Macro Photography

Water Droplets On A Leaf

2011-05-16T22:08:00.000+01:00

Water and plants make for stunning macro photographs.

Both are natural materials and they combine to produce incredible results.

Professional photographers often add water to shots of flowers, fruit or vegetables to give their pictures a clean, fresh feel.

Adding water to a natural surface creates an entirely new dimension. Natural textures are already interesting when viewed up close, but sprinkling a few clear droplets onto them creates a new burst of life.

This photograph is a simple snapshot of a leaf on a garden plant, after rain.

You might want to try adding water to other subjects to see how they look. Or even experiment with photographing water on its own. Macro photos of flowing water can produce amazing results, particularly when you start playing with different shutter speeds.

Macro Photograph - Leaf Skeleton

2011-05-16T18:42:00.001+01:00

Macro photography can open up intricate details that we so often ignore.

This leaf skeleton was one of hundreds, if not thousands, lying on the ground in Abbotsbury Sub-Tropical Gardens in Dorset, England. What was brown, botanical rubbish became an intricate masterpiece when held up to the light.

Leaves and light can create amazing photographs. If you're looking for something a little out of the ordinary, just look at how sunlight reveals lines and patterns in leaves, alive or dead. This had fallen but equally amazing views were to be had through leaves that were still attached to trees and shrubs.

Macro photography like this shows how important it is to get up to close to your subject. A photo of the entire leaf would have been interesting enough, but by getting really close to just one area I've been able to highlight nature's tracery.

The depth of field was achieved by holding the leaf at a slight angle, tilted away from the camera.

Camera: A350
Shutter speed: 1/320 sec
F-stop: f/3.2
ISO: 100
Lens: 50mm

Holiday Snaps with a Macro Lens

2010-01-03T18:39:00.002Z

There's no shortage of subject matter for the macro lens over the Christmas holidays.

Lights, decorations, gifts, food - the list is almost endless. What is difficult, at least for me, is finding the time. Getting that great photo can take a while as you search out the best angle, find the right lighting and then experiment with different apertures and shutter speeds.

I decided to focus on photographing Christmas tree decorations. These tiny ornaments make an appearance once a year when, for a few weeks, they combine with the tree lights to glisten and glow, brightening up the darkest time of year.

Armed with my Sony A350 DSLR and Sigma 50mm macro I set about trying to capture something of Christmas through the lens. The only other piece of equipment was a borrowed tripod - an essential for indoor photography in low light conditions.

I spent about four hours taking photographs of two different trees and I'm pleased with the results. I'm still working out how to create pin-sharp images but these will do for now. The process taught me a few lessons about macro photography that I'll share in due course - the main one being that a tripod alone is not the answer to using a slow shutter speed.

The pictures themselves will come in useful later this year as illustrations for seasonal articles.

Quality Resolutions for the New Year

2009-12-03T22:44:00.000Z

I did not take this photograph.

I found it on Flickr, where it's the property of Townend Photography. I'm publishing it under a Creative Commons licence.

This is a classic example of how macro photography adds depth to everyday objects. You don't get much more commonplace than cutlery, yet this picture transforms the humble fork from functional into fascinating - if only for a few moments.

The great thing about macro photography, as I keep telling myself, is that pictures like this can by taken by almost anyone. Yes, it requires a macro lens and an good eye. It also means thinking outside of the box, but not very far outside.

My New Year's resolution, for 2010, is to take some photographs like this. To make the time to create studies of everyday details. I don't expect to win prizes or even get much recognition, but it will increase my collection of stock footage and, more importantly, I'll enjoy doing it.

It'll be interesting, in a year's time, to see which pictures I choose as my best shots of 2010.

Delighting in the Detail

2009-12-02T23:03:00.001Z

It's been a while since I posted on this blog.

That's partly because I've been busy working on my new business as a freelance writer. And it's partly because it's not a great time of year for taking photographs.

