Photography is an art and the artists are photographers. Photographers work really hard to make photos to look the best. However, not everyone can do that well. To try their luck, different photographers adapt different ways and different styles of photography. There are some mainstream and some unique styles and types of photography you can do every day. Macro photography is one of the unique photography styles the photographers shoot. So today, we are going to talk about macro photography.
What is Macro Photography?
Macro means small. And clicking the photos of macro things is called macro photography. More elaborately, when you are trying to click some small objects like insects, flowers, grass or details, you need to take close-up or extremely close-up shots of those objects. You have to have the vast idea about the procedure of doing macro photography. It is a very tough thing to do. In fact, many professionals cannot do well when it comes to macro photography. Macro photography is different from other photography because you need to change many things while doing macro photography. To do better macro photography you need to know some great macro photography tips and techniques.
Here, I’m going to discuss about 12 essential macro photography techniques which will help you to be a professional.
Camera for Macro Photography
A professional DSLR camera is a must for doing any kind of photography professionally. There are different types of specialized cameras for different types of photography. As we are talking about macro photography, there are some special cameras for doing macro photography as well. You may think that only Canon and Nikon are best for clicking macro photography. But this is really not true. There are some other cameras which work tremendously to click macro photography amazingly. Here are 10 best cameras for doing macro photography stating below.
Ricoh WG-50
Olympus TG-5
Sony RX10 Mark – |||
Canon EOS Rebel T6i
Nikon D7500
Panasonic Lumix DC-FZ80
Olympus PEN E-PL8
Nikon COOLPIX w300
Panasonic Lumix DC-FZ80
Canon EOS 77D
These are some great bodies of cameras which are being used by all the professional macro photographers. So pick any of the cameras and start experimenting macro photography.
Lenses for Macro Photography
In this set of macro photography tips and techniques, one thing that you really need to follow is to choose the right lens for macro photography. A proper macro lens really matters while doing macro photography. Not regular lenses can give you superb and right macro look of your photo. You may face difficulty and the resolution may not be good due to extra zooming from the regular lenses. In that case, you need a professional macro lens. There are macro lenses available in the markets which are specially made for clicking macro photography. Here are some best macro lenses to take superb macro photography I’m mentioning below.
Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS
Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 VC USD
Panasonic Lumix G Macro 30mm f/2.8 ASPH
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Lens
Nikon AF-S 105mm f/2.8G ED IF VR Micro Lens
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm f/2.8 Macro
Sigma APO Macro 180mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Lens
Canon TS-E 50mm f/2.8L Macro
Irix 150mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1
Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8L Macro
The lenses I have just mentioned are very popular amongst the biggest macro photographers. These lenses are really high in demand and are being hugely used.
Tripod
There are lots of techniques of photography. You just have to have idea of what to use and what not to. There is some essential equipment for photography macro, which should be used while shooting macro photography. Tripod is one of the essential equipment for macro photography. Sometimes your hands get shaken while you are doing photography. That also leads your photos to get shaken as well. To avoid the shaky circumstances, tripod works like a savior. Tripod is equipment where you can set your camera and shoot by moving anywhere you like. Just fix your camera onto the tripod and start clicking macro photos. You may have to do lots of movement while clicking macro. A tripod will rest your hand and your movement will be flexible and you can click photos as the way you like.
Remote Trigger
A remote trigger is exceptional photography equipment. It is a gadget which works like a remote. Just like the remote can control your TV or A/C, a remote trigger can control your camera. As you have to be very focus while doing macro photography and clicking small things, clicking on the camera might disturb you. If you have a remote trigger, you can just press the remote trigger on your hand and the photo will be clicked. It makes your macro photography experience easier. A remote trigger is also being called remote shutter release.
Try Different Angles
Clicking photos from one straight angle has become old and monotonous. Macro elements look great if they are being shown in different perspective. For that, you have to play with your camera and you have to play with different angles. When you are up for clicking macro photography, click the photo from every angle. Different angle gives your macro photographs different looks. From the photos of various angles, you may get a masterpiece.
Proper Background
A photo background can makes your photo look best or even worst. While clicking the macro photography, you have to be very careful about choosing the background. Sometimes, very vibrant or very simple background can ruin the photo. Suppose, you are clicking the photo of an insect, the best background for that would be something green like leaves. If you are clicking the photo of a pearl, a solid color background will compliment the subject. But do not go for the wrong background.
Right Camera Setting
To capture eye catching macro photographs a photographers needs to be aware of some right camera settings. You must capture photos on aperture priority mode. This mode will give you the profit of controlling the depth of field. The better the depth of field the better your subject will be in focus. Always use the continuous shots so that you can take more accurate shots at a time. You can also use the live view sometimes to check whether the subject is perfectly in focus or not. Following these camera settings you can capture some exceptional macro images.
A Support System
Sometimes it gets difficult to capture macro images from different angles if you don’t have an extra support to hold the camera. If you don’t have a support like a support stand your images can become hazy. To ignore this hazy type of image I suggest you to use a support to hang your camera properly while capturing macro images from different angles.
Depth of Field
In case of macro photography depth of field matters a lot. There are two sorts of depth of field one is shallow other is large. A shallow depth of filed means a smaller F/stop number and a large depth of filed means a bigger F/stop number. A shallow depth of field will keep the focused object sharp only. A large depth of field will keep the maximum portion of the image sharp and in focus. In case of macro we need to focus on smaller portion so we use a shallow depth of field. Therefore, use a shallow depth of field for capturing macro photographs.
Focus Properly
Focusing can be a great factor for capturing a macro image. In macro photography a photographer needs to highlight the subject he’s capturing. To bring it on light a good focus needs to fall on that object in the entire photograph. To keep it on focus use the close up mode on camera and focus on the point that looks better to you. This way you get a great capture.
Click Details
Details are what defy a macro photograph. If you can give proper details of the macro image then it will attract more viewers. If you cannot then it will repel the. To capture details of the subject look it from different angle and check which angle shows the best image. If you find it attractive then also the viewers will too. So capture details of the image for better conversion.
Photo Editing
A little touch of Photoshop can turn your macro image into a great macro photograph. There are lots of effects you can apply using photo editing on the image. You can use color correction, image retouching, filters, etc to enhance the beauty of your capture. This way you can magnetize more audience to look at the masterpiece you have taken. So go for editing maybe, it may feel tough to you to edit the pictures as professionals. You can always retouch them from photo editing services like CPE. This will save both time and cost for you.
Conclusion
Photography industry has evolved. Different photography genres have also got divided into different segments. Close up shots has got divided into different categories. Headshot photography, Eyes Photography and Macro Photography is a part of it. Using the above tips and tricks you can simply capture some special macro images.
A pro tip – You can also use the reverse the lens technique to capture macro images.
Here are some other articles that also may come in handy for you –
- Top 12 Macro Photography Tips
- 10 Macro Photography Subject Ideas
- 20 Top Camera Accessories for Macro Photography
