Macro Photography

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Macro Lenses

When photographing small objects from coins to insects, your lens’ minimum focusing distance determines how close you can get to the subject. The closer you can get to a subject, the larger it will be in the final image. If you can’t get close enough to an object to fill the image area, you can always crop out the unwanted areas later. Just keep in mind that you don’t have a lot of pixels to begin with and the more you crop, the smaller the image will become.

For digital SLR cameras, you will most often find that macro lenses are fixed length, and thus, do not zoom. This means that you must move closer or farther from your subject to frame the subject perfectly. Either that, or you must have enough megpixels in your camera such that you are comfortable with cropping the final image.

The millimeter measure of your lens will indicate how far away from the subject you can be to get the same life-size proportions. For example, I own a 60mm Canon macro lens, which allows me to be as far as 10 cm away from my subject while still getting the maximum. A 100mm lens would allow you to be further away to get the same size subject in the final photo.

 

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Focusing and Depth of Field

Narrow depth of field means that only a small part of your image is in focus while the rest is blury. Large depth of field means that everything from a blade of grass where you're standing to a mountain in the distance will be in focus.

Macro photography often involves narrow depth of field such that the subject (e.g. flower petal or bug or coin) is in sharp focus while the background is not. This technique focuses the viewer's interest on the detail of a subject they would not normally notice. An out-of-focus background can help isolate a small subject, making it stand out sharply, especially if the background is a different blend of colours.

The depth of field in an image depends on how small an aperture you use, how close you are to a subject, and how much the lens is zoomed. When you get the camera really close to your subject, the depth of field will naturally shrink to almost nothing. The further back you stand, the greater the depth of field can be. So if you're shooting a macro image of several things such that your depth of field is narrow, you'll get better results if you arrange the objects so they all fall on the same plane. That way, if one’s in focus, they all will be.

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Use of a Tripod

I cannot stress this enough: when taking close-up shots of anything, use a tripod! (Or come up with a way to stabilize your camera). Most pros recommend also using a remote shutter release - depending on your brand of camera, they can cost as little as $20. If you do not stabilize your camera, then the minutest of shake will be magnified in your shot, and you will not get a crisp, sharp image. Even the act of pressing the shutter release button on the camera can shake it enough to ruin a macro shot, so be very careful.

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Case Study: photographing flowers

As I found while photographing the Tulips here in Ottawa, outdoor flowers make a tough subject for macro photography. The reason for the difficulty is mostly due to wind. So not only do you have to ensure that your camera does not move when taking a close-up shot (by securing it to a tripod), but you also must ensure that your subject does not move - otherwise you'll end up with a blury image.

In order to prevent tall flowers from blowing around too much, consider bringing a sheet and two poles so as to set up a shield. Depending on your shot (and how public the flowers are) you can stabilize the base of the stem by tying it to a short, sturdy pole, provide the pole is out of view of the lens. The other alternative is to bring a friend along who can physically hold the stem still, or act as a mobile wind shield.

The best time of day to capture flowers is at sunrise or sunset when the natural light is at its warmest shade - I recommend you aim for sunrise with the chance that dew will still be on the petals. Of course, the ground will also be wet, so If you plan to get the ant's view of your flowers - i.e. shooting from grass level up - then bring a tarp to lie on.

Use of fill flash can really help minimize the impact of shadows on the undersides of flowers, as can proper use of reflectors. If the sun is really bright, you can even use a diffuser to soften its effects, although I prefer to shoot with the strong sunshine behind the petals, bringing them alive with an almost-flourescent glow.