That latter statement is not entirely true. There's never a bad time of year for taking photographs. Every season and every time of day presents opportunities. There is always a new angle to be found even on the very familiar.

But natural light is in short supply in the UK at this time of year. We do get some bright, sunny days but the hours of darkness far outnumber those of daylight. Macro photography, as I've discovered, needs plenty of light.

A good solution for photography of small objects indoors would be a lightbox, allowing pictures to be taken at any time of day or night. They're not difficult to make, apparently, and at some point I'll try my hand at it.

For the moment I'll continue to grab snaps when I can in natural light. I'm taking quite a few macro photos to illustrate my online articles. Everyday objects are useful subject matter when taken in close-up.

I mustn't leave it too long before I post on this blog again!

What is Barrel Distortion?

2009-09-04T18:35:00.008+01:00

The world of photography is full of strange terms. Pin-cushion effect, bokeh, depth of field, and white balance are just a few that take a moment to get to grips with.

The one I'm blogging about today is barrel distortion. This is the curious effect that reminds you a picture was taken using a circular lens, because the straight lines curve slightly.

It's particuarly obvious in photographs of buildings or other man-made structures because, not surprisingly, they tend to have a lot of straight lines.

The photos in the this blog entry demonstrate the effect. They are all stunningly unexciting pictures of the wall of my house, which comprises courses of bricks laid in a 'stretcher bond' pattern.

The top photo was taken with the Sigma 50mm macro lens. If there is any distortion it's difficult to see - the lines look good to me.

The second shot is with the kit lens that came with my Sony A350, at maximum zoom, or focal length of 70mm. Again, any distortion is invisible.

The final picture is with the same lens but at the other extreme of its focal length, 18mm. This is a wide-angle setting, which is where barrel distortion tends to occur. It's visible in this picture - which looks as if something is pushing the centre of the shot forward slightly, curving the lines of the brickwork.

Effects like this give the lie to the claim 'the camera never lies'. Incredibly sophisticated though they are, cameras are still not a match for the human eye.

Using a macro for holiday snaps

2009-08-28T17:58:00.008+01:00

It's holiday time. This year we had the opportunity for a week by the sea, in Swanage.

This raised the question of whether to take my new Sigma macro lens. I naturually assumed that I would mainly use the kit lens that came with my Sony Alpha 350. It's a DT18-70mm F3.5-5.6, which means it's a basic zoom lens.

However, my Sigma macro was already on the camera and I decided to leave it there. I'm not certain how much dust enters a camera body whenever the lens is changed, but currently I'm being careful not to change too often.

On arrival in Swanage I decided to start taking pictures with the Sigma lens. It's supposed to

give good landscape results. After a little while I got used to the fact that it wasn't a zoom and if I wanted to get closer to a subject I had to physically move. It also did not give me the same wide-angle options as the zoom.

But you can learn to live with that. I downloaded the results, and I was impressed.

What clinched it was a comment by my thirteen year old daugther. She observed that the pictures looked more realistic because the buildings did not have curving walls. She was referring to

what's called barrel distortion, which results in straight lines becoming curves in photographs.

Barrel distortion tends to occur using wide angle lenses, or the wide end of a zoom lens. Apparently it's relatively easy to fix with software, but I prefer the pictures to come out of the camera without the need for post-processing.

I decided to stick with the Sigma macro lens for the rest of the week. I took some great portrait shots and landscapes, and it allowed me to get really close to subjects. It suited my style of photography.

There's a lot more that I want to write about. But the message of this post is simple - a macro lens works perfectly well as a general-purpose lens; it's not just for close-up work.

All the pictures in this post were taken with my Sigma 50mm macro.

Sigma 50mm macro lens reviews

2009-07-28T09:07:00.004+01:00

I've been using my new Sigma 50mm macro lens for a couple of weeks now. It's giving great results, as seen in some of the pictures on this blog.

However, my journey into the world of macro photography has barely begun and I'm confident there are much better pictures ahead, waiting to be taken once I've learned more.

