Macro photography, or 'micro photography' as it is more widely becoming known as in recent times, is all about getting intimate with your subject. If you want to take a close-up of a leaf for instance, you'll have to have to get very close. For this you will want to use a macro lens.
If you're lucky, you'll already have a zoom lens which has macro functionality. You may find a section on the lens which is coloured orange with an 'M'. Now it is best to remember that this isn't a dedicated macro lens, it just means that it can focus very close.
If you want to really get into macro photography, you would be better off with something a bit more geared towards the task at hand than this. A macro lens will focus down to a tiny distance between the end of the lens and the subject you're photographing. You can often get as close as 5 inches to the subject. This is something you couldn't easily do with a normal lens.
When you get in close to a subject, your depth of field starts to get smaller and becomes shallower. This is a universal feature of all lenses. We human beings tend to move around a lot even if we try to stay still. Our small movements backwards and forwards will cause the focal point to move back and forth so it can be extremely challenging to focus on something when doing macro photography. One way to overcome this problem is to use your elbows as a miniature tripod to try and keep the camera steady. Unfortunately, as you get closer and closer to your subject, it becomes more and more challenging for you to remain motionless because you are breathing and moving without intention. Every time you adjust the focus and then adjust your position, your photo becomes blurry.
That is where tripods come in handy. The tripod is a brilliantly simple invention because it enables you to get shots that you otherwise wouldn't be able to take by eliminating your own human movements.
Another enemy of the macro photographer is breeze. Slight breezes can come by just when you least expect them to and typically at the most inconvenient times for you to get that perfect shot. We have to pick the perfect conditions whenever we have the opportunity. If you want to do some nature photography on a breezy day you're probably not going to enjoy the best conditions to get the best possible photos. But there is an alternative method which we will come to in just a minute.
Another factor to consider with macro photography is lighting. If you are outdoors with an overcast sky and you want to photograph something delicate such as a flower, a slightly cloudy sky will often provide the best type of light for this type of work. The light is still directional but it is extremely soft and subtle.
Another great device when it comes to macro is the reflector. The great thing about using reflectors for macro is that the reflectors themselves don't have to be huge. One example of a reflector that you most likely already have is a notepad with white paper inside. Just open it up and move it alongside the object you're about to capture. You will notice that the light on the subject subtly changes when you use the notepad.
Now I mentioned that I would be sharing a useful tip on how to get around the problem of breezes when doing macro and that tip is simply to move indoors. If you are taking shots of a flower, you can take that flower indoors (as long as it's not someone else's flower!). Indoors is a wonderful location for doing macro work and one of the primary reasons is that there are far less disturbances like breezes and other things. Don't get me wrong - outdoors is brilliant for macro in many ways but if it is raining cats and dogs outside then moving indoors can provide perfect conditions.
Another very important thing is that you spend time to choose the right flower. As you move in close any little blemishes will become obvious, such as pollen stains on the petals.
Until now I've written a lot about flowers in this article but there are plenty of other objects including objects commonly found in the home that make wonderful pictures for macro. Have a quick check around your house. Objects made of glass such as jam jars, vases, bottles and so on can produce some interesting results because of the interesting ways light reflects off their surfaces. The background doesn't matter too much when you're doing macro, because when you have that short depth of field, especially when you have a wide aperture, it doesn't matter so much what's in the background because it will be blurred into a mix of tones. You only need to think about what those tones are.
You will typically use single point auto focus. That means you will be telling the camera which little dots in the viewfinder to use to focus. Depending on the make and model of your equipment, how to use the single point auto focus feature will be different, so it is recommended to review your camera manual to find out. You will be able to decide which part of the view finder you want to focus on. If you're in auto mode the camera might not know where to focus and it could select the wrong part of the picture, which will make you feel incredibly frustrated because you won't be able to get the picture you want.
When shooting inside, you will usually be using a relatively slow shutter speed (around 1/8th of a second). That is because there isn't much light indoors normally, but what light there is, is often really good, high quality light.
Another thing to think about is the aperture. Imagine you're taking a macro picture of two different subjects with one in the foreground of the picture and the other towards the background. Suppose you want to make the object in the background look more blurred, while the object in the foreground is sharply defined and in focus. You would be typically using an F8 which is a middle of the road type of aperture, but by utilizing a wider aperture you will be able to put the emphasis much more strongly onto the subject in the foreground and make the background subject become much more blurred. One example of an aperture you could use is around F3.3, which will make the shutter speed faster and decrease your depth of field.
Abstracts also make excellent images. You can use metal objects around your home such as your toaster, tool box, and so on. They tend to have lots of reflective surfaces with unique shapes and lines. Use a relatively shallow depth of field, so that it will give you a place to look in the photo, rather than just viewing the entire frame as a whole. Shiny objects made of stainless steel for example may confuse your auto focus, in which case you may need to switch to manual.
You can get great results by taking photos of objects close to a window which does not have any direct sunlight coming in through it. The side of the object nearest to the window will look brighter than the other darker side. Try playing around with a reflector to get some different effects using light on this darker side to wrap it around the object. This works well with fruit that has a shiny surface, such as limes, lemons, oranges and so on.
So how would you describe macro photography?
Macro photography comes down to zooming in on things and it opens up a whole new world of photography using the most mundane of subject matter and letting it be seen in an entirely new way. You just have to start looking around your home and try to find things that will work. If you are doing macro photography outside, you will have to overcome the problems caused by sudden winds, which may cause lots of blurry images. So start experimenting and see how it goes! Remember, you don't necessarily have to use the dedicated macro lens.
