How many of you scrapbook? How many of you have kids? Ok, now how many of you only get the camera out for big occasions and special events? Ok, I know there was a lot of hands showing on that last one! Why don’t you get the camera out more often? Is it because you think there’s just nothing to take pictures of? You can only have so many pictures of the kiddos eating or sleeping? Shame on you!
The world is full of things to take pictures of! I have stacks of photos (shame on ME for not getting them into a book!) of what probably seem like, well, nothing. But if you look at them more closely, you will see that I take pictures of the little things. Take the time to NOTICE the little things in your world. The things that make up your day…that make up your LIFE.
This is why I LOVE close up (macro) photography. A picture of my son is great, of course. He’s adorable (and QUIET!) when he sleeps. However, this is an opportunity to take close up pictures of all the little parts that make up my big boy! His hands, his little button nose, his eyes with those mile long lashes…I can easily fill a large memory card with those pictures. A lizard in my back yard, the sparkle from my engagement ring, the nose of my baby kitten…there is a whol world of things to be discovered with macro photography. Close ups of insects, flowers, even snow on a branch can be amazing.
Here are a few tips for getting amazing close up pictures.
Simplify…fill the photo with your subject, keep it simple, eliminate background clutter.
Keep your subject in sharp focus. Adjust your aperture to isolate your subject and blur out the background, if you need to. Usually the depth of field on macro photography is quite narrow, which will accomplish this on its own.
Try shooting from different angles. Use front lighting to get deep color saturation. If you want to accentuate the texture of your subject, use side lighting.
Some lenses have a minimum focus distance that is a considerable distance from the lens. Some zoom lenses have a macro setting, but most lenses will not focus close enough to take the picture at a very close distance.
Extension tubes will allow you to make the lens focus on something very close up. These tubes work on cameras where the lens is detachable from the camera. These tubes generally come in sets of three, to be used separately or together. They fit between the lens and the camera, moving the lens further away from the film or sensor. The lens will now focus on an object closer than it normally would.
Close Up lenses are like reading glasses. These look like filters, and sometimes they will even be called a close up filter set. They attach to the front of the lens, and their strength is measured in diopters. A +2 is stronger than a +1, etc. Using a close up lens solves the problem of needing more light, as with extension tubes, but now you have something on the front of your lens. Make sure you buy a good quality close up set, as the quality of your photo is no longer dependent on your lens, but on the close up lens. These are pretty inexpensive, so there’s no need to skimp on the cheapest ones.