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Fotobug Guide to Macro Photography

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Introductory guide to macro and extreme close-up photography for photographers using digital cameras. Learn what equipment you need and techniques to capture amazing closeup images.

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Revealing tiny worlds and details too small to see with the naked eye is an aspect of photography that can be truly magical and amazing. Tiny insects appear to be giant monsters; detail on feathers and wings of butterflies contain colorful structures that border on the abstract. Best of all, you don’t need to go any further than your backyard to locate fascinating subjects and your studio can be a corner of a small room.

As with any photographic specialty, macro photography has it’s own unique equipment requirements. It also has it own issues as well as certain skills that need to be learned. However, it isn’t difficult and the needed accessories do not need to break the bank. This guide will help get you started!

What is Macro Photography?

Manufacturers and even photographers often confuse the subject of macro photography. True macro photography is capturing an image on the film or digital sensor that is as big as or larger than the actual subject being photographed. In other words, if you are taking a picture of a beetle, the image of the beetle on your camera sensor should be at least the same size as the actual beetle – that is a 1:1 macro. Anything less than this 1:1 ratio is actually close­up photography, even though lens manufacturers often refer to this as macro. Ratios that are even more than 1:1 are often called photomicrography. However, don’t be too concerned about these definitions or terms. Close is still close!

Essentially, for “macro” photography, we want to create an image that allows us to capture the fine detail and textures of tiny subjects. It doesn’t matter if that small subject is a small insect, or a postage stamp. It also doesn’t really matter if you refer to it as “macro”, “close­focus”, or “extremely close focus”, or “Holy smokes, that’s scary close”!

Equipment

Macro lens. This is actually a “nice to have” item and is not essential. True macro lenses allow you to focus on your subject around a 1:1 ratio and come in a variety of focal lengths. Focal lengths of 50mm, 100mm and even 180mm are quite common. You can even find these lenses at a premium from third party manufacturers such as Tamron. The advantage of the longer focal length macro lenses is that they allow you to work at longer distances from your subject, but have a shallower depth of field. Wider lenses require you to work closer, but have a deeper depth of field.

Here is a table suggesting uses for the various focal length macro lenses:

• Continuously­variable or zoom lenses – suitable for most macro subjects • 45­65mm – product photography, and small items such as stamps and coins • 90­105mm – insects, flowers and similar small objects • 150­200mm – insects and small animals that require more working space

Some manufactures also make true macro lenses, such as the Canon MP­E 65mm f/2.8 or Minolta AF 3x­1x 1.7­2.8 Macro, which can achieve higher magnification than life size 1:1, enabling photography of the structure of small insect eyes, snowflakes, and other minuscule objects. Be aware that these lenses can be expensive!

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Finally, be aware that many manufacturers promote their lenses as “macro” when they really are not. In many instances, these lenses are just lenses that can focus closer than normal, but are not capable of focusing close enough to really qualify as macro lenses.

Extension Tubes. While actual macro lenses are really nice to have, when you first get started you can actually use the lenses you already have. In order to allow them to focus closer than they normally do, you can purchase a set of extension tubes.

There are two types of extension tubes. The first type you can pick up for under $10 on websites such as eBay. These are basically just hollow tubes with a camera mount on one side and a lens mount on the other. The disadvantage of these inexpensive tubes is they don’t provide an electrical connection between the camera and lens so your focus and exposure will have to be adjusted manually. Focus is usually not a problem as we will see later, but be aware that you will likely have to shoot in manual mode or aperture priority mode. You may also have to use your lenses wide open, which reduces your depth of field.

The second type of extension tube has the electrical connection to the lens. The Kenko brand of extension tubes sell for around $200 for a set. Most of the major camera manufacturers also have their own tubes, but the price will likely be much higher.

Kenko Extension tubes

Extension tubes normally come in a set of 3 different length tubes. These lengths are usually around 10mm, 25mm and 35mm. You can also stack the tubes together. Stacking will allow you to get closer, but for each section you use, the slower your lens becomes aperture­wise. As you add sections, the aperture is pushed further away from the sensor and so it effectively becomes a smaller aperature which admits less light. Therefore, there is an advantage to using faster lenses with larger maximum working apertures, such as f/2.8, when using extension tubes. Also, the lens will lose the ability to focus at infinity when mounted to an extension tube. What you gain in close focusing, you lose on distant focusing! This really isn’t a problem as you aren’t interested in focusing at infinity.

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Keep in mind that there are no optics in an extension tube, so there is no particular advantage in spending a great deal of money for a set. Find a good quality set that won’t break the first couple of times that you use them.

Don’t confuse extension tubes with teleconvertors. A teleconvertor does contain optics and essentially increases the focal length of your lens. Although these will allow you to appear to be closer to your subject, they do not change the ability of the lens to focus any closer.

Bellows. A bellows is like a variable extension tube! You mount your camera on one end and put a lens on the other. The lens and camera mounts are usually mounted on a rail that allows you to adjust the distance between them. The longer the distance between the camera and lens, the closer you can focus and, like extension tubes, the less light it admits for any given aperture. Also, your lenses will lose the ability to focus to infinity, just like extension tubes.

Bellows units will cost more than extension tubes, but they are more flexible. Also, some models pass the camera signals to the lens and some don’t. I personally don’t find this that important. I’m using an older Olympus bellows with my Canon DSLRs using an adapter on the camera to mount it to the bellows. I have an 80mm flat field Olympus macro lens mounted to the bellows which has no electrical connection to the camera. I merely open it wide open to frame and focus, then stop it down to my desired f/stop before I take the picture with the camera on manual. In fact, this lens is similar to an enlarger lens. It works fine! The image of the scarab beetle at the end of this guide was photographed with this combination.

Canon camera on an Olympus bellows with an 80mm Zuiko macro lens

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Close­up lenses. Close­up filters are another approach for taking macro shots. Just as a person can put on correction eye­glasses or reading glasses, you can add an optical correction filter or filters to your existing lenses. One advantage of using a close­up lens or filter is the fact that the aperture doesn’t change. However, you still will lose the ability to focus to infinity.

Close­up lenses (filters) normally come in magnifications marked as +1, +2, +4, etc. When you screw them together, add up the numbers. So, a +1 and a +2 together would be the same as a +3. This number is the diopter unit and indicates the power of the lens. The diopter rating is determined by taking the focal length of the close­up lens and dividing it into 1000 (1000/d). As such, a filter with a focal length of 500mm would have a diopter strength of +2 (1000 divided by 500).

The Diopter is also is a function of the reciprocal of the focal length in meters. In other words, that means that the focal length of a diopter is 1/D in meters. Therefore a +1 has a focal length of 1 meter (just over 3 feet), A +2 is .5 meter(19 inches), and a +4, .25 meter(9­10 inches). With these lenses in place, these distances will be the maximum distance from your camera that you can reach. Don’t be too concerned about this since some companies (Canon and Nikon) don’t even put the diopter number on their lenses. Do follow this guide: if you are going to stack the lenses, put the strongest one (one with the highest diopter) closest to the camera lens.

There are several disadvantages to using close­up filters. The first is the fact you would need a different diameter filter to fit the different filter sizes on each of your lenses. One way around this is to buy one close­up filter for the biggest diameter lens you own, then buy reduction rings to allow it to be used on your other lenses. For example, if the largest filter size on your lenses is 77mm, then buy a 77mm close­up lens (filter) and then buy the 77­72mm, 77­58mm, etc. reduction adapters to allow that filter to be used on your other lenses. Close­up filters often come in sets of different diopters The higher the diopter, the closer you can focus.

Another disadvantage to a close­up filter is the fact you are adding another piece of glass to your lenses. This can add optical distortions, such as chromatic abberation to your images. You may also find that the center is in ok focus and then as you move away from the center, the image loses focus. These optical issues are especially noticable with cheaper close­up filters and are made worse when you stack them. I would advise doing your research and buy the best set you can afford.

An advantage of close­up filters is that they can be stacked to allow you to get closer to your subjects. Be careful though, because when you begin to stack filters with wide angle lenses, you may begin to vignette the image as the lens begins to “see” the filters, so the corners of the image begin to darken. Also, stacking will make any optical problems even worse and your resulting images may be somewhat soft or contain optical distortions. Also, as I pointed out earlier, you should stack with the highest diopter next to the lens.

Reversing ring. If you turn a pair of binoculars around and use them backwards, they can funcation as a quick and dirty microscope to view small items. The same principal can be used with camera lenses. If you could somehow reverse them, they would allow you to focus much closer than normal.

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50mm lens on a reversing ring on a Canon DSLR

Well, there is such a device that allows you to do exactly that! It is called a reversing ring. It works by screwing the ring into the filter thread on the front of the lens and then mount the other side of the ring to your camera lens mount. This can allow you to get up to a 4x life­size image with great quality. By combining the reverse ring with a bellows or extension tube, you can get incredibly close and still maintain high optical quality!

Disadvantages of this method are the fact you would need a different one for each different filter thread size lens – or you could use an adapter as I mentioned earlier with the close­up filters. Also, you will lose the electrical connection between the lens and camera so you won’t have any aperture control.

I’ve seen prices for reverse rings for under $10. Since the rings are simliar to extension tubes and do not contain any optics, there is no need to overpay for them.

You may also want to consider buying an older manual lens that has a manual aperture ring. It doesn’t matter if the lens mount is for your brand of camera or not. Just buy a reverse ring that fits your camera and fits the filter threads on the older lens, then you can stop the aperature down manually before you take the picture.

A trick that works on some Canon cameras and lenses, and may work on some other cameras, is to put the lens on the camera and set the aperture. Then, press the depth of field button to stop the lens down and while holding down the depth of field button, remove the lens from the camera. The lens may remain at the f­stop you previously set! The disadvantage to this method is the the f­stop is then set and you can’t open up the aperture in order to help with focusing.

Reversing the lens in combination with a bellows unit or extension tubes will allow you to get even closer! Just keep in mind that you are moving the aperature away from the

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sensor, so that reduces the effective aperture. I recommend you stick with faster lenses (wider maximum apertures) and shorter focal lengths.

Also note that your reversed lens has it’s rear lens element exposed to the environment and these elements usually are likely more prone to scratches than the front element. Also, dirt and dust can stick to the back of the lens which could ultimately end up on your sensor the next time you mount this lens to your camera in the correct orientation.

Macro coupler. This is a variation of the reversed binoculars I mentioned above. Imagine if you take a second lens, reverse it, then mount it to a lens on your camera. That’s what the macro coupler does. It consists of a ring that screws into the filter ring on your lens mounted to the camera, then you reverse a second lens and screw it into the other side of the macro coupler.

The advantage of this method is the fact the photographer still has full electrical control over the aperture on the mounted lens. Although you are still adding additional optics to your system, at least you are adding higher quality optics!

50mm lens on a macro coupler mounted to a 200mm lens

One disadvantage is the fact you need to get a macro coupler that has the correct size threads or you will need filter ring adapter(s). Also, the added weight of a second lens could possibly damage the lens mounted to the camera. If the lens mounted to the camera is not an internal focus type, the added weight could be an even bigger problem and I don’t advise using this method.

For you math lovers, there is a formula for calculating the magnification of this set up. Divide the focal length of the lens mounted to the camera by the focal length of the reversed lens. For example, for a 200mm lens mounted on the camera with a 50mm reversed lens, the reproduction ratio is 4:1. For this technique, it is recommended that

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you use the longer focal length lens to be mounted on the camera and use the shorter focal length lens reversed.

Be aware that you may get some vignetting of the image using this method. Vignetting tends to be more pronounced when using a shorter focal length lens for the camera mounted lens and the reversed lens has a smaller maximum aperture. Watch for darkening edges and corners of your image as well as soft focus at the edges! Also, set the focus for the reversed lens to infinity and test focus, then try it again set to the nearest focus point. One may work better than the other. You may also try using an extension tube on the camera mounted lens to cut down on vignetting.

Just like with the reversing ring, you are exposing the rear lens element for your lens to the outside world! Also, since the reversed lens isn’t mounted to your camera, you aren’t limited to lenses for your camera brand. As long as the coupler fits the filter threads on both lenses, you are free to use any lens, even older manual aperture lenses. I also recommend using prime lenses rather than zoom lenses, although zoom lenses used as the camera mounted lens will allow you to adjust the magnification.

Finally note that some on some lenses, the aperature is closed all the way down when it isn’t mounted on the camera. If your reversed lens is one of these, you will have to come up with some means to hold the aperature open. On some lenses, putting a piece of folded paper jammed into the mechanism that opens the aperture may work, but be careful, you don’t want to damage the lens!

Lens Baby –While the Lens Baby really isn’t a macro lens, it can be used to focus quite close. The Lens Baby is a flexible lens that allows you to tilt the front element by applying pressure on the sides of the mount. Some models even have a lock mechanism that allows you to fix the lens into certain configurations. The Lens Baby is like a tilt­ shift lens and macro all rolled up into one! The Control Freak model is the one recommended for macro photography.

The Lens Baby is a self contained unit and doesn’t require any other lenses, although it could likely be used in combination with an extension tube or bellows.

One drawback of the Lens Baby is that it has no automatic aperture control or focusing control. You change the aperture by replacing aperture plates which are held in the Lens Baby by magnets. Focusing is done by a combination of adjusting the built­in metal rods and using the fine focusing ring. Since it has no automatic functions, it must be used in aperture priority mode or manual.

Focusing Rail – The focusing rail has nothing to do with allowing you to focus any closer. Rather, it is a rail or track that your camera and lens rides on to permit you to adjust the distance to your subject for critical focusing. This is a more accurate way to do the back and forth rocking focus that I will describe under technique. The focusing rail also makes it easier to take a series of images for focus stacking. Most bellows units likely already have a focusing rail included.

Another version of the focusing rail is mounted vertically, like a copy stand. The only problem with this copy setup is that it limits your photographic angles.

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Combos – There is nothing from stopping the photographer from combining some of the macro options, although some combinations may not make much sense. Putting a close­ up filter on a macro lens might allow you to get even closer, just consider the before mentioned disadvantages of the close­up filters! I have used extension tubes combined with my bellows unit to get even more reach. Don’t be afraid to experiment!

Sensor sizes and 35mm

As you likely know by now, the sensors in most cameras is smaller that a 35mm film frame. There are a few higher end Canon and Nikon cameras that have a 35mm equivalent sized sensor, but most DSLRs are smaller. Due to the smaller size, lenses cover a smaller area than they would on a 35mm frame and this smaller area is known as the crop factor.

For instance, in Canon cameras, the crop factor is 1.6x. For Nikon the crop factor is 1.5x. Micro four thirds camera have a 2x crop factor. This means that you need to multiply the crop factor by the focal length of the lens you are using in order to arrive at the 35mm equivalent of that lens. A 100mm lens on a 1.6x crop factor Canon camera covers the same reproduction ratio as a 160mm lens (100mm x 1.6) on a full frame 35mm camera.

What this means to the macro photographer is that you are already reproducing a closer cropped image on your camera than you would be capturing if you used that same lens on a 35mm full frame camera.

Depth of Field and Lighting

As if the fact you are working with very small subjects weren’t enough of a headache, the macro photographer also has a much smaller depth of field (DOF). This not only makes focusing more critical, but also means that it may be difficult or impossible to keep the entire subject in focus. The depth of field is the area in front of and behind the point of focus within which objects will still sppear to be in focus. This is really an over simplification, but the actual explanation involving circles of confusion, etc. isn’t necessary for this discussion. Just think of the depth of field (DOF) as the area that will appear to be in focus.

Smaller apertures (higher f/stop numbers) will help increase the depth of field, but only up to a point. Once the aperture gets too small (keep in mind if you are using extension tubes or a bellows, you are already at a disadvantage!), the image actually can become softer and may lose sharpness. This is due to the physics of the diffraction of light. Once the aperture is stopped down to a really small diameter, the camera essentially turns into a pinhole camera and the lens optics are no longer the primary means of creating the image. Although the depth of field will be extended, the overall sharpness of the image will be reduced.

Also, working at the small areas with reduced apertures means that you will require more light on the subject, or you will have to go with slower shutter speeds and/or higher ISOs. Slower shutter speeds could introduce motion blur and higher ISOs may introduce digital noise into the image.

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Flash units and lighting

One of the best ways to get enough light on your subject is to use a flash. If you are using a conventional flash, you will likely want to remove it from the camera hot shoe and get it in as close as you can. In order to accomplish this, you can use a flash cable or many DSLRs now allow you to manage an external flash unit using the internal flash through a master/slave system.

Many camera manufacturers also make special macro flash rings that can be mounted to the front of the lens. Many of these units can also be used as master units to slave convention flash units in order to provide additional light (back lighting, side lighting, etc.).

Canon MR­14EX macro flash unit

Dedicated macro flash units are nice to have, but really aren’t totally necessary. There are also third party units that can be mounted to conventional flash units mounted to your camera that will direct the light to the subject. However, these units will lose a bit of the light intensity and are not as efficient.

You may also use regular tungsten or halogen lighting units, but you have to be careful as the heat from these lights could destroy your subject, or even start a fire! White LED lights are quite cool, but are not as bright as flash units.

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Keep in mind that the same lighting and framing “rules” apply as they do with any other conventional photograph. You are capturing an image made from reflected light, so the more creative you are with that light and your composition, the more interesting your final image will be!

Cross polarization

One issue with some macro subjects, especially beetles and some insects and amphibians, is the high reflectivity of the shells or skin. This creates some hot spots, which may detract from the image and also may lower the color saturation of the image.

While you could use a polarizer on your lens, this may cut down on the hot spots, but will likely not eliminate them entirely.

There is a method, however, that can nearly eliminate these unwanted hot spots. The technique is called ‘cross polarization’. The technique requires you to place polarizer filters on the lights as well as the camera lens. The easiest way to do this is to use a dedicated macro flash.

Assuming you have a macro ring flash with two flash heads, place a polarizer on each flash head. These filters must be oriented in the same direction. One way you can do this is to put the two filters together and rotate one of them. If no light passes through them, then they are at 90 degrees to each other, so turn one of them until the maximum amount of light passes through. Mark the orientation and make sure you mount them on the flash heads in this orientation.

Cross polarization images of a hercules beetle – on the left, I backed off a bit to allow some highlights and on the right, I have the camera polarizer adjusted to nearly eliminate all the highlights.

Next, you put the filter on your camera and it must be oriented opposite to the polarizer filters on the flash units. One way to check this is to look through a mirror of the reflection of your camera rig and rotate the lens polarizer until the polarizer filters on the flash units turn dark.

You may have to play around with the exposure and note that you are cutting down on the efficiency of the flash units! In addition, if you remove all the reflections from the subject, the resulting image could look flat and uninteresting. You can turn the filter on the camera slightly to control the amount of reflection that looks good.

Check the end of this guide for some sources of polarizing material!

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Image stacking

Photographers are constantly searching for methods to capture images despite restrictions with equipment and sensors. For example, although sensors are limited in their capability to capture a broad range of light densities, the High Dynamic Range (HDR) method of capturing multiple images by varying the exposure for each image and then merging them together can be used to artificially increase the dynamic range.

A similar issue regarding shallow depth of field (especially for macro subjects) requires a very similar solution. Macro photography requires the photographer to get very close to the subject with special lenses or equipment to allow the lens to focus on a very tiny area. As we get closer to our subjects, the depth of field (area that appears to be in focus) becomes very narrow. Although stopping down to smaller apertures will help, it is often practically impossible to extend the focus range to keep the entire subject in focus, especially if you are photographing the subject head­on. In addition, if you stop down too much, the smaller aperture actually causes the image to degrade and the overall image is even less sharp.

However, some clever photographers realized that if you could slightly change the focus while taking a number of frames, then by using layering, one could take the focused sections of each of those images and create an image that appears to have a very broad depth of field. That technique is known as focus stacking.

Essentially, focus stacking requires the photographer to take a series of images of the subject while changing focus between each image. This is actually much easier to do with a bellows unit but if you are careful, you can even do it handheld.

Once you have the series of images, transfer them to your computer then you will use a software program such as Helicon Focus or Zerene Stacker or even the free program, CombineZP in order to take the focused portion of each image and reassemble them into a finished image that will have a much broader depth of field than is possible in a single image.

Also note, if you are very patient, you can perform this method by using a program that uses layers, such as Photoshop, to manually mask out the unfocused portions of each layer, but this could take you a considerable length of time if you have a lot of images!

My preferred method for taking the original images is to use my bellows unit. I set the lens and camera to allow me to capture the image size that I want. I then adjust the slider, which moves the camera and lens together, until the closest portion of the subject is in focus. I mark this position on the rail. Next, I adjust the slider until the furthest portion of the subject is in focus. Finally, I begin taking my images and between each image, I slightly adjust the slider until the lens and camera are back to the original position that I marked for the closest focus point. The images are then processed in my computer with Zerene Stacker or Helicon Focus.

It should also be evident that your subject cannot move between takes! Therefore, this technique works well for still life and dead insects, or critters that will remain very still, but does not work for small animals or insects that are constantly on the move! It also works better for tripod­mounted cameras, rather than handheld.

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Shooting Technique

Just like conventional photography, the use of a tripod is highly desirable and recommended. There are tripod extensions and even special models of tripods that have been designed with macro in mind. These tripods or extensions include horizontal arms that allow you to get the camera close to your tiny subjects. Some even allow you to mount your camera vertically like a copy stand.

Depending upon your subject, you may want to use a wider angle lens if you can get in relatively close, or you may have to use a longer focal length if the subject frightens easily or is difficult to approach.

Flowers, lichens, and mushrooms are among the kind of subjects that are good for wider lenses, and they don’t frighten easily! Flowers and plants don’t have a tendency to run away (if you come across any that do, please let us know!). So you can take your time to frame up the image as well as light it, check the background, etc.

One issue that you may have is the wind. If there is even the slightest breeze, once you get in close with your macro set up, a slight movement in the plant can look like a major earthquake and may produce motion blur.

Macro photographers who like to take macro shots of plants and flowers, and would rather shoot in the field rather than in the studio, use restraints such as the Plamp to hold the plants still. The Plamp is essentially an articulated arm that can be fastened to your tripod or a small post and then it clamps to the stem of the plant to help keep it from moving. You can also likely make a similar system using clothespins and flexible wire.

You can also bring your own backgrounds with you in the form of colorful cloth or textured material that you can place behind the subject to help frame or isolate it for a more interesting image.

If you are photographing small animals or insects and if the use of a tripod is impractical, here is a technique that I use to help with focusing. To increase your depth of field, set your f/stop to at least f/8 or f/11. You may want to go even smaller, but not too much as I pointed out earlier, if you use too small of an aperture, the overall image may be softer. You may have to bump up your ISO as you consider the background exposure. I’m assuming that you are using a flash, and preferably a macro flash rig of some kind with the flash mounted near the front of the lens and not on the hot shoe mount of the camera. If you want a small portion of your image to be in focus while the rest falls out of focus, use a larger aperture. A smaller depth of field with a larger aperture is often used when photographing flowers. Remember, you are shooting close, and if you are also using a longer focal length macro lens, the depth of field will be even narrower and focus will become more critical.

Once your exposure is set, adjust the focus ring of the lens for the approximate distance you want to shoot from. Next, approach your subject and use a rocking technique to get the subject into focus. That is, move slightly back and forth to try to maintain focus on the subject. Turn the auto focus off and don’t turn your focus ring! Otherwise, you will likely just end up fighting for focus with the lens. You may have to take a number of exposures before you come up with the winning image that you were looking for.

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Remember, patience is a virtue! If you are using a focusing rail, you would simply adjust your camera/lens combo back and forth to achieve focus.

If you are using TTL flash units on your camera, the exposure will be determined by the flash and camera when you take your picture. If you aren’t using TTL, then you may want to use shutter priority mode and be sure to set the shutter exposure less than the maximum flash sync exposure. Depending upon your camera, this may be a maximum of 1/200 to 1/250 of a second unless your flash unit supports a high­speed shutter. When you are using flash, the shutter speed, ISO and aperture combination will determine your ambient exposure (background/foreground that isn’t lit by the flash) and the exposure of your subject and nearby objects will be determined by the aperture and ISO setting as the flash duration is controlled by the flash tube instead of the shutter.

Just as in regular photography, you may have to adjust your exposure compensation up or down, depending upon the subject and background if you are using the shutter or aperture priority setting. If you are shooting on manual with flash, you may have to adjust the exposure compensation on the flash.

You may also want to use multiple flashes and many flash units allow you to use a master/slave relationship among the flash units and still use TTL exposure. You may wish to consider using a flash as a backlight to give added dimension to your subject.

I don’t want to give the impression that you have to use flash. Depending upon the subject and how close you are, you may be able to get by with available ambient light and/or reflectors or even scrims. Photography is all about the light and is no less important when photographing macro subjects.

Also note that if you are using your DSLR on a tripod (or with a bellows) and if your camera has live view, then you may also use the live view mode to help frame and focus. Some models allow you to zoom in on the LCD image to further assist in focusing and may also allow you to send the signal via an HDMI connection to a larger monitor.

Wrap up

When you are out looking for good macro subjects, don’t overlook items such as colorful fallen leaves, seashells and even lichen or moss on the trunks of trees. Use your imagination and photographer’s eye to find subjects that may be easily overlooked. Our friend, Mike Moats, has an amazing ability to find interesting macro subjects, such as the abstract patterns in melting ice in a small stream and colorful swirls on polished stones . Check out Mike’s website at www.tinylandscapes.com. Mike also has some eBooks on macro photography that I highly recommend. In addition, Mike conducts macro workshops around the country and runs a macro forum at his website!

Don’t be afraid to think out­of­the­box. A friend of mine regularly uses a 500mm telephoto lens with a stack of extension tubes. He claims the 500mm used this way is his favorite macro lens. For many insects, this allows him to remain far back from his subject and still record an awesome extreme close­up!

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Pros and Cons

The following bullet points list the pros and cons for each method of taking macro images.

Macro Lens

Pros • Sharp images • True aperture • Easy to use • Available in multiple focal lengths • Can focus to infinity and be used as a normal lens

Cons • Expensive

Extension Tubes

Pros • Inexpensive • Work with existing lenses that you own

Cons • Reduces effective aperture • Loses ability to focus to infinity

Bellows

Pros • Can use existing lenses • Can be used like a variable length extension tube • Sharp images • Fine focus adjustment

Cons • Cannot focus to infinity • Reduces effective aperture • Bulky

Close­up Lenses (filters)

Pros • Can be used on any lens • No change in effective aperture • Can be stacked

Cons • Images are not as sharp • Possible optical aberrations and soft focus on the edges • Requires different diameters for different filter threads • Better optical quality filters can be somewhat expensive • Several stacked filters could cause vignettes

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Reversing ring

Pros • Can use existing lenses or older manual lenses • Sharp images • Inexpensive

Cons • Exposes rear element and mount to the elements • Requires different filter thread sizes for different size lenses • No auto aperture control – may have to use lens wide open

Macro Coupler Ring

Pros • Sharper images than using a close­up filter • You may use existing lenses • Full auto aperture control • Inexpensive

Cons • Can damage primary lens mounted to camera due to weight • Requires two lenses • Can cause vignettes and soft focus on the edges • Requires different size couplers for different size lenses • Not all combination of lenses work well

Lens Baby

Pros • Has uses beyond macro photography • Compact

Cons • Relatively expensive • No auto aperture

My personal preference is to use a macro lens in the field or extension tubes. In my home studio, I prefer the bellows, then the macro lens and finally, the extension tubes.

