Zeiss 50mm f/2 Makro Classic Lens Sample Pictures

Zeiss 50mm f/2 Makro Classic Lens
Red Tulip on White Red Tulip on White

When shooting for the web or for print, it is hard to beat the versatility of a white background. And a white background is not hard to create. A sheet of paper or any other white-colored material can be used. Simply align the subject with that background and hit the white background with enough light to make it white or near-white in your final exposure. If not pure white, make it so in Photoshop.
 
Lighting for the tulip itself is from a softbox. I love softboxes for macro photography.


 
50mm  f/11.0  1/160s  ISO 100
Canyon Vista after the Storm Canyon Vista after the Storm

After waiting out a rain storm in the parking lot, I was greeted with this fall view of Canyon Vista in Worlds End State Park. I worked with the 50mm compositions available to me and took home may variations with fast-changing clouds making even similar compositions quite different from each other. After struggling to determine which was my favorite, I decided to combine two images to make this one. Problem solved.


 
50mm  f/16.0  1.6s  ISO 100
Sunflower with Blurred Background Sunflower with Blurred Background

An infinite number of compositions seem to be available in a large sunflower field, but one that works well involves a primary sunflower subject in sharp focus with the remainder of the field blurred behind it. And the Zeiss 50mm f/2 Macro lens at f/2 gets this job done very nicely.


 
50mm  f/2.0  1/1600s  ISO 100
Yellow Field Yellow Field

Wild mustard in full bloom creates a beautiful field of yellow.
 
When you see "Macro" (or "Makro" in this case) in the lens name, think of the term as an extension of a lens' capabilities – not a limitation of them. Most macro lenses make great landscape lenses and the Zeiss 50 f/2 Makro is one such lens.


 
50mm  f/16.0  1/13s  ISO 100
Yellow Leaf on Red Yellow Leaf on Red

The leaves are from a burning bush. Finding good leaf specimens is a challenging task. I hand-selected these and brought them into my studio. If you are familiar with burning bush leaves, you know that they have a strong curl – which makes them very difficult to layer. An overnight book-pressing resolved this problem, but the blemishes remained. Even the most-perfect leaves usually have some imperfections. Spraying the leaves with soft-box-reflecting water drops hides many of these imperfections and the Photoshop clone stamp tool handled the removal of the few remaining spots.


 
50mm  f/16.0  1/160s  ISO 100
Honey Bee Working on Sunflower Honey Bee Working on Sunflower

Sunflowers are great solo subjects, but always be looking for ways to take your images to the next level. Something as simple as a little honey bee adds interest to the composition.


 
50mm  f/11.0  1/60s  ISO 200
Red Maple Leaf Red Maple Leaf

A bed of imperfection-lacking red maple tree leaves is practically unfindable in nature. But, hand-selected leaves brought into a studio environment creates a different story. This image was lit by a single, overhead Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite in a Chimera XXS Softbox and triggered by a Canon ST-E3-RT Speedlite RF Transmitter. Triggering a softbox-mounted flash using RF instead of light eliminates the line-of-site issue sometimes created by the softbox.


 
50mm  f/16.0  1/160s  ISO 100
Grasses on a Dune Grasses on a Dune

Dune grasses blow in the seemingly-ever-present oceanside winds. By using a low-to-the-sand perspective along with a circular polarizer filter, the grasses and their plumes get a deep blue background.


 
50mm  f/11.0  1/100s  ISO 100
Tulip Stamen Tulip Stamen

When you start with a near-frame-filling subject as beautiful as a tulip, it is hard to take an ugly picture. This image was primarily backlit, creating some petal-shadowing.


 
50mm  f/11.0  1/160s  ISO 100
Out of Focus Christmas Tree Out of Focus Christmas Tree

For a different look at your Christmas tree, try a blur. Simply use manual focus to select a variety of out of focus states and throw in some aperture variations as well.


 
50mm  f/4.0  1/6s  ISO 100
Shallow Depth of Field Leaves Shallow Depth of Field Leaves

Want to draw your viewer's eyes to a particular location in the frame? Use a wide aperture at a close focus distance. The foreground and background blur act as arrows to present your subject as the primary attraction in the frame. Having strong contrast on the primary subjects and its background also attracts a viewer's eye.


 
50mm  f/2.0  1/160s  ISO 100
Vast Field of Sunflowers Vast Field of Sunflowers

That is a LOT of sunflowers. With an f/2.8 aperture in use, the background of an even moderately-long focus distance 50mm image becomes pleasantly blurred.
 
A Werner stepladder is one of my most-important sunflower field photography accessories. These flowers are very tall and human support is required to get above them.


 
50mm  f/2.8  1/400s  ISO 100
Can you help right now?

This site and my family depend on your support.
Please share this page!

Share on Facebook! Share on X! Share on Pinterest! Email this page to a friend!

Zeiss 50mm f/2 Makro Classic Lens
Zeiss 50mm f/2 Makro Classic Lens
Share on Facebook! Share on X! Share on Pinterest! Email this page to a friend!
Can we stay in touch?Free Newsletter
Bryan Recommends Buying It Here
Any purchase made after using this link provides support for this site
Any purchase made at KEH after using this link provides support for this siteAny purchase made at MPB after using this link provides support for this site
Terms of Use, Privacy  |  © 2024 Rectangular Media, LLC  |  Bryan CarnathanPowered by Christ!