Larger than life; Macro for beginners
/Aug/07 Filed in: Tips and
tricks
While the most awe inspiring photography may come
from a well
composed landscape, some of the most
fascinating imagery is of the world close up.
Macro, or close-up photography is neither easy
nor is it inexpensive. The gear required is not
necessarily out of the ordinary, but there are a
few "must-haves" in macro photography that make
acquiring the pieces costly if you don't already
have them.
Let's talk about what you need before we talk about how you shoot a macro image. At a bare minimum you need:
If such a lens is not in your budget, consider getting a 2X or 1.4X tele-converter. This will increase your magnification allowing you to get about twice the distance from your subject. Keep in mind that any additional glass between your subject and the focal plane can adversely effect the image quality. Just keep an eye on this while you keep this fact in the back of your mind.
It's not always critical to have as much as possible in focus, just that what is in focus helps support the image. You want the image to feel natural, the way that your eye might see it on it's own. In the shot of the grass below, the surroundings weren't important, but it was crucial to align the camera so that both the blade of grass in it's entirety and the drop of water were in perfect focus.
What you see above is deceptive. That might look like an ordinary bee when in actual fact that bee is actually smaller than the ant pictured below. The flower he is perched upon is about 2/3rds the size of a dime from petal to petal. In order to get nearly his entire body and some of his surroundings in focus I had to set up my camera on a tripod at an ideal focal plane, making sure that nearly everything in the bottom 2/3rds of the frame would be in relatively good focus while allowing the top 1/3rd to fall away in the distance to help give perspective.
The lighting was such that I could afford an f-stop of 18 while maintaining a shutter speed of 1/80th of a second (the slowest I was able to shoot with the breeze and given the subjects flighty disposition). f18 allowed for maximum depth of field considering the conditions and helped to give me a little breathing room in my depth of field so that the bee could land anywhere within 2-5mm range and still be acceptably sharp.
I set my focus manually to the place where this little guy kept returning to and simply waited for him to come back when the air was calm. I shot both the bee and the ant with a 90mm f 2.8 1/2X macro, atop a 2X tele-converter giving me 180mm 1X macro, which makes this little bee about 7.5mm long!
For more on depth of field, read this article.
Let's talk about what you need before we talk about how you shoot a macro image. At a bare minimum you need:
- A sturdy tripod (the longer, more steady a shot you can take, the better)
- A 3D adjustable head mount (for getting in to all those tricky angles)
- It's preferable to have a reversible mast that allows you to mount your camera underneath your tripod (again, for getting in to all those tricky angles)
- A cable release or remote (for hands free, remote firing of your shutter to help reduce the potential of camera shake at slower shutter speeds)
- A lens with macro capabilities of at least 1/4X or more (the closer to 1X the better)
- a flash bracket or other means of getting adequate light on the subject
Your subject
What you choose to shoot close up can vary greatly, but generally it'll be something that you want to either show, in part or in whole, a great amount of detail in. You might typically see close-ups of flowers and flower parts, insects, small animals, etc... But macro photography can be used on a more grand scale to show details like the coarse skin of an elephant, the granular texture of mortar in a brick wall, or the tiny fossils on a cliff face. No matter the subject matter, the technique is the same.
Working distance
About the biggest challenge you are going to have in close-up photography is getting some space between you and your subject. This is certainly true of some of the standard zooms available that offer you macro at the 70mm focal length. Where possible, and if it's within your means, get your hands on a lens that gives you macro focus at a length of 200mm. This will give you the chance to get back from your subject, giving your subject better access to available light and giving you more options for camera angles. This also narrows the angle of your field of view, allowing you to trim out extraneous or distracting background elements from your composition.If such a lens is not in your budget, consider getting a 2X or 1.4X tele-converter. This will increase your magnification allowing you to get about twice the distance from your subject. Keep in mind that any additional glass between your subject and the focal plane can adversely effect the image quality. Just keep an eye on this while you keep this fact in the back of your mind.
