Last week, I wrote about knowing your camera, and I emphasized the benefits of learning one piece of equipment at a time. However, accessories can help you obtain better photographs, but you must decide what to purchase and how much gear you want to carry. You may decide to create different accessory bags for the various types of photography you do. I have broken accessories into a few categories based on their purposes.
Magnification
I use extenders (teleconverters) and extension tubes, although they differ in the way they operate. An extender is a magnifier and consists of a short barrel with optical glass inside. When coupled with a camera and a medium-to-long lens, an extender serves as a high-quality magnifying glass, which enlarges the image that travels to the sensor and memory card. Most extenders are available in the approximate range of 1.4x, 1.7x, and 2x. There are less expensive third-party extenders, but I purchase name-brand extenders that match my camera because they are built following the strict specifications of the camera brand. When you use an extender, you lose light. This means you must compromise by increasing your ISO setting, opening the aperture of your lens, slowing your shutter speed, or choosing a combination of these controls.
An extension tube differs from an extender in that it does not contain optical glass inside. Dedicated extension tubes have electronic nodes that communicate settings between the camera and lens. When you use an extension tube, you effectively change the focal length of any lens by moving the lens away from the camera and closer to the subject. The lens now focuses closer than what the lens normally does on its own and adds magnification. The more tubes you add, the closer you can move toward your subject and the closer you can focus. This provides more magnification, but, as with the extender mentioned in the previous paragraph, you lose light and must address this in your camera settings. I often add an extension tube to my telephoto lenses while working from photo blinds, which allows me to photograph birds closer than the long lenses normally allow me to focus. Such is the case with the yellow-billed cuckoo image at the top of this email (Coccyges americanus).
Filters
Years ago, filters were used more frequently than now because now, many filter functions are achievable in camera or during post-processing. Magnifying, circular polarizer, UV (ultraviolet), and ND (neutral density) filters are attached to a lens by screwing them onto the threads of the front of the lens.
Magnifying filters (also called close-up lenses or diopters) are technically very short lenses that screw onto the front of your lens. As the name suggests, a magnifying filter acts like a magnifying glass for the lens you are using. A close-up lens effectively decreases the focal length of your lens and prevents it from focusing to infinity. One advantage of a filter like this is that there is no loss of light, compared to an extension tube (mentioned above).
Circular polarizer filters are dark, rotating filters that work similarly to polarized sunglasses. They reduce reflections, haze, and glare as you rotate the filter at the end of your lens. The resulting photos contain deep, saturated colors, bright blue skies, and reduced or eliminated reflections on surfaces such as water.
UV filters are made of clear glass and protect the front element of your lens. I believe that if your lens is equipped with a lens shade or hood and you are not accident prone, you probably do not need a UV filter. The lens shade or hood buffers the lens from bumps and mishaps.
ND filters are dark, smoky filters that control the amount of light that passes through the lens, which allows for a slower shutter speed and movement of subjects such as water and clouds. These filters are rated on how much light they block. For example, an ND2 filter allows one-half (1/2, or 50 percent) of the existing light to enter. An ND4 filter allows one quarter (1/4, or 25 percent) of the existing light to enter. If the normal exposure for a scene is 1/100th of a second, you could add an ND2 filter to achieve 1/50th of a second (one stop of light), an ND4 filter to achieve 1/25th of a second (two stops of light), and so on. ND filters do not affect color, contrast, or sharpness. Some modern, mirrorless cameras (Olympus, for one) have a “Live ND” feature incorporated into the camera, which uses composite technology.
Close-Up Accessories
I own many accessories that help me capture the details of small or tiny creatures. This is a deep topic that would require a book to cover, so I have condensed my thoughts here, starting with light modifiers.
Regular, off-camera flashes work well for large subjects, especially if you place the flashes in different positions to direct the light and use transmitters to trigger them. However, flashes specifically designed for close-up photography work better on small subjects. I have owned and used ring flashes, twin flashes, triggered flashes, and more. My favorite flash for close-ups is a twin flash system, one with a ring that attaches to the front of the lens with a small, movable flash mounted on each side of the ring. You control the direction and output of the flashes, which model the lighting and create a natural look. In my early flash days, I purchased a ring flash, which produced an obvious, white, donut-shaped light in the bright eyes of the creatures I photographed (even spiders!). You may have noticed these “white donuts” in the eyes of people who use ring lights in their social media videos!
For a softer look than what flashes provide, I use reflectors and diffusers. Double-sided, collapsible reflectors are available in combinations of hard gold, soft gold, silver, white, and even black. Close-up photographers often work alone, so reflector holders come in handy. In capturing this ultra-close-up photograph of an Aztec dancer damselfly (Argia nahuana), I bounced light onto it with a soft gold reflector. Otherwise, the damselfly would have become a silhouette because I was aiming my camera toward the sun.
When working in bright, sunny conditions, you may position a diffuser over your working area. When you do, ensure that any background that shows in your photos is included beneath the diffuser area to prevent bright, distracting backgrounds.
Other noncamera close-up accessories you may want to have in your kit include a portable stool or cushion, a notepad and pencil, a flashlight and/or headlamp, some string, clips, clothespins, scissors, and tweezers, and a couple of Plamps (made by Wimberley). The accessory that may need explanation is the Plamp, but to give you a clue, its name comes from the words “plant” and “clamp.” At one end of the device is a larger clamp that can be secured to something heavy or stable, such as a tripod leg, and at the other end is a small, beveled clamp that can accommodate different-sized plants. The plant clamp holds the stem within its jaws but without crushing the stem. This can be a very useful tool in macro or setup photography.
Accessories directly related to your camera that you might be interested in may include a specialized, comfortable eyepiece, extra batteries and memory cards, a vertical camera grip for easily creating vertical photos, wired and wireless cable releases for tripping your camera’s shutter without touching the camera (wireless systems sometimes fail!), a transmitter and receiver for flash photography, and an Allen wrench (hex key) for tightening camera and lens plates.
Last but not least, I advise you to carry a pair of binoculars for spotting wildlife and checking details of anything and everything. You can purchase a binocular harness so you don’t develop a sore neck from hanging the binoculars around your neck. Who knows? We might spot each other in the field somewhere!