Today I thought I'd post links to some reviews of the Sigma 50mm macro lens. It was originally announced in 2004, as seen from this article on the Digital Photography Review site. However, they don't appear to have a subsequent review of the lens when released.

The first review is from the ePhotoZine website, and is dated January 2006. The one difference I've spotted is that the lens reviewed had a switch to move between auto-focus and manual focus. This is absent from my lens, probably because the same switch is built into my Sony A350 camera.

In general the review of the lens is positive, although it does pick out a couple of minor issues with slow auto-focus and the lack of a soft case. The former I've already encountered when trying to take pictures of bees on clover. The bees spend a few seconds on the clover head - plenty of time of a picture - but they're constantly moving as they forage for nectar. This seems to prevent the lens from achieving focus for long enough to shoot.

As for a soft case - I've long accepted that camera and lens manufacturers no longer supply any sort of cases with their products. Irritating, but it's a commercial reality that accessories push up produce prices.

The internet give a voice to ordinary people, particularly when it comes to product reviews. Amazon is a great source for these, and reviews for the Sigma lens are extremely positive. I've linked to the reviews for the Canon mount lens as there are more of these than for Sony.

Other reviews you may be interested in are dphotojournal and dyxum.

The challenge of photographing bugs

2009-07-18T19:23:00.008+01:00

I enjoy photographing insects. That's one of the reasons whyI bought a macro lens. Ideally I'd have bought a 90mm or 105mm lens, as that would allow me to keep a distance from the subject.

I've already explained that financial constraints led to me buying a 50mm Sigma macro lens. Just because it isn't the ideal for working with insects doesn't mean I won't give it a go. This photo of a hoverfly on a flower is the best I've achieved so far.

The fly was relatively easy to capture because it was static and allowed me to get very close. This picture was taken at maximum magnification, 1:1, and the end of the lens with only a few millimetres from the subject. Fortuntately it chose not to move, allowing me several shots.

A motionless subject is a great help in macro photography. But there are still other challenges to deal with, particularly when working outdoors.

With this particular picture I had to deal with the wind blowing the plant that the fly was on. The wind was relatively light, but gusty, and it was enough to move the subject in and out of the focal range of the lens very quickly. I took about twenty photos from exactly the same position and this was the only one where the fly was in focus.

Today's macro thoughts

2009-07-11T11:27:00.005+01:00

I''ve already made it clear that budget was a serious factor in my choice of macro lens.

However, it is possible to make a macro lens for yourself. The advantage is that it costs next to nothing. The disadvantage is that it takes some time and if you're not very practical, like me, it presents a major challenge.

However, it's good to know that it's possible. The full article about how to do it is on photocritic.org.

The article also raises some other issues for those of us getting into macro photography. Such as the shallow depth of field and sensitivity of focusing.

One issue I've already come up against, while experimenting, is that of using low shutter speeds outdoors. To improve depth of field I've been using smaller aperatures, which reduce the shutter speed. Unfortuntately because the subject of a macro photography is very small, or being captured in close-up, the slightest movement is magnified.

While I'm usually able to take hand-held photo at 1/15 speed, this is too slow for effective macro photography of plants in outdoor conditions where there is even a slight breeze. The result is a blurred picture.

I need to experiment using a tripod and working with a subject outdoors. That will allow me to identify the slowest shutter speed that's reasonable to use when photographing plants which are subject to gentle wind movement. It will be interesting to see the results.

What is macro photography?

2009-07-09T23:14:00.006+01:00

Macro photography is about making small items appear larger. Detailed close-up pictures, with larger than life subject matter, such as insects or small flowers, are macro photographs.

We live in a world built on tiny details. Some of like to capture this details in photos for pleasure or for practical purposes, or both. It makes sense to photograph your jewellery or coin collection for insurance records. A large of number of stock photographs are taken at a macro level, using every day objects to create memorable illustrations used in magazines or on websites.

