A D's List: Photography - Macro

Discussion of Equipment such as Extension tubes, macro lenses. with explanation on Depth of Field

"Don't get too disheartened if you can't afford all the equipment he suggests, although it does make a difference of course, a thoughtful and knowledgeable approach will make even more difference to your results. A good lens will not take great pictures on its own and many great photos have been taken with 'budget' equipment. There is a lot of good stuff in this article, read it carefully - Geoff."

If you want to get in really close and produce shots like the one on the right, as well as some extra bits of equipment, you need to learn to work in a meticulous and careful manner, paying attention to the minutest details.

All the basic fundamentals of regular close-up and still-life photography also apply to macro 1:1, but with a few extra hurdles thrown in for good measure.

"Photographing close-up subjects, such as flowers, is extremely challenging. Few people can do it well. The closer you get to your subject, the shallower the depth of field (front to back focus), so if you're photographing the inside of a rose, for example, your depth of field will measure in fractions of an inch, so for the most part you must use as much depth of field as your camera will allow. Also, the slightest movement of subject or camera will result in blurry photos. When doing close-up work, you must plan ahead. As you gain in magnification, precise camera positioning becomes critical. In many situations, you must position your camera so that you are parallel to the subject; you simply cannot stop down enough to get everything in focus unless you take several exposures, changing focusing distance each time, and then combining these several images and post processing in Photoshop."

"This is a guest post from Izabela Korwel. Check out Iza’s amazing macro photography on her blog, follow her on Twitter, Facebook and also on Google +!

Flowers are the easy subjects to come by and to photograph, even close to home. You can go to local park or find a flower bed downtown or at the mall. You can visit a botanical garden, there is one in every major city. You can ask the neighbors if you can photograph in their garden. You can also just go the flower shop and buy potted or cut flowers, and set them up in your living room."

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To succeed at flower photography, you won’t need any fancy equipment, but you will need to pay attention to detail. If you want to take beautiful flower pictures, like the ones in magazines, this article will help show you how it can be done."

Basic introduction
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Learning to use your camera’s macro feature, on camera or lens, will open up a whole new world in your photography and may just get you into trouble. Why? Because it can become an addiction and lead to more expensive equipment. Above all it is fun and easy to do.

I entered the world of macro many, many years ago while still shooting film. It was simple screw on close-up filters and not a macro lens but still great fun. Macro photography is really the use of a dedicated macro lens giving a 1:1 view but we use it to generically describe all forms of close-up photography."

"What does one need to do to get the perfect close-up of a wild flower? Set up a tripod, clip on camera, then snap, snap it’s in the bag, camera, chip.. whatever? Maybe… but consider a few unexpected impediments first. Finding the perfect clump of subjects (mostly the easy part), stopping(screeching to a halt) suddenly (sometimes interesting along a busy highway)…parking and gathering up the necessary gear (easy) – then my least favourite part, lugging everything over hill and dale. Tripod, camera bag with several lenses which never seem to get any lighter and then fun, fun, fun…It seems, seemed a short distance across three fences to where the wild, gorgeous yellow number (nothing exotic – a simple daisy but a beauty!), nods in the gentle breeze..but…"

"When you take a macro photo, focus is all-important. Your plane of focus is very shallow — just a fraction of an inch. So you have to make another decision: Exactly what part of the flower do you want to be in sharp focus? The pistil? The stamen? A petal? (We've run out of high-school biology terminology, but you get the idea.) Unless you're a botanist, you will probably make this decision "on the fly" — that is, as you look through the viewfinder. When you see the image that you want, press the shutter!"

"El Niño or not, it's springtime in the Northern Hemisphere and the tulips and daffodils are poking up around our toes. The magnolias are ready to pop and the cherry blossoms aren't far behind.

No matter where in the world you live, it's time to grab your camera, don your April-showers raincoat, and get out there among the beautiful spring flowers. (Okay, if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, it won't be spring for six months. But let's not quibble.)"

"When we photograph something very small we call it a macro photography. I would imagine we should call it Micro photography, but I don't have control over the jargon.

Shooting small things poses great challenges and comes with high rewards. In this tutorial I to get all the info that you'd need to take macro shots. starting from equipment through subjects and tip and wrap up of some of my favorite macro photographers on Flickr if you need some extra inspiration."

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tips for macro photography

"Purple Rain" captured by Timothy Poulton (Click Image to See More From Timothy Poulton)

Macro Photography can be an art in and of itself. Some of the best photos I’ve seen have been macro photos.

Taking macro photos can be challenging if you’ve never attempted it before. Many times the beginner gets frustrated when they are unable to get their subject fully in focus. Other times the beginner can’t seem to take a macro photo that isn’t blurry. Then there’s the frustration with taking a macro photo that isn’t lit properly."

"In macro photography you should aim to capture a sharp image of your tiny subject with all — or nearly all — of the subject in sharp focus. Using a macro lens on a DSLR is the optimum way to travel."

"The advent of digital photography swept away one of the most challenging problems in image capture: how to shoot macro without a pile of specialised gear. Now you can get down, dirty and close in the image capture business and make macro the digital way with a 100 per cent success rate."

"Welcome to Part 2 of this Introduction to Macro Photography. In Part 1, we looked at what is macro photography as well as the basic lenses and extension tubes available for macro shooting. We also went through various options for keeping your camera steady while shooting macro photos. If you missed part 1, I encourage you to check it out before you continue reading.

In Part 2, I’ll be going through:

6 Indoor lighting setups
4 Outdoor lighting setups

And finally, in Part 3 I’ll cover:

Popular macro shooting themes
Macro Composition"

http://yanikphotoschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/mouche7.jpg

"In this 3-part tutorial, I hope to pass along not just my technical knowledge but also my passion for macro photography. Here’s what we’ll be looking at in Part 1:


What is macro photography?
Lenses and extension tubes
Keeping your camera steady

After reading part 1, check out Part 2 where we cover:

6 Indoor lighting setups
4 Outdoor lighting setups

And in Part 3, we’ll look at:

Popular macro shooting themes
Macro Composition"