When doing close-up photography, I occasionally use some old manual lens, looking for different results, with a more painterly aspect. Most of these lenses are not «macro», so the approach to the subject is complicated unless we use a specific accessory.
To prepare this blog post I have used 4 different analog lenses and a 100mm macro digital lens. In each image I indicate the focal length and aperture used for each shot.
First of all I show you 3 photographs taken of the same specimen of Anacamptis papilonacea.
The following images correspond to the same specimen of Ophrys incubacea with two other «vintage» lenses different from the previous ones and the last one with the 100mm digital macro.
As you can see, different very interesting effects can be achieved, although in many cases at the cost of a more than notable loss of sharpness in the image. Focusing is particularly difficult when working with the lens with the largest focal length at its maximum aperture (in this case, 85mm at f / 1.5), quite a challenge!
Javier Lafuente
www.javierlafuentephoto.com