Difference between revisions of "Photograph Small Things"
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| − | + | The world of macro photography<ref>More properly, this should be called "close up" rather than "macro"; the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macro_photography definition] of "macro" is that the ''"image projected on the "film plane" [...] is close to the same size as the subject"'', which it isn't on small-sensored digital cameras.</ref> is a fun one to explore. You can use your camera to see levels of detail that the human eye rarely (or never) does, whether that's [[Photograph a Dragonfly|shooting super-close-ups of insects]], or photographing the intricate detail inside a flower, or maybe just [[Create an Inexpensive Photography Lightbox|photographing a piece of jewelery]]. | |
[[Category:Blog Photography Tips]] | [[Category:Blog Photography Tips]] | ||
| − | [[Category:Macro Photography]] | + | [[Category: Macro Photography]] |
== Steps == | == Steps == | ||
#Get the right lens for your camera. If you're shooting a digital SLR and you've got the money, go and buy a dedicated macro (1:1) lens for your camera and forget about the rest of this. If you don't, there are other, cheaper options which give pretty reasonable results if you're not looking too hard. Several options exist to shift the lens further from the film plane (which means that you can focus to much closer distances, letting you get closer to your subject than you would otherwise).<br /><br />All of these cheapskate methods are imperfect; they effectively increase your focal length (which means less light hitting your film or sensor for the same aperture setting on the lens, meaning longer shutter speeds, making it harder to freeze motion and making camera shake a problem). They usually require your lens to be operated fully manually (an old, cheap, manual-focus lens with a manual aperture, such as many [[Use M42 Lenses with a Canon EOS DSLR|M42 lenses]], are just about ideal for this). It means operating your lens ''far'' outside of the conditions for which it was designed, which will usually mean some optical degradation. You also won't be able to focus to infinity with any of these combinations. Nevertheless, it will result in infinitely better photos than you'll get with a lens you don't own.<br /><br />(If you're using a compact (point-and-shoot) camera, you can happily '''ignore all of this'''; the very short focal lengths and generous depth-of-field of such cameras make them ideal for close-up work, right out of the box.)<br /><br /> | #Get the right lens for your camera. If you're shooting a digital SLR and you've got the money, go and buy a dedicated macro (1:1) lens for your camera and forget about the rest of this. If you don't, there are other, cheaper options which give pretty reasonable results if you're not looking too hard. Several options exist to shift the lens further from the film plane (which means that you can focus to much closer distances, letting you get closer to your subject than you would otherwise).<br /><br />All of these cheapskate methods are imperfect; they effectively increase your focal length (which means less light hitting your film or sensor for the same aperture setting on the lens, meaning longer shutter speeds, making it harder to freeze motion and making camera shake a problem). They usually require your lens to be operated fully manually (an old, cheap, manual-focus lens with a manual aperture, such as many [[Use M42 Lenses with a Canon EOS DSLR|M42 lenses]], are just about ideal for this). It means operating your lens ''far'' outside of the conditions for which it was designed, which will usually mean some optical degradation. You also won't be able to focus to infinity with any of these combinations. Nevertheless, it will result in infinitely better photos than you'll get with a lens you don't own.<br /><br />(If you're using a compact (point-and-shoot) camera, you can happily '''ignore all of this'''; the very short focal lengths and generous depth-of-field of such cameras make them ideal for close-up work, right out of the box.)<br /><br /> | ||
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#Get the pictures onto your computer and check for focus problems (if you get them, focus manually, or use an even smaller aperture). Crop your picture as tightly as possible in your [[:Category:Gimp|favourite image editor]]. Show your pictures off to the world! | #Get the pictures onto your computer and check for focus problems (if you get them, focus manually, or use an even smaller aperture). Crop your picture as tightly as possible in your [[:Category:Gimp|favourite image editor]]. Show your pictures off to the world! | ||
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== Tips == | == Tips == | ||
