sign in sign up
<<
Home , Macro photography

MACRO CHECKLIST 11 TIPS AND TRICKS TO IMPROVE ANY COMPOSITION

hether you’re preparing to take your very first macro photo or you’ve been at it for years, there is always room to learn new tricks Wfor improving your images. Have a look at these 11 easy, yet highly impactful tips to see how you can start composing better macro photos today!

 Get an Early Start As the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm. An early morning macro shoot is most likely to get you the best results. There’s soft, warm light from sunrise, little or no wind, a greater possibility of dew on plants for fun water droplet photos, and bugs and insects are just getting their start to the day as well. The more sluggish the insect, the easier it will be for you to them!  Test Out a Variety of Lenses Not all macro lenses have a short . In fact, there are many longer focal length macro lenses that still have a 1:1 magnification ratio. The advantage of using a longer focal length lens is that you don’t have to be as close to the subject. That means you have more room to add lighting, like a ring , and you might have a better chance of photographing skittish insects by being able to do so from a greater distance away.

 Try the Parallel  Make a DIY Background  Try a Trick

A macro shot can be made or broken by If you’ve got a macro scene you want to If you’re photographing a relatively flat what’s happening in the background. Even photograph but it’s just too dark to get a subject, like a piece of fabric, a leaf, or a though the background will be blurry, its good , try using a ring flash. Not rock, ensure that the back of the camera , textures, and patterns will still be only will a ring flash give you nice, even is parallel with the subject. Why? Doing visible, thus necessitating that it is of a high light on your subject, it will also allow you so helps the camera make full use of what quality. For indoor shots, create a collection to shoot at a higher speed. This is little there is. If the camera of high-quality backgrounds using fabric, advantageous if you want to photograph and the subject are parallel to one another, paper, or even prints of neutral and natural a fast moving subject, like an insect, and the chances of the entire frame being in scenes you’ve taken before. Even a bowl want to freeze its movement. A higher are greatly increased. If the camera of water with food coloring could make a is also great for windy days and subject aren’t parallel, you might find good macro background. and for handholding your camera with less that the parts of the subject that are further worry of camera shake. away from the lens are out of focus.  Don’t Discount Large Don’t Be Afraid to Crop  Use Depth of Field  Preview

The point of a macro shot is to get up close Although it’s common practice to use to the subject. While you should endeavor The optical viewfinder on your camera small apertures to maximize depth of field to frame the shot tightly in-camera, don’t shows the scene at the largest available in macro shots, that doesn’t mean that be afraid to make further adjustments to . While this is great for actually you can’t use a large aperture to create the in post. Cropping the image seeing the image (the larger aperture an image with a different look. A large tightly will help you bring more attention makes it brighter in the viewfinder), it aperture will have a razor-thin depth of to the subject by filling the frame with it. does nothing in the way of helping you field, resulting in an image with a small A tight crop also gives you the option of determine the depth of field. To see what area of sharp focus with the foreground creating a more abstract composition by you’ve got in focus and what’s blurry, and background nicely blurred. Or, if you focusing the viewer’s attention on one use your camera’s depth of field preview want to go more abstract, try shooting small detail within the larger, original shot. button. Doing so will tell the camera your subject completely out of focus for to show you the scene at the working a -filled shot that’s full of beautiful aperture so you have a better idea of abstract blur. what’s sharp and what’s blurry. 11 Practice Patience

Avoid Maxing Out Your Give Indoor Macro   Aperture Shoots a Chance

The advice to “be patient” may sound cliche and simplistic, but in the end if you can’t be patient, macro photography (and any other type of photography) will be impossible to master. It’s difficult to avoid If you hit the snooze button too many the temptation to run around, firing your times and don’t get the early start you shutter at all the pretty macro scenes you wanted, don’t worry! The beauty of macro come across. But the resulting images photography is that it can easily be done If you opt for using a smaller aperture to will likely look hurried, and will probably indoors. It doesn’t take up much space– increase your depth of field, avoid using suffer from poor exposure, blurriness, all you need is a small, clear area on a the maximum aperture available, which is bad framing, or all of the above. Instead, countertop, table, or even the floor to set f/22. Although f/22 gives you the greatest slow things down, be diligent in how you up your subject. Add your camera, , depth of field, it is also most susceptible to setup your camera and other gear, and the lighting, and a homemade background creating a soft image in which some of the results will be much more pleasing. (see next tip) and you can get incredible sharpness is lost due to diffraction. Instead, images like the one shown above. try to keep your aperture in the f/11-f/16 range–you will still get a nice depth of field but will avoid the extreme softness that often occurs at f/22.