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Ethics

Small animals and insects can be difficult to photograph with macro setups due to their nature to move quickly making it difficult to frame and focus. Some photographers have resorted to putting their subjects into a refrigerator or freezer to slow them down, or to even kill them. While I realize that Audubon killed (and even ate) the subjects for his famous paintings, is it really ethical to kill something just for a picture?

If you look around, you should be able to find plenty of good subjects that are already dead. For example, one of the sample pictures I have included at the end of this guide of the scarab beetle was a beetle that I found that was already dead. All the other images are of creatures that were very much alive and went their merry ways unharmed after their photo sessions!

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Sample Images

Male scarab beetle – photographed with Olympus bellows and 80mm Zuiko macro lens with a Canon 5D. This image consists of 25 separate images stacked together using Zerene Stacker.

Tiny poison arrow frog in the Amazon in Peru – photographed handheld with a Canon 100mm macro lens and MR­14EX macro ring flash. 3 exposures stacked together with Zerene Stacker. One image focused on the head, one the midsection and the final on the rear legs.

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Amazon tree frog in Peru – photographed handheld with a Canon 100mm macro lens and MR­14EX macro ring flash.

Yellow crab spider photographed on a goldenrod blossom – photographed handheld with a Canon 100mm macro lens.

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Horse fly in the Florida everglades on a hood of a truck – photographed handheld with a Canon 100mm macro lens.

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Florida tropical orb weaver spider – photographed handheld with a Canon 100mm macro lens and MR­14EX flash.

Insect photographed in Ecuador – photographed with a Canon 100mm macro lens, no flash

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Orb weaver spider photographed in Peru – handheld with a Canon 100mm macro and a MR­14EX ring flash.

Jadera bug on a golden raintree blossom – photographed with a Tamron 90mm macro. This image appeared in Popular Photography Magazine!

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Resources

This little guide is just a very basic introduction to macro photography. If you would like more information then I highly recommend some of the following books and websites. If you have any questions, you are always welcome to contact me at [email protected]! Also, if you would like to help us out so I can produce more free guides, if you purchase your books and equipment through our Amazon store, we get credit! Thank you in advance!

Polarizing film and material ­ http://www.edmundoptics.com/

Amazon macro items – http://astore.amazon.com/ ­ please consider purchasing from our Amazon Store if you like our guide!

Additional Macro supplies – http://www.outdoorphotogear.com ­ Outdoor Photo Gear

Stacking software – Zerene Stacker ­ http://zerenesystems.com ­ Free 30 day trial, Mac PC and Linux versions Helicon Focus – http://heliconsoft.com ­ Free 30 day trial PC and Mac versions. CombineZP ­ http://www.hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZP/News.htm PC ­ Free

Do it Yourself ­ www.cheesycam.com

Mike Moats Macro website – http://www.tinylandscapes.com

Please be aware that there are many fine software programs, books and websites available. The inclusion of specific products in this guide should not be construed as an endorsement and the exclusion of a product should not be seen as a condemnation. We included some popular examples in order to point you in the right direction. Many software companies have free trial downloads and I encourage you to take advantage of the trials before you decide which product to purchase.

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We hope you enjoyed this free guide and hopefully it will help you get started creating your own macro images. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us and please continue to tune in to our bi­weekly podcasts at www.thefotobug.com ­ or better yet, via one of the major podcast feeds such as iTunes, Zune, or Miro! You can also return the favor to us by leaving us some feedback on iTunes, (or Miro, or even at our website, www.thefotobug.com). We are also on Facebook and would love for you to ‘Like’ us (www.facebook.com/thefotobug ) !

You may also want to check out our other photo guides. There are more to come!

2012 Jim Caldwell

Authored by Jim Caldwell – www.thefotobug.com [email protected]