar. Early in the day they are less active and spend more time in one place. Butterflies are very colorful and make excellent subjects to sharpen your macro skills.

Using a more open f-stop like f/2.8 or f/4 will cause the background to be out of focus. I like an f/stop that will let you know what is in the background even though it is out of focus. I found that the images with the head and the antenna in focus were the most interesting.
In order to get more of the butterfly in focus, try arranging the composition so that the wingspan is on the same plane as your sensor. In this case, because the wings are flat and on the same plane as the sensor, most all of the butterfly is in sharp focus, while in the other two images the wings are only partially in sharp focus because the depth of field plane is not the same as the wings. This is like the difference between shooting a page of text strait on or from an angle.
Migrating from Mexico through the United States to southern Canada, the Monarch butterfly is the most common butterfly most of us see. While there were several of these butterflies for me to photograph, it was difficult to find perfect specimens without tattered wings. With a little patience and moving to change the surroundings, I was able to capture a few decent images.
If you would like to take pictures like the ones included in this blog, continue to read the macro tips area below.
Macro Tips
A macro lens inherently has a narrow depth of field (DOF). This shallow depth can be used to help separate the subject from the background. Many zoom lenses come with some macro capability.
See Macro Dime Diagram above - These zoom lenses typically offer one-half (1:2) to one-quarter (1:4) life-size reproduction. This means a dime in front of the lens creates a dime one-half (1:2) to one-quarter (1:4) of the actual life-size on the sensor in your camera.
Lenses sold as macro specific often times are fixed focal length and have the capability of capturing true life-size macro (1:1). This means a dime in front of the lens results in an image of the same dime life-size on the sensor in your camera.
See working distance graphic above - Something else to think about when selecting a macro lens is the working distance. The working distance is the distance in which the macro lens will obtain focus at 1:1 or life size reproduction. In the graphic, the Tamron 90mm macro lens has a working distance of 11.4 inches and the Tamron 180mm macro lens has a working distance of 18.5 inches away from the sensor in your camera. If your subject interest is spiders, snakes or other dangerous subjects, you may want to consider using a macro lens with more working distance for the work.
See Maximum Magnification above – In order to achieve maximum macro magnification, manual focus is best. Turn the focus ring until you see the 1:1 designation on the lens. This is the opposite of infinity. Lower the whole camera setup with your head onto the subject until focus is achieved. This is 1:1 macro. As stated, use a tripod for sharpest results.
When using a macro lens in auto focus mode, it is unlikely that you will obtain the maximum macro magnification of the lens. In order to obtain maximum macro magnification, follow the directions above.
I often times use a macro lens to get close to subjects, but in these cases maximum magnification is not the goal. While I believe it is important to understand the maximum magnification capability of a macro lens, I will often shoot the macro lens in auto focus mode to freely compose as I did in the butterfly images included. In these cases you are creating an image at less than 1:1 macro magnification, but it is still a close-up type macro image.
I created the images included in this blog with a Nikon D-700 and a Tamron 90mm 1:1 Macro lens. While the Tamron 90mm macro is one of my favorite lenses, I would also check out the Tamron 60mm f/2.0 macro 1:1 lens if I owned an APS-C sized sensor camera body. For more information on macro photography, investigate the Tamron Learning Center
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