For my birthday this year I bought myself some extension tubes that let me get some crazy close-up images. I had a lot of fun testing them out! They are a set of 3, each with varying levels of millimeter length. I’ve found that even the smallest of the bunch (the 12 mm one) is suitable for over 80% of the closeups that I take.
Of course I started off with flowers, as they have been a blur to my lenses for years!
A flower fill the frame!
The minuscule distance between my lens and the subject allows me to grab textures otherwise unnoticed in more "distant" photos. This is really apparent when I hold a leaf up in the fading sunlight:
A leaf in the fading light
Insects were previously off limits as well. Fortunately I ran into this little guy on a walk outside:
Dragonfly
The grit and grain of everyday objects becomes more apparent the closer you get:
Fire hydrant
On that same day I took some time walking around Reston Town Center with my regular lenses. I was inspired and motivated by the ones I was taking with the tubes! Here’s a view of the concrete in the parking garage on Democracy Drive:
Democracy...Drive
If you can't already tell from the above picture, I like my black & whites contrasty. Thus:
Parking garage
Here’s the whole gallery of pics I took that day:
