Macro photography

Macro Photography

Definition.

A macro photograph is one in which the size of the subject on the negative or image sensor is life size or greater, although most of the time we will end up looking at a large size image of a really small insect or flower, for example.

Image

Technique

Most camera manufactures sell Macro lens which allow photographers to expand the image to greater than 1:1… these lens’ are quite expensive, alternatively you can use the camera in macro mode if available (this may not be as effective as a dedicated lens).

• Use point of focus OR manual focus

• Use A TRIPOD to frame the object and background, apply composition rules where possible.

• Experiment with depth of field, you will be very close to your subject which results in a sudden drop off on focus, to overcome this you might want to maximise your depth of field therefore shoot at f 16 f22, in other circumstances the photographer may 
drop off in focus in which case use a lower f stop e.g. 4.0

• Work with a low/medium ISO from 100 to 400

• Apply manual exposure and the exposure meter to ensure that the subject is adequately exposed.

• In some cases it would help to use flash light to highlight the image.

 Equipment /techniques used

Tripod

studio light

soft boxes

Nikon D3500 camera

Adobe Photoshop

macro lens

 Photoshop commands and methodology

 Camera Settings

1/125 second shutter speed
f/16
ISO 200

Image bank

Edited images

You will also need to evaluate how the camera settings affected the photograph.

In your techniques evaluation, you will need to record: 
• Equipment used
• Camera Settings


• You will also need to evaluate how the camera settings affected the photograph.

 Camera Settings: 1/125 second shutter speed, f/16, ISO 200.

The slower shutter speed meant that more light could be let into the lens which in turn added more detail to the close up image. the low ISO ensured that the images werent grainy and the high f stop meant that all of the image was in focus. if the f stop was lower, the image wouldnt look completely focused due to it being so close up. to refine my images and make them stand out i used adobe photoshop in order to edit the colours of the image to make the models actual iris stand out. to do this i used selective colour which enhanced the colours in her eye, which i then altered to a bolder green in the first image and a more unusual purple in the lower image. i also edited the whites of the eye to make them cleared and less bloodshot/red.