Macro Photography: The Ultimate Guide to Macro Photography
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If you want to emphasize texture, pattern and detail, macro photography will reward you with exclusive results. You will get great macro shots and make extremely compelling photographs from your close-ups with macro photography.
What is macro photography?
Macro photography, also referred to as macro lens photography, refers to the art of photographing at high magnifications. Photographing requires using a unique macro lens to capture close-up detailed photos. A macro shot creates an image on the camera sensor of a similar size to the actual object in reality, also called 1:1 magnification. For instance, if we were to take a photo of a two-inch flower, the flower would need to take two inches of our camera sensor. Macro photography is used to take close-up pictures of food, flowers, leaves, insects, etc.
Tips to make your macro photographs stand out
Macro photography is not easy for many; your journey in art will be smooth with these tips and equipment.
Purchase good macro lenses
If you plan to specialize in macro photography, we recommend investing in an actual macro lens. The lenses have a flatter focus field than the ordinary lenses, making them sharper edge-to-edge, which is paramount for close-up objects. Macro lenses will help you get 1x magnification without using extension tubes and extenders. Ordinary lenses will not have this kind of focus or closeness to the object.
Always use a tripod
A tripod will help you work on the composition as opposed to hand-holding. It will be easier to make desired adjustments to your design; shutter speed, focus, ISO, depth of field, etc. It happens that as you get closer and closer to your object, you tend to lose the light and the depth of field, which requires you to make your shutter speed slower and your hand may not support that. Using a tripod will help you set a self-timer and release the shutter, not creating any camera movements.
Always work in live view
If you are photographing with DSLR, we recommend using live view on your tripod. By so doing, you will be able to check the sharpness of edge-to-edge. While on live view, you can check the edge of all the features you captured by magnifying and toggling the image.
Use the manual focus key
We advise that you manually focus on your objects while photographing them. Sometimes the camera will fail to focus or autofocus on specific features. Particularly in close-up photography, the depth of field may not be sufficient to meet your desired focus.
Ensure proper lighting
Proper lighting is essential in developing macro images. Your lighting can be natural light, a flash, a combination of flash and natural light, reflectors, softboxes, and diffusers. You may use a single source to light up your image or have a pair combined. You will need to have the light closer to the object and rotate and angle it to and from the item for the best results.
Use PaintShop Pro to edit your pictures
Use the following steps to edit your photos and make them stand out.
Install PaintShop Pro
Download the PaintShop Pro software and install it on your PC. To do this, you run the installation of the downloaded file and follow the prompts on your screen.
Apply one-step photo fix
Choose adjust > one-step photo fix to apply the automatic basic photo corrections.
Apply smart photo fix
Choose adjust > smart photo fix to apply the basic automatic photo corrections and adjust the image.
Conclusion
As a starter, you may find macro photography complicated, but we promise you it is a rewarding photography style. You will need to remember several things to achieve the desired macro lens image, but you will be perfect with good practice. Once you are experienced enough, it will become a skill you will enjoy with every shot.
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