My Best Lens for Flower Photography is a 640mm

November 10, 2010 @ 3:52PM

My Best Lens for Flower Photography is a 640mm

The Canon EF 100-400mm lens on an APS-C body can give you a new view on the flowers around you

By Jose Antunes

When people look at my flower photography they think “macro or close up", but really, a lot of my pictures are made at a distance of 1.8 meters from the flower. With a 640mm.

Recently George Lepp mentioned here that the best lens for a wildlife photographer is the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM. I have to agree with him because I’ve been living with one since film days, paired with an old EOS 5, and with different digital bodies, Full Frame and APS-C since I first bought the EOS D30, just after it came out in early 2000.

Now, because I am using APC-C sensors I can say that my 100-400mm works like a 640mmm on its longer side. So Iam taking pictures of flowers with a long lens. A very long one, in fact. Now, if you look around you will find that this lens is pointed out as good for wildlife, landscape, sports and airshows (I know, I’ve been photographing air shows for some years… and this is my lens of choice too) but not flowers. I guess the fact that its maximum magnification at the closest focus (1.8 meters or 5.9') is .2x dictates that people don’t care much about it. Well, I do.

In fact, although I do my flower photography with an old 100mm f/2.8 macro lens from Canon that does not have USM or IS (and I am still happy using it after all these years), and also wide-angles (10-22 or whatever) and anything else in between, even my old 50mm f/1.8, when I look at pictures taken with my Canon gear I find out that the 100-400mm is used for a lot of shots. And some of the shots I like best.

I love to get out of focus backgrounds with lots of colors or just a uniform different tone, and I also tend to use foliage, other flowers or weed between the lens and the subject to get a kind of defocusing screen that gives an ethereal look to some images. You can not get that effect all the time, but it’s something of a second nature for me to look for a way to get it, naturally, in my pictures.

On my recent eBook about flowers, packed with examples of what one can do with compact cameras, Micro Four Thirds and DSLR APC-S and Fullframe bodies and lenses, I try to explain the tricks used for my flower photography. There’s some technique in use, but most of the tips are about getting the best you can from just around the corner, and also discovering that to do flowers justice you can not snap and go. You’ve to sit down, talk with them, watch the breeze and wait until everything sets in place. It’s only then that you begin to see the images around you. Then, I guess my 100-400mm is all the technique I need sometimes.

If the subject interests you, please check my new eBook, Flowers.... the way I see them - A Guide to discover your own path through photography.

Comments

Alton Marsh

1 year ago

Hi, Jose,
I bought your beautiful book, but now I can't print it because you have the file locked. Is there anyway I can print it so I can read it without having to sit at the computer?

Jose Antunes

Pixiq Expert

1 year ago

Hi Alton

Thanks for choosing my book, I hope it gives you a new vision about photographing flowers. It was written as an answer to those that want to go beyond the simple snapshot. But it hopes to show that there is more than technique in all the things we photograph.

As for printing, the PDFs have been created for onscreen viewing only. Printing of the book's pages is disabled in these PDFs.

Thanks, anyway, for contacting me. I'll remember to place a note about the pdf printing on future books. Anyway, as with almost everything that shows on a computer screen, you can use "print screen" and get some printable pages. They'll be easy readable, although the pdf resoluton is not high. After all it's an eBook.

Hope this solves your problem.

Regards

Alton Marsh

1 year ago

Thanks. Do you still own all the cameras you used? What cameras were used to make the book? Do you still have the point-and-shoot, four thirds, APS-C DSLR and full frame cameras or did you stop using one or more of the types? Would like brand names. You book is very helpful. I do have the 100-400mm thanks to a posting on this site. It jus arrived and I'll have fun using it. May need to wait for spring to find flowers, though.-Al Marsh, Frederick, MD

Jose Antunes

Pixiq Expert

1 year ago

Hi again Alton

My older film cameras are resting nowadays. But I could never part with them... or most of them. I've quite a few, from Canon FTb to T90, also some compacts, a Polaroid, and a mediumformat, and a Nikon F90 with a set of lenses and flash that I used intensively for some time. I also have a great Minolta APS Vectis S1 SLR which my wife enjoyed for a long time.

Digital has taken over since 2000, when I bought the D30. The flower book has pictures taken with an APS-C, the type of camera I use mostly, but it has pictures taken with everything from a Canon EOS 1Ds to a Casio Z2000. You find some notes on the some of the pictures, as examples of what can be done. Also Micro Four Thirds cameras from Olympus and Panasonic I've been testing since they came out. And I've a PEN E-PL1... but mostly what I've is a passion for photography.

The 100-400mm is a great lens. I also use it for airplanes, as I was editor of an aviation magazine for some six years and used to go to airshows.

Alton Marsh

1 year ago

Interesting, Jose. I am a senior editor with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association "AOPA Pilot" magazine. I'm sitting here feeding aviation news stories to our broadcast live on AOPA.org from our annual convention --this time in Long Beach. This is the last day. I do hope to get more involved in photography publications.

If you are testing the Olympus, Panasonic, and PEN, which one impresses you most?

Jose Antunes

Pixiq Expert

1 year ago

Small world. I edited Sirius, a Portuguese professional airline pilots magazine from 2002 until 2008, and I've worked as picture editor/writer for a new printed project, Flight Magazine, that now is moving online. I've always loved airplanes since I was a kid, so it's natural to photograph them too. Iam a Flight Simulator "virtual pilot". :-)

I've tested all the Panasonic M4/3 cameras but the recent GF2. And I also tested all the Olympus. I bought a Lumix G1 when it came out, felt it was great... and still do. Love the fact it has a viewfinder, even if it's electronic. I also have an Olympus PEN E-PL1 that I use mostly - the Lumix was for my wife. I "hate" that the E-PL1 has no viewfinder. Sometimes I say it is just a camera for Autumn because in sunny days you can not see a thing in the LCD.

I love both the G1 and the E-PL1. I guess Panasonic has the edge on some aspects, but I don't like the "dumbing down" and the touch screen on the new GF2. This said, I've to love my E-PL1. The studio like shot with white background you find in my ebook on flowers was done with the E-PL1... at 500 ISO. And with the kit lens. It says it all.

Regards