Up Close and Personal with Macro Photography
One of the most rewarding genres of photography is Macro, or “extreme closeup”, Photography. Although often applied to closeup photography in general the term “macro,” (from the Greek makrós, meaning, ironically, “large,” “long,” “great,” or “excessive”) is used specifically to describe a photo where the subject of the image appears larger than life size. Hence, the term “Macro”.
Even the most mundane subjects can take on a whole new meaning when seen up close, often taking on an abstract quality. Taken out of context they provoke thought, allowing us to appreciate them from a whole new perspective.
Most lenses these days focus in pretty close, but only dedicated macro lenses can achieve the 1:1 magnification necessary to put us in the macro camp. Prior to the latest generation of macro glass, such lenses would usually provide a 1:2 magnification, and you’d use an extension tube to get you to 1:1. Then for greater than life-size, you’d use a bellows which would further increase the distance between the back of your lens and the film/sensor plane. These can even be used with standard lenses instead of a dedicated macro lens. But all of this simply means that the size of the subject in the image frame is larger than life-size, and really has nothing to do with the final presentation size. The larger the print or display size, the more “macro” the image becomes.
Because of their 1.5 to 1.6 crop factor (and corresponding magnification factor), APS-C DSLRs work particularly well for macro photography, just as they do for telephoto work. And if the resolution of your camera is high enough, simple cropping is also a way to achieve that “macro aesthetic”.
Macro lenses generally come in 3 focal lengths; 50–60mm, 100–105mm and 200mm. The longer the focal length, the greater the “working” distance, that is the minimum focus distance between the subject and the front of the lens. This is important, because the extra distance makes it’s easier to light your subject, and less invasive if you’re photographing tiny wildlife. And many zoom lenses also include a macro capability, although it’s important to make sure that this feature is available at the long end of the focal range.
But if a dedicated macro lens or bellows isn’t in your budget just yet, there are a lot of other options to get you closer. You can use your closest focusing lens with an add-on closeup lens. Attached like a filter, these don’t affect exposure, but allow your lens to focus closer, increasing magnification. And they do this with only a slight degradation in image quality.
Another option is to use an extension tube, which adds no image degradation but unfortunately does add to the exposure time. Whenever you add distance between the lens and film/sensor plane you shorten the close-focusing distance, which in turn increases magnification…and exposure time.
Another nifty way is to convert your wide-angle lens to a macro using a “macro-reverse mount.” You buy one to fit the mount of your camera, and you attach any brand of lens (the wider the better) to the adapter by turning it around and screwing its filter threads onto the adapter. (You can use step-up/down rings if you need to adapt different filter sizes.) You just need to make sure you can control the aperture (Canon autofocus lenses, or others without a mechanical aperture lever or aperture ring will only work at their smallest aperture, which could reduce sharpness.)
Older manual focus lenses by Minolta, Nikon and Olympus work very well. You can also attach these reversed lenses to other lenses using a “macro-reverse ring”. When you do this, they behave similarly to close-up lenses, only with extreme magnifaction. Finding the best combination of lenses for this method is a little trickier though.
Have a macro lens from from a 35mm SLR? Use it with your DSLR! There are “Macro” lens mount adapters without conversion optics (Some DSLRs like Nikons have long flange-focal distances that require them) and since you don’t need infinity focus capability, these allow non-native macro lenses to work with your camera, and give you a little extra magnification to boot (they act as extension tubes). And if your camera can use stopped-down metering, you can use auto exposure as well.
One of the biggest challenges of macrophotography is overcoming narrow depth of field, and this makes working with smaller apertures a must. But not too small; the effects of diffusion could rob your images of sharpness. So limit your f-stop to f/8–11 where possible. Keep in mind that all else being equal, the shorter the lens the greater the depth of field, so APS-C has its advantages here too. And if you’ve ever done “focus stacking” in Photoshop, this is an excellent opportunity to take full advantage of this powerful feature to overcome the limitations of the optics themselves.
With such small apertures, a strong light source is essential. A dedicated macro flash setup really helps when shooting with shorter macro lenses (55–60mm), which tend to block light due to their close working distance. But again, if not in your budget you can get around this by bouncing light onto your subject from the camera’s built-in flash, or using a carefully placed external flash or “hot light.” Just be careful not to overdo it, as it’s easy to overexpose and spoil an otherwise excellent image.
But enough about the gear. Let’s talk about the photography.
Happily, all the best practices you’ve come to know apply to macro photography as well. Composition is everything so be sure to avoid cropping off essential elements, observe the rule of thirds, use lead room where possible, and find leading lines to draw the viewer in. Of paramount importance is getting in at a low and intimate angle so that you occupy the same space as your subject. This applies to both flora and fauna.
Lead room is that space in front of the subject, where it’s heading in to the composition and likely the region that it’s looking toward. This usually corresponds nicely with the rule of thirds.
Minimizing background detail and creating a smooth bokeh are usually not a problem, due to the inherent shallow depth of field. Still, macro lenses tend to be tack sharp and those that afford both a smooth bokeh and a crisp foreground can fall into the upper price range.
Let’s not forget the art of storytelling. Even tiny creatures have tales to be told, and this opportunity exists in macrophotography as well. The combination of bright daylight and a natural environment can be a formula for success. Bring along a diffuser/reflector disk in case contrast becomes difficult to work with.
Sometimes a close-focusing kit lens it all it takes to get a great shot. At 200mm, if your zoom lens focuses close enough you can be an unobtrusive observer to a compelling story.
Inanimate objects pose fewer challenges than moving subjects, and can be a great starting point, although some are definitely more challenging than others.
As photographers, we may feel challenged at times to find subjects that are interesting. But in the world of macro photography, if we look close enough we can explore nature’s wonders, see abstract art in the making, and find hidden treasure. It’s all around us. And the devil is in the details.
