Macro photography - made easy

By: steve yeardley

When buying macro lenses, you need to be careful. There are many lenses out there they are marked macro, however, for the best up close and personal pictures that are at least 1/3 life size or larger you have to be sure that you do in fact have a macro lens.

Using a macro lens is is different to using a telephoto telephoto lenses, you will need to pay more care on focus, lighting, the movement of the subject, camera stability, and the depth of field.

Focus is most essential when utilising a macro lens. Many times the autofocus programme does not work properly with many subjects, so it is best to manually focus. determinethe part of the subject that you wish to focus on and use it as your main point. You may wish first to set the camera to the correct magnification level you desire and then move the entire camera, tripod and all closer to or farther away from the insect that you are imaging.

If using a tripod, sometimes it is useful to use a focusing rail. This will give you better control when moving the camera.

Camera stability can in fact be a very hard thing to accomplish especially if your subject is a fly or other insect that moves around a lot. If the subject is not moving around you can always use a tripod for the best effect, however, if the subject is moving the best way is be hand held. This way you can follow the subject and get improved shots.

Lighting plays a important part when it comes to macro lens. It is not always possible to get natural lighting on your subject, especially when we are talking about insects that enjoy nibbling on the underside of leaves and even your own camera may cast a shadow on your subject.

Flash may be used; however,sometimes a bright flash may overpower the subject. The best thing to do in this case is to purchase ring flashes. They you to put the flash in the correct place, giving you enough light without overpowering. You can also use a softbox and cover the flash. This will help soften the flash but allow you to have more light on the subject. You can buy in a flash that can be controlled if you normally take photos where you need extra light, but not bright flash. This way you can turn the flash down or up as needed.

Of course, the subject are going to move. If you are shooting very active insects or plants on a windy day, ignore the tripod. You will never be able to get good shots with a stable camera, just go handheld.

Depth of field can be the most difficult problem to overcome when using a macro lens. It may be very hard to get every point of your subject in focus. The best way to overcome this problem is to ensure the film plane parallel to the subject. Be sure that you can see all of the subject including that both end points are in focus, head and tail.

Steve runs www.digicamsdirect.com which stocks all your cameras and camcorder needs.

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