Yarrow by Derek Lilly, using this technique (photo of the week for 28/07/06)
I first tried macro photography around 40 years ago when, after reading an article in - I believe it was Conde Nast's monthly Photography magazine - they wrote of reversing a standard lens of the front of a tele-photo.
We were at that time doing an archaeological dig and had come across a small blue bead of the Romano-British period, about the size of a match head, and also some nails from the bottom of a boot.
I already had an 85mm f1.8 for my Pentax S3 so I bought a reversing ring. It was 55mmx49mm to use my standard lens reversed. This picture came out OK but was vignetted. However I was very pleased with the result on Colour slide.
When I turned to digital camera I found the Tamron 28-300mm lens would bring me in to ¼ life size. With my Promaster 1.7 converter this became approximately ½ life size but I could still not get the enlargement I wanted. I already had a set of dioptre lenses which I had used on my Minolta 9000 but then thought of my old Pentax set-up.
Unfortunately the Tamron has a 62mm screw and the consequent step up etc. rings were rather a nuisance because they would bind tight at times.
I mentioned on the Thinkcamera forum about reversing rings because I had seen none in the photo-shops adverts. Mikey73 suggested to me that Cokin filter adapters back to back glued together would do instead. I bought 2 of the P series and tried this out. It worked very well with the larger flange giving me a good grip and preventing any binding onto the lenses.
As the converter will not allow autofocusing I set my camera to manual and the focus to the closest point. I move in by supporting the lens under the reverser and using my hand as a pivot, this steadies any movements of the camera.
For background I use a piece of foam packing from a parcel which I had through the post. This gives a curved shape which shows no lines. Colour varies from grey to black according to light fall-off.
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The made-up reversing ring on the standard Pentax lens.
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The general set-up but with the flash closer than it is actually used. The further back the flash is the less noticeable the fall-off of light across the subject from it. (Inverse Square law)
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When you are taking with the reversed lens the field of view is very small. The lens itself is the distance of the pentax on-camera fitting to the film plane. therefore you are very close to the subject. This small halogen light makes it possible to locate from a distance, and then lead in to the subject, more easily.
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The actual flower which was photographed. The stamens spread to only 4-5 mm. The 'petals' at the most 10mm.
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