It's in the Bag!

I'm always keeping my eyes open for cheap but useful and lightweight little accessories to carry in my camera bag. These Velcro strips can be opened out flat and stuck together so they don't take up much room. Use them to hold a few stems out of the way of the lens, or to hold a small branch up, or down. Put 2 or more together to make a larger collar to hold several flower stems together in a 'bouquet'. They are strong enough to hold small branches together if you want a more 'leafy' close-up. The bright colors make them easy to remember to take with you when you leave. I'm sure you can think of a dozen more ways to use them!


Small, soft brushes are useful to brush a speck of dirt or a gnat off of a flower petal or some other small subject - that's much easier than getting rid of it in Photoshop after the picture is taken. A clean blush brush is another nice tool to carry and will do the job just as well as the paint brush pictured here. Your brush need not be expensive but it should be soft.


Hair alligator clips are also great for holding stems out of the way - or maybe to isolate just one flower. Sometimes the weight of one of these is just enough to pull a flower into a more desirable position for a lovely macro, yet not so heavy as to do damage to the plant. Be sure to use a clip large enough so as not to damage the stem.


When you want a little more light on the darker side of a small subject, you can sometimes use a piece of crumpled foil to reflect just the right amount. You can also use a sheet of bright white paper. I've even used photo paper for this purpose - the whitest I could find. Any of these can be folded and carried in your bag.

Everything here will fit nicely into a plastic bag with a zipper closure. Speaking of plastic bags, if going from a warm house into the cold outdoors, put your camera, lens attached, into a bag and zip it closed before going out. Once outside, give it a few minutes to become acclimated to the temperature before removing it from the bag. This will prevent moisture and fogging caused by condensation getting inside the camera and lens. Do the same thing if going from the cold outside into a warm house.

"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience
is a form of exploration."
~ Ansel Adams ~