MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY – Topic 3

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Macro photography involves capturing a small object or insect etc. at life size or greater. A true macro lens like the one I use (The Canon EOS 100mm 2.8) has a 1:1 ratio, meaning that it can capture objects at life size on the sensor. If you are shopping for a macro lens, make sure that it is a 1:1 macro lens. Lens manufacturers often mark their zoom lens with a macro setting. Those settings are not true macro, so don't be fooled by the sales pitch!

Macro photography is not only used for shooting flowers and insects, but is also used commercially with other subject matter too. I quite often shoot macro images for stock, as can be seen from the following examples that I have available for license on Getty Images:
Canna lily, buttons, red rose, pineapple, turtle, guitar strings, frosting on cupcake, marigold, walking iris and a pinecone. I have many more macro shots at other agencies too.

When shooting flowers etc. outdoors, I often use a ring flash, which is a flash that surrounds the end of the lens. Indoors, I use studio strobes. I usually use a smallish aperture (f11 or f16) for objects like flowers and insects, because at such close range as 12 inches for my lens, the depth of field is very shallow anyway. Of course there are times, when I want to have just a tiny part of the image in focus, so then I will use a larger aperture, maybe even f2.8 or f4.

This macro image of a chrysanthemum was shot in the studio with the light from two strobes bounced off the white ceiling to give even soft light.

Image ©Diane Macdonald. All Rights Reserved.
^{Click on the image to view full screen!}

Camera	EOS 5D Mark II
Lens	EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Exposure	1/100 sec; f/13; ISO 500
Post-processing	Adobe Photoshop® CC 2018, Adobe Camera Raw

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On the occasions that I want to get even greater magnification to my shots, I add a close-up magnifying lens or two to my macro lens. For the following chrysanthemum shot, I added a Tiffen +1 and a Tiffen +2 to the 100mm macro.

Image ©Diane Macdonald. All Rights Reserved.
^{Click on the image to view full screen!}

Camera	EOS 5D Mark II
Lens	EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM & Tiffen +1 and Tiffen +2
Exposure	1/100 sec; f/11; ISO 500
Post-processing	Adobe Photoshop® CC 2018, Adobe Camera Raw

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(The third task for the @sndbox Photography Quest is to take 5 out of 8 different types of images and to write about them and how they were captured. Read about it here.)

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For those interested in participating in the #wiwcontest, you can find the rules for and the theme for this week here. Be sure to join us! All SBD from that post will be shared with the 3 winners!

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Thanks for taking the time to read this! I appreciate it. Please check out my photography-101 account here for tips and tutorials about photography.

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