For great examples of macro photographs, visit the Closer and Closer group on Flickr.

The term macro is not rigidly defined. Traditionally macro lenses were defined by their level of magnification relative to the size of the 'film plane', that is the size of the negative or now the digial sensor. The ideal was regarded as 1:1, where the camera was capable of focusing on a subject so close to the lens that it was life-size on the film plan.

A good way of describing this is to think of large postage stamp, which is typically a similar size to a 35mm negative. A macro lens with 1:1 capability can focus on the stamp at a point where the image fills the entire view-finder, meaning it fills the negative or the digial sensor. When the negative is processed and turned into a 6"x4" print, the stamp will be massively magnified.

In recent years the term macro has come to mean the capability to focus on a subject close enough to appear life-size on a standard sized print. In real terms this represents a magnification level of only 1:4, which is much less than 1:1.

There's an incredible fascination with seeing the world through pictures captured with a macro lens. Tiny details erupt into view, almost invisible to the naked eye but exposed by the magnifying capabilities of the macro lens. For the newcomer it's a whole new realm of photographic opportunities.

Why I chose the Sigma 50mm DG macro

2009-07-08T12:03:00.004+01:00

At the end of the day it was about cost. My budget just wasn't going to stretch above £300 (approx. $450) and this was the only lens that I could afford.

I started my search for a lens by going after the Tamron 90mm Di. It reviewed well, but proved difficult to get hold of. I'm not experienced at buying lenses online and I'm wary of buying high-value items from suppliers I don't know.

One or two sites claimed to be able to supply it for a good price, around the £330 mark. But I sought out reviews of those sites and the feedback was generally negative.

I then broadened my search to include the Sigma range of lenses. They do a 105mm and 70mm macro, but both were priced at around £400. The Sony macro lenses were even more expensive.

My desire for a longer lens was driven by the desire for a solution that allowed me to stand further back from the subject matter. However, as I considered the cost of these lenses I thought about the sort of macro photograhy I wanted to do.

Some of my subjects will be living creatures, such as insects. Being able to keep my distance would avoiding disturbing them. However, a lot of my macro work will probably be with static objects (such as the peas) and in relatively controlled environment.

This is why I opted for the 50mm lens from Sigma. It's not the ideal, but I'm hoping that it will be a good compromise between length and price. Time will tell.

Peas please

2009-07-08T09:13:00.001+01:00

This is one of my first macro photographs, taken yesterday. I've just bought a macro lens for my Sony A350 - the Sigma 50mm F2.8 DG Macro - and I was keen to try it out.

The peas were freshly picked from my garden, the first of this summer's crop. I wanted to re-create other photos that I've seen of fresh fruit and vegetables, making them appear fresh and appetizing.

The process was simple enough. I washed the peas and put them into a bowl. Washing left tiny droplets of water on them, which helps to give that fresh appearance.

The camera was hand-held for the shot. Other details are:

- 1/25 shutter speed
- f4.0 aperture
- 100 ISO

Most of the settings were automatic, although I focused manually. I'm already sensing a preference for manual rather than autofocus.

I take photos in RAW and JPEG format, performing post-processing on the RAW file. In this case the peas were not actually as green as the picture suggests, so I altered the hue to improve the quality of the colour.

I'm quite pleased with the result. It's not as sharp as I'd like; my preference would be to have more in focus. I need to work on depth of field and learn the best combination of ISO and aperture to get better results.

The full picture is available at my Flickr account.

Come closer

2009-07-08T09:11:00.000+01:00

Macro photography gives a new perspective on the everyday. Zooming in on the fine detail of the familiar shows us the world from a different point of view. The intricacies of creation - natural or man-made - are exposed.

My hope for this blog is that it will be a place for sharing our experience of macro photography. Tips, techniques, stories and amazing photos - and maybe more.

If, like me, you love photography and want to continue to explore the potential, then bookmark this page.