eyesmallMacro photography is photography that magnifies the smallest of subjects so that they fill your view finder and reveal all of their gorgeous little details to you.
Macro Photography and Close-Up Photography are different, even though they will sometimes achieve the same result. Macro Photography makes use of a Macro Lens (not all lenses are capable of Macro) and the lens allows the photographer to zoom right into a subject so that the subject fills the whole frame even thought the camera is a good distance away from the subject.

Macro photography allows you to photograph things like dragonflies or birds without scaring them away by moving to close.

Close-Up photography is when you move your camera very. very close to the subject until it fills the frame. Close-Up filters screw onto the front of your lens and allow you to get even closer and achieve clear images.

Macro & Close-Up photography differ from other photography and requires a whole new set of guidelines to help you create a perfect image.

1) Firstly, a big annoyance is that even the smallest little movement will be magnified along with your subject, movement that you might otherwise have gotten away with at a normal distance and magnification (not saying that movement is ever a good thing though!)

The absolute best way to work around this is to use a tripod or some kind of sturdy position for your camera (maybe a bean bag) and if you can, use a remote trigger or your delayed timer for triggering the shutter.

Sometimes we don’t have a tripod handy though and we still want to take the picture, if this is the case, use the highest shutter speed that you can manage. Preferably something above 1/500, but this can only be achieved if the lighting is really kind to you.

2) This brings us to another problem that you might encounter with this kind photography – Lighting.
When you are so focused on one subject and you are drawing in so much of their detail, you don’t want to burn the highlights by using lighting that is much to bright or directly placed onto the subject. Place a light-diffuser over your flash, if you don’t have one; simply cut out a piece of a plastic, opaque milk bottle and hold it in front of the flash when you take the picture to soften the impact.
Side lighting works very well too, if you have an off camera flash or external lighting.

Close-Up photography brings about a whole new level of frustration when it comes to lighting. You on camera flash is going to prove itself completely useless due to the closeness of the lens to the subject – there is no space for the flash to work. For Close-Up photography you really need a Ring Flash. This ensures even and well lit images. Other than a ring flash – external lighting is your best bet. Like this Ring Flash for a Canon.

3) Composition is really important. With Macro and Close-Up photography your Depth of Field is minimized, there is not much your can really do about this, but it works in your favor! Your subject will be in sharp focus and the background will create a hazy, un-detailed, un-distracting backdrop to frame your subject. All you need to do is make sure that the colours and lighting (and random objects) in your background don’t pull the viewers attention off your subject.

4) Something very important to consider is this: Will your viewer know that this was a Macro or Close-Up shot when they look at it?
It’s all very well that you took ages lighting and positioning that tiny flower in your garden, carefully focusing and planning so that each minute and gorgeous detail revealed itself to your full frame…BUT…will the view even know that the flower wasn’t just average sized and the shot wasn’t just a quick snap while your roamed the garden – there isn’t really any way for them to know unless they recognize that particular flower! All your hard work for nothing!
Think about your subjects, make sure that the impact of the Close-Up or Macro shot will do them (and you) justice.

5) Shooting outdoors in the wind can prove impossible no matter how steady your camera is – the plants might be moving. Take something with you that lets you secure your subject (like a stick and a clip to keep the flower still)

6) Yes, we know that Auto-focus is a magical little helper – but Macro and Close-Up photography requires patience and fineness. You will achieve far greater success with Manual-focus. (Close up filters won’t actually work with Auto-focus as you will be too close to the subject and will only confuse your camera)

macro
Images.