Search for ‘macro’ (Page 2)

Macro & Close-up Photography Tips – Aperture, DoF, Diffraction

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When you take a photo of a landscape, it's not too difficult to get everything from a few feet in front of you all the way to the horizon in focus. But as you get closer to your subject and the magnification level increases, the depth of field (amount of the image in focus) rapidly drops off.

In macro and close-up photography, depth of field is so narrow it is usually measured in millimeters. So taking photos where more than just a thin sliver of the image is in focus can be tricky.

Even at an aperture of f/8, depth of field covers just a small part of this butterfly's mustache
The depth of field in this image covers just a small part of the butterfly's mustache

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

April 8th, 2013 at 8:06 pm

Macro & Close-up Photography Tips – Plants & Flowers

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Plants and flowers are one of the most popular subjects for macro photography. They are naturally appealing the eye, and can be found easily. Even in winter you can still buy cut flowers to practise your photography skills on indoors.

Rose 7623
Rose 7623 by Kain Kalju on flickr (licensed CC-BY)

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

August 25th, 2013 at 2:53 pm

Macro & Close-up Photography Tips – Lighting

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Just as with standard photography, getting lighting right for macro photography isn't easy. The main issue is often the lack of light, especially when working at magnifications of 1:1 or above. The extension used by a lens to allow it focus closely, plus any additional extension you add means that not as much light reaches the camera's image sensor.

As well as this factor, you often need to get very close to the subject, which can result in yourself blocking some of the light. And many subjects grow or live in shaded areas, just compounding the lack of light even more.

Bruco di Antheraea Mylitta
Bruco di Antheraea Mylitta by Herman Rhoids on flickr (licensed CC-BY-SA)

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How to build and use a Macro Photography Studio

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Macro photography in a studio setting can be quite rewarding. You have much more control over the scene, being able to easily modify the lighting, background, and move around your subject without anything getting in the way.

How to build and use a macro photography studio
(Based on the image Studio In The RAW: High Key Set-up by Alan Antiporda on flickr, licensed CC-BY)

When I say 'studio setting', I am not talking about a full blown photography studio. I just mean indoors, in a controlled environment. With macro and close-up photography, the top of a small table can be your studio!

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

January 26th, 2014 at 7:10 pm

Macro & Close-up Photography using a Reversed Lens

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If you use an interchangeable lens camera, you can purchase an adapter that will let you reverse mount a lens on the camera. Depending on the focal length of the lens, this can get you a good macro photo. A lens with a focal length of 50mm will give a reproduction ratio of around 1:1 when reverse mounted.

A macro photo of an ant drinking from water on a red leaf - this photo was captured using a reverse mounted lens.
A macro photo of an ant drinking from water on a red leaf - this photo was captured using a reverse mounted lens.

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

March 27th, 2013 at 12:10 pm

Macro & Close-up Photography using Diopters and Coupled Lenses

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Diopter or close-up lenses are a good way to add macro / close-up ability to your current photography gear. They work by screwing or clipping on to the front of your camera's lens, and decrease the minimum focusing distance. This allows you to move your camera closer to the subject, and achieve higher magnification photos.

Livin' on the edge
Livin' on the edge by Fountain_Head on flickr (licensed CC-BY)

These close-up lenses work with all cameras where the lens has a filter thread. So they will work with virtually all interchangeable lens camera lenses, and most bridge and advanced compact cameras that have built-in lenses. With some cameras that have an integrated lens, you may need to purchase an accessory tube that attaches to the lens to provide a filter thread that the close-up lens can then be screwed into.

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Macro & Close-up Photography of Insects

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Insects and other creepy-crawlies such as spiders make great subjects for macro photography. When we normally see a fly buzzing around, it just looks like a black blob. But on the macro level it looks very different.

Horsefly portrait
Horsefly portrait by Gilles San Martin on flickr (licensed CC-BY-SA)

Many creatures can have an almost otherworldly look about them when captured up close. In a sense, they are of another world - the macro world.

In this article we'll look at some tips on getting close to insects (and other invertebrates) without scaring them away, finding them, and how to photograph them.

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Tips for macro photography – How to photograph insects

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Close-up images of insects can be fascinating. They often have an other-worldy look about them, as we are not used to seeing them so large.

There are millions of different species of insects, and they are all around us. But unfortunately this does not mean they are easy to photograph! In this article I'll share a few tips to help you get better insect photos.

furry Lady beetle from W-Java
furry Lady beetle from W-Java by gbohne on flickr (licensed CC-BY-SA)

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Macro & Close-up Photography using Extension Tubes & Bellows

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Continuing our look at different methods for capturing macro and close-up photographs, in this article I want to look at extension tubes and bellows. Both of these methods are only applicable for cameras with interchangeable lenses, as they sit between the lens and the camera.

They both work the same way, by extending the lens away from the camera body, the minimum focusing distance of the lens decreases. You can then get closer to your subject, and get some great macro photos.

Emerge
Emerge by aussiegall on flickr (licensed CC-BY)

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

April 2nd, 2013 at 5:39 pm

Introduction to Extreme Macro Photography

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Extreme macro photographs show super close-up views of items, revealing details that cannot be seen by the naked eye, and opening up a new world of subjects.

Standard macro lenses 'only' go to 1:1 or 1:2 magnification. Extreme macro refers to images taken at magnifications greater than 1:1. To get these images requires more than just a standard macro lens, but the equipment doesn't necessarily have to be expensive.

In this article I'll look at some of the options available if you want to be able to capture extreme macro photos. And I'll also cover how to deal with some of the issues that come up when shooting at such high magnifications.

Introduction to Extreme Macro Photography

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