Macro Photography - Reversing a Lens

In a previous post I talked about using diopter lens as a cheap way for doing Macro photography. Another option that is avaliable is reversing a lens. Any lens can be reversed to achieve some level of magnification. The shorter the focal length the higher the magnification.

For my Nikon D80 I bought the BR2A ring that screws into your lens filter threads on one side and then mounts on to your camera from the other. Thus enabling you to reverse your lens. The lens I use is a Sigma 28-70 mm zoom. At 28mm I get maximum magnification.

Here are some sample pictures taken using this technique:

Please note I have not done any significant cropping to enhance the size of this image or the following one.

Pretty impressive levels of magnification by spending just a few dollars for the BR2A reversing ring, isn't it?

Its not all that easy

Reversing a lens for macro photography is a cheap way to do Macros but its not always that easy. There are several issues with this approach:

• The problem with most macro photography is depth of field. As you get closer to the subject your depth of field gets lesser and lesser. What this means is that you aim at the head of a spider and you barely get a part of it, the rest of the spider is a blur. How do you solve this problem? Well you increase the f stop, i.e., reduce the aperture. Ahaa! but now you have two new problems, not enough light and you can't see a thing.
• As you reduce the aperture you get greater depth of field but you do not get enough light. So now you need to make sure you have plenty of light natural or with a flash. This is not always easily available if your subject is an insect in the wild.
• Also, when you reverse your lens you loose all camera functionality such as metering and aperture control etc. Now everything is manual. So when your lens is reversed and you reduce the aperture none of your camera's mechanisms are at work. So when you look through the viewfinder, i.e., through the lens very little light is coming through. In fact in some cases almost no light comes through. This makes it virtually impossible to focus. So now you have a catch 22 situation. Wide aperture, plenty of light, easy to focus, NO DEPTH of FIELD. Narrow aperture (large f number) great depth of field but no light for exposure, even worse, not even enough light to focus.

So is lens reversal a bad idea then? No, its all about knowing when to use a certain technique. Direct lens reversal is great for stationary subjects. This way you can focus first and then change the aperture to get some depth of field, then release the shutter. But if you are chasing a bee in your garden, this may not be the best approach.

So is there an affordable way to chase a bee in your garden and get great macro shots? Well I intend to try another form of lens reversal for that. More on that soon....