If you're lucky, you'll already have a zoom lens which has macro functionality. You may find a section on the lens which is coloured orange with an 'M'. Now it is best to remember that this isn't a dedicated macro lens, it just means that it can focus very close.
If you want to really get into macro photography, you would be better off with something a bit more geared towards the task at hand than this. A macro lens will focus down to a tiny distance between the end of the lens and the subject you're photographing. You can often get as close as 5 inches to the subject. This is something you couldn't easily do with a normal lens.
When you get in close to a subject, your depth of field starts to get smaller and becomes shallower. This is a universal feature of all lenses. We human beings tend to move around a lot even if we try to stay still. Our small movements backwards and forwards will cause the focal point to move back and forth so it can be extremely challenging to focus on something when doing macro photography. One way to overcome this problem is to use your elbows as a miniature tripod to try and keep the camera steady. Unfortunately, as you get closer and closer to your subject, it becomes more and more challenging for you to remain motionless because you are breathing and moving without intention. Every time you adjust the focus and then adjust your position, your photo becomes blurry.
That is where tripods come in handy. The tripod is a brilliantly simple invention because it enables you to get shots that you otherwise wouldn't be able to take by eliminating your own human movements.
Another enemy of the macro photographer is breeze. Slight breezes can come by just when you least expect them to and typically at the most inconvenient times for you to get that perfect shot. We have to pick the perfect conditions whenever we have the opportunity. If you want to do some nature photography on a breezy day you're probably not going to enjoy the best conditions to get the best possible photos. But there is an alternative method which we will come to in just a minute.
Another factor to consider with macro photography is lighting. If you are outdoors with an overcast sky and you want to photograph something delicate such as a flower, a slightly cloudy sky will often provide the best type of light for this type of work. The light is still directional but it is extremely soft and subtle.
Another great device when it comes to macro is the reflector. The great thing about using reflectors for macro is that the reflectors themselves don't have to be huge. One example of a reflector that you most likely already have is a notepad with white paper inside. Just open it up and move it alongside the object you're about to capture. You will notice that the light on the subject subtly changes when you use the notepad.
Now I mentioned that I would be sharing a useful tip on how to get around the problem of breezes when doing macro and that tip is simply to move indoors. If you are taking shots of a flower, you can take that flower indoors (as long as it's not someone else's flower!). Indoors is a wonderful location for doing macro work and one of the primary reasons is that there are far less disturbances like breezes and other things. Don't get me wrong - outdoors is brilliant for macro in many ways but if it is raining cats and dogs outside then moving indoors can provide perfect conditions.
Another very important thing is that you spend time to choose the right flower. As you move in close any little blemishes will become obvious, such as pollen stains on the petals.
Until now I've written a lot about flowers in this article but there are plenty of other objects including objects commonly found in the home that make wonderful pictures for macro. Have a quick check around your house. Objects made of glass such as jam jars, vases, bottles and so on can produce some interesting results because of the interesting ways light reflects off their surfaces. The background doesn't matter too much when you're doing macro, because when you have that short depth of field, especially when you have a wide aperture, it doesn't matter so much what's in the background because it will be blurred into a mix of tones. You only need to think about what those tones are.
You will typically use single point auto focus. That means you will be telling the camera which little dots in the viewfinder to use to focus. Depending on the make and model of your equipment, how to use the single point auto focus feature will be different, so it is recommended to review your camera manual to find out. You will be able to decide which part of the view finder you want to focus on. If you're in auto mode the camera might not know where to focus and it could select the wrong part of the picture, which will make you feel incredibly frustrated because you won't be able to get the picture you want.
When shooting inside, you will usually be using a relatively slow shutter speed (around 1/8th of a second). That is because there isn't much light indoors normally, but what light there is, is often really good, high quality light.
Another thing to think about is the aperture. Imagine you're taking a macro picture of two different subjects with one in the foreground of the picture and the other towards the background. Suppose you want to make the object in the background look more blurred, while the object in the foreground is sharply defined and in focus. You would be typically using an F8 which is a middle of the road type of aperture, but by utilizing a wider aperture you will be able to put the emphasis much more strongly onto the subject in the foreground and make the background subject become much more blurred. One example of an aperture you could use is around F3.3, which will make the shutter speed faster and decrease your depth of field.
Abstracts also make excellent images. You can use metal objects around your home such as your toaster, tool box, and so on. They tend to have lots of reflective surfaces with unique shapes and lines. Use a relatively shallow depth of field, so that it will give you a place to look in the photo, rather than just viewing the entire frame as a whole. Shiny objects made of stainless steel for example may confuse your auto focus, in which case you may need to switch to manual.
You can get great results by taking photos of objects close to a window which does not have any direct sunlight coming in through it. The side of the object nearest to the window will look brighter than the other darker side. Try playing around with a reflector to get some different effects using light on this darker side to wrap it around the object. This works well with fruit that has a shiny surface, such as limes, lemons, oranges and so on.
So how would you describe macro photography?
Macro photography comes down to zooming in on things and it opens up a whole new world of photography using the most mundane of subject matter and letting it be seen in an entirely new way. You just have to start looking around your home and try to find things that will work. If you are doing macro photography outside, you will have to overcome the problems caused by sudden winds, which may cause lots of blurry images. So start experimenting and see how it goes! Remember, you don't necessarily have to use the dedicated macro lens.
About the Author:
If you want to learn other in-depth photography tips and tricks, beyond answering the question what is macro photography, be sure to check out Luke Walker's other website and blogs here.
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