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Up-Close Encounters of the Macro Kind

Have you ever marveled at those pictures of close-up objects where you can't hardly even tell what it is you're looking at? Or what about those amazing shots of the rainbow colored insects that seem almost as if they were a life-size animal caught roaming the underbrush of some far away jungle. All of these types of photographs fall into the special category of Macro Photography.

Macro photography is somewhat of a diverse selection of photographic tastes. You'll find one group of people that shoot primarily smaller bug-type things or water droplets on flowers. Others like to zoom up on seemingly mundane household objects (pencil erasers, burnt match-heads, etc) and see what they look like magnified by 20x. Still others like to capture miniature scenes in doll-houses or mock-ups of battles with tiny little toy soldiers. Basically, though, if it's small and you can somehow capture it with your camera, it'll fall under the heading of macro photography.

So if you're interested in trying out a little bit of this kind of photography, where do you start? First of all, you have to decide if your current camera setup will work for such an endeavor. Most point and shoot cameras these days do have a macro function or some sort. It's primarily symbolized with a little flower icon somewhere in the menu or as a button on the camera. This setting shortens the distance necessary for the camera to focus at, so that you can get in as close as possible to an object and still focus correctly. Sometimes the camera will also adjust the depth of field longer for shooting objects up close, where the perspectives will be exaggerated. However, even with these features most point and shoot cameras will not be able to take those in-your-face photos of the eyes of a house fly. It just isn't capable of that kind of magnification. So if you're looking to get into THAT kind of macro photography you'll be need an SLR rig of some sort.

If you're already working with an SLR the next step is to see if your current lenses are capable of focusing at very close distances. It's different for every lens, but on the lens body itself it will usually tell you the minimum focal distance for that particular lens. If you are trying to shoot macro shots with a long tele-photo you might run into some problems since many of those lenses have minimum focal distances of a foot or more. Not ideal for shooting close-up. How can you get around this? Several ways.

One way is to go back and read my blog on DIY photography. I included a link there to make a home-made lens adapter that will let you flip your lens around and attach it to the camera using a Pringles can (or similar material). This effectively magnifies everything almost like a microscope. Another, more convenient but also more expensive, way to do this same thing is to look into Extension tubes for your lens. Extension tubes basically come in varying lengths and can be stacked on one another to move the lens farther from the camera body which magnifies all light passing through it. There are automatic tubes that allow your camera to still communicate with the which preserves the AF and F-stop adjustment. Or you can get the cheaper tubes that are literally just metal threaded tubes that screw on to each other and attach to the lens. This makes the lens manually controlled but still works and is cheaper than the auto tubes, but not as goofy looking as the Pringles can.

The next thing to look into is your lighting situation. Light is the next big thing that macro photography has to have; and LOTS of it. You will need to have either a REALLY bright constant light source that you can position over the various tiny subjects you shoot, or an accessory flash on an extension cord that allows you to put the flash right over the subject. This is primarily because you have to shoot macro shots at very high f-stops which means a very tiny shutter hole and hence, very little light getting through. With such a high f-stop there has to be lots of light to make correct exposures, or else all your shots will just be black.

Why such high f-stops? Because at such zoomed up perspectives the depth of field for these objects will be super-exaggerated and you will have a hard time getting much of the object in focus. To get as much in focus as possible you have to extend the depth of field to the max; which means an f-stop of like f/22, or f/32 if your lens can do it.

With this factor comes another consideration; the stabilization of the camera body. Since you're shooting such high f-stops your shutter speed will be getting pretty slow to, allowing as much light in as is needed to correctly expose the shot. With shutter speeds of 1/10 of a second or longer you'll be needed a tripod or other sturdy surface to shoot on. Since you'll need lots of adjustable flexibility, a tripod is really a must for macro photography. One that allows you to get the camera out and away from the leg base of the tripod is ideal, but most regular tripods can work if you play with them.

Once you've gotten these basic issues addressed, you're ready to start shooting the tiny world around you, and maybe even some of those spiders that you normally would just smack with a rolled up magazine. But be careful of what you decided to zoom in on. Sometimes you'd probably really rather NOT know what the up-close view of your toothbrush looks like.

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The Assignment Macro Photography Tutorial

BV & Jo MACRO EXTENSION Full Set TUBES Fits CANON EOS SLR & DSLR,1D 1Ds 7D 5D 10D 20D 30D 40D,50D,60D,300D 350D 400D 450D 500D,550D,600D,T2i,1000D,1100D Camera DSLR. £7.99 It is made in plastic with light weight. Automatic Extension Tube Set is combined of 3 metal rings - 13mm, 21mm, 31mm. Equipped with electronic contacts which transfer exposure data . All automatic functions work well and there is no need to set them manually. As for AF engine and TTL auto exposure in modern lenses there is no need to worry, it works perfectly well with extension rings. Use t...

Raynox DCR-250 Macro Attachment £45.95 Raynox DCR-250...

CowboyStudio Nikon Macro Extension Tube - Fits Nikon D1, D2, D3, D3x,D3s, D100, D200, D300, D300s, D700, D40, D40x, D50, D60, D70, D70s, D80, D90, D3000, D3100, D5000, D7000 £11.00 Macro tubes move the lens farther away from your film or digital sensor, transforming your lens into a macro lens. The extension tube contains no optics or mirrors inside, so the quality of your image is not impacted. This macro extension tube set is suitable for all Nikon cameras. There are multiple rings, allowing you to easily change the focus length of the tube, and therefore the magnification...

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