Dewdrop Refractions?

[JayAy]

I am experimenting with dewdrop refractions. I am using the 100mm 2.8 lens with a set of kenko ext. tubes. The grass I am shooting is suspended at about chest-height (in a planter), so I have been using a tripod. The problem is that while shooting at an aperture of about 16 or so, the exposures are somewhat long, and the DOF is extremely shallow. However, my question is this - a tripod is such a pain because it is so difficult to move the whole contraption just a centimeter to manually focus the dew. Would I be better off practicing with the tripod, investing in a macro focusing rail, or just hand-holding the camera, or invest in a bean bag to set on the ground and shoot dew on the yard? Any little tips or personal tricks that you have found to further stabilize the camera would be much appreciated.


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--Jason

[LordV]

I have always found trying to use a tripod for high power shots a bit of a pain. Too much movement for fine focusing. I shoot dewdrops in situ on the lawn normally just resting the lens on my hand. An alternative would be to set up some thing on a table with some books to rest the camera on at the right height. It's suprisingly easy to used fixed focus and slide the camera towards the subject like this. With the camera and subject resting on the same surface- everything becomes mechanically linked so vibration problems are minimised.

Brian v.

[JayAy]

Fantastic - thanks! I will have to try that.