Fundamentals of Macro Photography

Fundamentals of Macro Photography WHAT IS A MACRO PHOTOGRAPH? A true macro photo is one where the image on the cam- era's sensor is the same size as the actual object you're shooting. In other words. there is a one-to-one ratio in the size of the object to the size of the image of the object on the sensor. EXPLORING 100mm Macro Lens FOCAL LENGTH 180mm Macro Lens OF MACRO LENS Less Range. Less Expensive. Might Impart shadow due to close proximity. Smaller in size. Same shot from long range. More Expensive. 100 mm lens might be close range but it does offer auto image stablization which could be useful in macro photography. One the other hand long range lenses with longer focal lengths like 180mm macro lens can keep your subject light intact and prevent self shadowing over the subject. No Shadowing problems. Quiet difficult to handle. Aperture can open Aper ture can be upto upto f/2.8 f/35 UNDERSTANDING MACRO LENS SHUTTER SPEED & APERTURE 50mm Macro Lens When your subject is in motion and your background is distracting, you want to select a fast shutter speed to freeze the action and a large aperture to blur out the background by using a shalow depth of field. 100mm Macro Lens For 50mm lens use minimum 160 sec shutter speed. You can increase the aperture upto f/2.5 When your subject is in motion and your background contans elements of interest, use a fast shutter to freeze the motion and a small aperture to include the background detals through a greater depth of field. For 100mm lens use minmum 1/100 sec shutter speed. You can increase the aperture upto f/28 When you wish to include motion blur as a creative tool in an image and also want to include background detail, you can select a slow shutter speed based on how much blur you'd like to include, and then select an aper- ture that suits the amount of sharp detail you want. If you're handholding the camera, you generally want to use a quick shutter speed to minimize camera shake during exposure. Therefore, any time you handhold your the camera and want to manage how much depth of field an image has, you need control over your shutter speed and aperture. When using an artificial light source (such as a flash) in combination with natural light, your shutter speed and aperture each affect your exposure differently. WORKING WITH DEPTH OF FIELD The Depth of Fiield is the part of the photograph that is in focus. All that other stuff that is blurry in the foreground or background is out of the Depth of Field The Depth of Field is very shallow with Macro Photography. To increase the Depth of Field, or the armount of the flower that is in focus, use a smaller aperture. Using small apertures from f/8 to f/16 help get more Depth of Field f/10 Aperture f/2 Aperture The sweet spot of a lens aperture is usually at f/8. The sweet spot is the aperture that most camera lenses will produce the sharpest focus. For example, most lenses take sharper photographs at f/8 then at f/22 or f/28. Using ap- ertures in the middle produces sharper photographs. You wil get more Depth of Field with a small aperture like f/22 but the lens won't be at its sharpest performance One reason is diffraction. Most point and shoot digital cameras don't go more then f/8. Using large aperture wil cause an exponential rise in shalowness of depth of field It's undesireable in macro photography Using the mid range of apeture, more of the macro image wil be in focus which is considered optimum for macro photography DEPTH & COMPOSITION IN MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY Macro Photography is complete world in itself. The smallest of things represent the most astounding things on macro scale. It's im- portant to judge the background and keep the colors perspective in mind in macro mode. Another concept that should be followed is of lead room. The concept of lead room' is important in macro as well as other wildlife photography. The idea is that the frame should contain extra space in the drection in which the animal's eyes are looking Indeed, having a subject looking at the nearest edge of the frame can be unappealing The use of appropriate lead room contributes a sense of balance in the image. Consider the examples belo to OTHER TECHNIQUES OF DOING MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY REVERSED LENS Using the lens in a reverse manner enables you to take macro photographs at the ex- pense of static aperture as the electrical signal is cut off from the lens. It's a cheap alternative and can get you going in the field of macro photography EXTENSION TUBES Extension tube are use to in- crease focal length of the lens. It's another cheap alternative to buying a fully capable macro lens and can also be used along side a macro lens. CREATED BY USAMA NASIR [email protected] WWW.PHOTOAFFILIATES.COM ref. http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/contrcl-aperture-and-shutter-speed-n-macro-photoghtml http://www.macro-photogaa28 www.dpreview.com/ar