Focal plane
You have to decide what you want in focus and be sure to put as much of that parallel to the focal plane (the imaginary plane that the film or sensor lies on) as possible. In this picture (below) you'll notice that the focal plane is on a diagonal from the top right hand corner to the bottom left hand corner, which is nearly perpendicular to the direction that the leaves veins run in. This not only accentuates perspective but serves as a place for your eyes to stand; a wide area of focal refuge before slipping down the visual slope.
It's not always critical to have as much as possible in focus, just that what is in focus helps support the image. You want the image to feel natural, the way that your eye might see it on it's own. In the shot of the grass below, the surroundings weren't important, but it was crucial to align the camera so that both the blade of grass in it's entirety and the drop of water were in perfect focus.
Depth of field
The line between how much or how little is in focus becomes very narrow the tighter your shot gets. So much so that many macro shots are unusable. Selective focus can be a desirable effect in portraiture but in macro photography, the range is so limited that having anything in focus at all is a boon. To combat this problem as best you can, you'll need to use a tripod to steady your shot and to fine tune your composition (see "Focal plane" above), use narrower apertures and get as much light on the subject as possible to facilitate faster shutter speeds (and a narrower aperture).
What you see above is deceptive. That might look like an ordinary bee when in actual fact that bee is actually smaller than the ant pictured below. The flower he is perched upon is about 2/3rds the size of a dime from petal to petal. In order to get nearly his entire body and some of his surroundings in focus I had to set up my camera on a tripod at an ideal focal plane, making sure that nearly everything in the bottom 2/3rds of the frame would be in relatively good focus while allowing the top 1/3rd to fall away in the distance to help give perspective.
The lighting was such that I could afford an f-stop of 18 while maintaining a shutter speed of 1/80th of a second (the slowest I was able to shoot with the breeze and given the subjects flighty disposition). f18 allowed for maximum depth of field considering the conditions and helped to give me a little breathing room in my depth of field so that the bee could land anywhere within 2-5mm range and still be acceptably sharp.
I set my focus manually to the place where this little guy kept returning to and simply waited for him to come back when the air was calm. I shot both the bee and the ant with a 90mm f 2.8 1/2X macro, atop a 2X tele-converter giving me 180mm 1X macro, which makes this little bee about 7.5mm long!
For more on depth of field, read this article.
Aperture
In case you didn't get it by this point, stop your aperture down as far as conditions will permit. The smaller you get your aperture the better your chances of getting your subject in focus. If you can't shoot at f16 of higher due to wind or movement, get a flash in there to throw some light on your subject. When working close up every f-stop counts. Smaller apertures provide a greater depth of field which provides you with more breathing room on your focusing accuracy and your focal plane setup. Remember when working in macro, you have millimeters to play with, not inches, so make them count.Composition
There is a tendency in close-up work to center everything and throw the basic rules of composition away. This is due, in large part that it is infinitely easier to our minds eye to bring something into focus when it lies in the center of the view finder. If you want to shoot successful close-ups though, you have to get your subject away from center. Also look for ways to have the surroundings support your subject with leading or trailing lines, forced perspectives and contrasts in lighting or subject matter. This is a pretty tall order for a composition that might be taking place in less than a few inches of physical space, but at least considering some of these elements during setup will vastly improve your results.Summary
To summarize quickly:- Have a subject worth showing in such detail as close-up photography affords.
- Give yourself enough room to work around your subject. This might require a longer lens or a tele-converter but whatever the case make room between you and your subject.
- Be careful to set your focal plane parallel to any points of interest in your composition (those that will or should be in focus).
- Your depth of field is a fine dance between your focal plane and your aperture but warrants it's own category. Be mindful of how much of the composition you can actually achieve reasonably sharp focus. The great the depth of field the better your chances of obtaining a sharp image. (read more on depth of field)
- A small aperture is the key to it all. The smaller you can squeeze those blades the better if you want to attain a usable depth of field. If there isn't enough light available then make some.
- Composition is so important to interesting imagery. Don't throw the rules out the window just because your composing in a few square inches versus feet or miles. The rules are the same no matter the scale.