Macro Photography - Powerpoint version

Macro

A presentation for Kelso Camera Club by Norman Dodds

What is macro? • From Makros – a Greek word meaning large, long • Macro is the term used to describe photographs where the subject is recorded as life size or up to 10 times bigger than life size. • Close-up is where the subject is recorded between one tenth of its actual size to life size. • Macro and close-up are often used interchangeably!

What do you need for macro photography? • A camera which can focus close to the subject – many compacts have a macro setting • A reversing ring – allows you to fit your lens the wrong way round! • A close-up lens – an advantage of this it doesn’t reduce light. A disadvantage is that it will reduce sharpness. • Extension tubes – these are fitted between the camera body and the lens. No reduction in sharpness but they will reduce light! • A dedicated macro lens!

Macro lenses • Macro lenses generally come in several ranges  50-60 mm  90-105 mm  150-180 mm

• The advantage of the bigger focal lengths is that you can be further away from your subject. • The disadvantage is that they usually cost more!

Taking macro photographs • • • • •

Subject Focussing Lighting Exposure Movement

Subject • Almost anything small!! • Flowers, insects, household objects are all popular subjects • Arrange your ‘set’. At close range everything is magnified so don’t be afraid to remove that nasty bit of grass or anything else that shouldn’t be there! • Create a background – even a piece of material behind your subject can make a huge difference

Focussing • By definition you will be very close to your subject so depth of field will be very small • A TRIPOD IS ESSENTIAL!! • There are 3 ways to focus:  Using TTL automatic focussing  Using manual focussing  Using live view focussing (if your camera allows this)

Lighting • • • • • •

Daylight Artificial light – torches, table lamps Off camera flash Ring flash – the ideal solution – but expensive! BEWARE OF NASTY SHADOWS!! Use reflective, absorbent or translucent materials out of shot to add, reduce or diffuse light

Exposure – ISO, shutter speed, aperture • ISO – 100 ISO is ideal but you may need to increase this if light is low • Shutter speed – if your subject is completely still and you are using a tripod, then shutter speed can be anything you like! You may wish to increase this if your subject is moving. • Aperture – depth of field is very limited so this suggests a small aperture. However image quality will be reduced at very small apertures. Somewhere between f11 and f16 is generally an acceptable compromise. • EXPERIMENT! (Check your histogram!)

Shooting with Photoshop in mind • Make a composite image:    

Set up your shot using a tripod Take two or more shots of the same subject Change the point of focus with each shot Use Photoshop to merge the images

• This technique is called Focus Stacking

Focus Stacking

Questions?