At times, everyone wants to picture some unusually small subject. It may bea tiny pet—such as the kitten, or the squirrel that comes up on the for a nut or two. In the spring. it is blossoms; later in summer, it's flowers. Every one of us has said, at time or: another, "Oh! How 1 wish I could get closer, so- this subject would show up better Well, you can. One method is to use a regular portrait attachment. Even with a fairly large fixed-focus camera. this will enable you to approach og near as three feet to your subject. If it is a smaller! fixed-focus camera, or has "two-point" or "three-point" focussing, you can get even closer—to 2% leet. in some cases. And with many of the finer focussing cameras, the portrait attachment brings you as near as two feet. These attachments ate inexpensive. and no trouble at all.
If you want to go a step further. you Can use a so-called "diopter" lens—also inexpensive. These are simple slip-on lenses. similar to the portrait attachment. but a bit more powerful A supplementary lens marked "three-plus" will enable you to shoot with the camera only thirteen inches from your subject—which is very close indeed.
In all these shots with slip-on lenses. you should measure the distance carefully from camera to subject, and then place the camera on a solid support at exactly that [correct distance. A guide or table comes with each of these lenses, and shows which range is correct every setting of the camera.
In many cases, you can show up a small subject effectively by shaving something in the picture that leeds up to it. For example, a hand feeding your small pet, or a person sniffing at your prize flower. This directs your attention to the small object. and makes it seem more prominent—even though it actually isn't any larger.
Try these methods, next time you tackle a small object. They're a real help. and enable you to get a much more satisfying picture.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.