Nikon FE

This is my most frequently used set-up. I live in the woods, and as the saying goes, you can't see the woods for the trees. [or photograph them either] ..so I don't do much "Scenic" photography around home. I try to show what the woods are like by exhibiting the parts that make up the whole, and to do this, I have to get close.

However, I have found that the macro approach to close-up photography is quite intrusive, so I stick a 2x tele-converter on Nikon's 70-150 zoom, and achieve the same effect with the added benefit of throwing the background out of focus [when shot at f5.6]--thereby isolating and accenting my subject, without scaring it away.

I have a motor drive on both my camera bodies. Although this is a left-over from my fashion days, I find it easier to carry a 35mm camera with the handle the motor drive affords, and the extra weight gives the set-up extra stability for low light situations if I don't have time for a tripod. I use the 70-150 zoom for most of my close-up portrait work, both with and without the tele-converter. I don't have to invade my subject's personal space with it, and most people think their noses are too big, so this lens foreshortens things a bit. The slide zoom is quick.