New Photography Gear and Spider Webs for a Lethbridge Photographer!

I saved up my nickels and dimes and got some new gear!

I ordered this: Muslin and Backdrop from a company on Ebay.  It's pretty cheap, in terms of cost and build.  The muslin backdrop is wayyyy too thin to be useable so I need to get a second sheet to hang behind it.  I complained to the company that their product was not as advertised and there were happy to give me a partial refund.  So, I'll use the partial refund to buy a secondary sheet to hang behind it.  It's a bit of a hassle, but I didn't pay much to begin with so I knew what I was getting into when I bought it.

I also picked up this tripod .  Again, a bit of a compromise in quality so that I could get it for the price I needed.  I've been testing it out around the house the past couple of days and it does the job!

My next project with the tripod is to get some macro spider web shots.  This is proving pretty difficult in a place like Lethbridge.  Macro shots, by their very nature, have an extremely short depth of field.  So, when trying to get a shot of something like a spider web in a windy climate is your goal, it gets pretty tough.  I've been trying to find webs in sheltered areas, and there are plenty around my place, but the wind really throws the webs around which makes it really difficult to focus.  I'll keep trying though and hopefully will get a calm day again soon!

Wood Grain Macro

Sidewalk Chalk

Kenko

I have been debating buying Kenko extension tubes for our camera for quite a while now. Everyone I know is sick to death of me talking about it, so I finally broke down and ordered a set.

Not sure what Kenko extension tubes are? They are tubes that attach to the camera body in between it and the lens. They contain no optics but allow the lens that is attached to focus much, much closer when attached. Essentially, they allow the photographer to get some extreme close-up shots. My hope is to use them with my 50mm F1.8 Canon lens for some macro photos. I've been told that that set up is a decent way to do macro photography on a budget.

Kenko is a bit of a knock off and is significantly less expensive than the Canon extension tube series. However, I've read lots of good reviews of the Kenko tubes and that's all I can afford right now so....that's what I got! I ordered them online and they are coming from Hong Kong. I'm expecting them sometime in the next two weeks. I'll do some comparison shots then so that you can see exactly what it is that they do. In the meantime, here is a link to the Kenko site. And here's a shot of the extension tube set from the Kenko site. Ohhh I can't wait until they get here!