Part of the allure of photography is its power to make you see the world around you in ways you've never done before. Lighting, texture, patterns, colour, people's expressions -- the world is as broad as your vision. Or as small.
Photography of close-up things is called macro photography. It should be called micro photography but for some reason it isn't. Nonetheless, it's a fascinating branch of photography and highly accessible to anyone with an SLR or digital camera. Most modern cameras have a macro mode, but to get really close up you often need additional accessories that help you get even closer. One popular way to do this is with close-up lenses (CUL's) that screw into the filter ring at the front of lenses. They're really nothing more than high-quality magnifying lenses and they often come in sets marked as +1, +2 and +4, indicating their relative strength of magnification. For extra strength there are +10 CUL's available.
Syrphid Fly, Spring 2004
(click on image for a larger, clearer view)If you own an SLR camera, you can also experiment with extension tubes that pull lenses farther away from the camera body, effectively increasing its close focus range. Or, for the finest results, you can acquire a true macro lens that focuses down to 1:1 or 1:2 lifesize or greater than lifesize images.
Macro and digital are made for each other because every macro shot is an experiment and an adventure. When you get in really close, focusing is a challenge because depth of focus is extremely shallow. Any motion creates blur. Insects don't sit still, so you're also an action photographer. Being able to review your shots right away helps. You know when you're getting it right and when you need to try again.
I've taken a few macro shots over the years but only this year did I become really interested in exploring the world up close. More than anything else I've been influenced by my colleagues at the Outdoor Eyes Photography Forum. Not a day goes by that I don't get treated to great images of butterflies, flowers, bumblebees, dragonflies, damselflies, lizards, and even scorpions. It gets contagious. You start looking around your own back yard for small critters and, sure enough, they're everywhere.
For the most part, I'm shooting macros with a Canon G2 digital and 49mm CUL's attached to the front of my camera via a Lensmate Adapter -- the best accessory I've purchased for the G2. I'm only successful on maybe one out of ten shots, and that's on a good day. But it's fun and my backyard has changed from being a lovely view to being a fascinating ecosystem.
[Since this musing was first written I have acquired a Canon Digital Rebel and now do most of my macro shooting with it, using a combination of extension tubes and macro lenses]
Macro Photography Tutorials:
- Mark Plonsky's tutorial on insect photography. Check out his gallery too. Amazing!
- Bob Fisher's macro photography primer. Short, easy to understand, and excellent tips.
- Philip Greenspun's tutorial on macro photography. Very solid but somewhat old (1997) and oriented to pre-digital Nikon and Canon 35mm SLR cameras.
(27-Sep-2003, Revised 16-Jun-2004)
www.NorthernJourney.com -- gene@wilburn.ca