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.
You might have a zoom lens that features macro capabilities. You might find a part of the lens that is orange with an 'M'. Now it is important to remember that this isn't a dedicated macro lens, it just means that it will be able to focus very close.
If you want to properly get into macro photography, you will need something a bit more suited to the job than this. A macro lens will focus down to an incredibly small distance between the end of the lens and the subject you're shooting. It is often possible to get as close as 10 or 12 cm to your subject. This is something you couldn't easily do with a regular lens.
When you get closer to a subject, your depth of field is reduced and appears 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 a bit of a challenge to focus on something in macro photography. One way around this is to use your elbows as a small tripod to try and keep the camera steady. But as you get closer and closer to the subject matter, it gets more and more difficult for you to stay motionless because you are breathing and moving without intending to do so. Every time you focus and then move, your shot becomes blurred.
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 noteworthy foe of the macro photographer is wind. Small winds can come by just when you least expect them to and typically at the worst possible 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 windy day you probably won't get the best conditions to get the best possible pictures. But there is a way to deal with it which we will come to very shortly.
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 tool for macro is the reflector. The beauty of using reflectors for macro is that the reflectors themselves don't have to be big. One example of a reflector that you most likely already have is a notepad made of white paper inside. All you need to do is open it up and position it alongside the object you're about to take a shot of. You will notice that the light on the subject subtly changes with the use of this notepad.
Now I wrote earlier that I would be giving you a useful tip on how to defy breezes when doing macro and that tip is simply to move indoors. If you are taking shots of a flower, you can bring that flower indoors (as long as it's not someone else's flower!). Indoors is a wonderful place for doing macro work and one of the biggest reasons is that there are far fewer disturbances such as breezes and other things. Don't get me wrong - outdoors is excellent for macro in many ways but if it is pouring with rain outside then practicing macro indoors can provide perfect conditions.
It is also very important that you spend time to pick the best possible flower. As you move in close any little imperfections 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. What this means is you will be telling the camera which 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 vary, so it is recommended to read your camera's manual to find out. You will be able to decide which part of the view finder you're focusing on. If you're in auto mode the camera might not know where to focus and it might decide on the wrong part of the picture, which will make you feel incredibly frustrated because you won't be able to get the image 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 factor to think about is the aperture. Imagine you're taking a macro photo of two different subjects with one in the foreground of the photo and the other in the background. Suppose you want to make the object in the background seem more blurry, while the object in the foreground is well defined and in focus. You would be typically using an F8 which is a middle of the road kind of aperture, but by making use of a wider aperture you can place the emphasis much more strongly onto the object in the foreground and cause the background object to become much more blurred. The best approximate aperture you could use for this is around F3.3, which will make the shutter speed faster and decrease the depth of field.
Abstracts also make for wonderful images. Consider objects made of metal in your home such as your toaster, tool box, and other things. They tend to have lots of reflective surfaces with unique shapes and contours. Use a shallow depth of field, so that it will give you a place to look within the frame, instead of just viewing the entire picture 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 near a window which does not have any direct sunlight shining in through it. The side of the object nearest to the window will look brighter than the opposite 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 shiny surfaced fruit, such as apples, lemons, oranges and so on.
So how would you describe macro photography?
Macro photography is concerned with zooming in on things and it opens up a whole new dimension of photography using the plainest of subject matter and showing it in a totally new and different way. You just have to look around your home and try to find things that could work well. If you are doing macro outdoors, you will have to learn to deal with sudden breezes, which could cause a large number of blurry photos. So start experimenting and enjoy it! Remember, you don't necessarily need to have the dedicated macro lens.
You might have a zoom lens that features macro capabilities. You might find a part of the lens that is orange with an 'M'. Now it is important to remember that this isn't a dedicated macro lens, it just means that it will be able to focus very close.
If you want to properly get into macro photography, you will need something a bit more suited to the job than this. A macro lens will focus down to an incredibly small distance between the end of the lens and the subject you're shooting. It is often possible to get as close as 10 or 12 cm to your subject. This is something you couldn't easily do with a regular lens.
When you get closer to a subject, your depth of field is reduced and appears 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 a bit of a challenge to focus on something in macro photography. One way around this is to use your elbows as a small tripod to try and keep the camera steady. But as you get closer and closer to the subject matter, it gets more and more difficult for you to stay motionless because you are breathing and moving without intending to do so. Every time you focus and then move, your shot becomes blurred.
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 noteworthy foe of the macro photographer is wind. Small winds can come by just when you least expect them to and typically at the worst possible 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 windy day you probably won't get the best conditions to get the best possible pictures. But there is a way to deal with it which we will come to very shortly.
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 tool for macro is the reflector. The beauty of using reflectors for macro is that the reflectors themselves don't have to be big. One example of a reflector that you most likely already have is a notepad made of white paper inside. All you need to do is open it up and position it alongside the object you're about to take a shot of. You will notice that the light on the subject subtly changes with the use of this notepad.
Now I wrote earlier that I would be giving you a useful tip on how to defy breezes when doing macro and that tip is simply to move indoors. If you are taking shots of a flower, you can bring that flower indoors (as long as it's not someone else's flower!). Indoors is a wonderful place for doing macro work and one of the biggest reasons is that there are far fewer disturbances such as breezes and other things. Don't get me wrong - outdoors is excellent for macro in many ways but if it is pouring with rain outside then practicing macro indoors can provide perfect conditions.
It is also very important that you spend time to pick the best possible flower. As you move in close any little imperfections 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. What this means is you will be telling the camera which 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 vary, so it is recommended to read your camera's manual to find out. You will be able to decide which part of the view finder you're focusing on. If you're in auto mode the camera might not know where to focus and it might decide on the wrong part of the picture, which will make you feel incredibly frustrated because you won't be able to get the image 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 factor to think about is the aperture. Imagine you're taking a macro photo of two different subjects with one in the foreground of the photo and the other in the background. Suppose you want to make the object in the background seem more blurry, while the object in the foreground is well defined and in focus. You would be typically using an F8 which is a middle of the road kind of aperture, but by making use of a wider aperture you can place the emphasis much more strongly onto the object in the foreground and cause the background object to become much more blurred. The best approximate aperture you could use for this is around F3.3, which will make the shutter speed faster and decrease the depth of field.
Abstracts also make for wonderful images. Consider objects made of metal in your home such as your toaster, tool box, and other things. They tend to have lots of reflective surfaces with unique shapes and contours. Use a shallow depth of field, so that it will give you a place to look within the frame, instead of just viewing the entire picture 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 near a window which does not have any direct sunlight shining in through it. The side of the object nearest to the window will look brighter than the opposite 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 shiny surfaced fruit, such as apples, lemons, oranges and so on.
So how would you describe macro photography?
Macro photography is concerned with zooming in on things and it opens up a whole new dimension of photography using the plainest of subject matter and showing it in a totally new and different way. You just have to look around your home and try to find things that could work well. If you are doing macro outdoors, you will have to learn to deal with sudden breezes, which could cause a large number of blurry photos. So start experimenting and enjoy it! Remember, you don't necessarily need to have the dedicated macro lens.
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