Close Up & Macro Photography

192 Pages·2011·7.61 MB·english

by  Tracy Hallett

Close-up &

Macro Photography
TRACY HALLETT
THE EXPANDED GUIDE > TECHNIQUES
2 Close-up & Macro Photography
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Close-up
& Macro
Photography
THE EXPANDED GUIDE
Tracy Hallett
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First published 2011 by
Ammonite Press
an imprint of AE Publications Ltd
166 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1XU, United Kingdom
Text © AE Publications Ltd, 2011
Illustrative photography © Tracy Hallett, 2011 (except
where indicated)
Front cover photograph © Ross Hoddinott, 2011
© Copyright in the Work AE Publications Ltd, 2011
All rights reserved
The right of Tracy Hallett to be identified as the author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988, sections 77 and 78.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the
prior permission of the publishers and copyright owners.
While every effort has been made to obtain permission from the
copyright holders for all material used in this book, the publishers
will be pleased to hear from anyone who has not been
appropriately acknowledged, and to make the correction in
future editions.
The publishers and author can accept no legal responsibility for
any consequences arising from the application of information,
advice or instructions given in this publication.
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Series Editor: Richard Wiles
Design: Richard Dewing Associates
Page 2
Typeset in Frutiger
When you become a close-up
Color reproduction by GMC Reprographics
photographer small details, such as
the spikes on a musk thistle, leap
out at you.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Introduction 6
Chapter 2 Equipment 14
Chapter 3 Exposure and metering 46
Chapter 4 Focusing 66
Chapter 5 Understanding light 76
Chapter 6 Flash 96
Chapter 7 Composition 106
Chapter 8 Color 136
Chapter 9 Project ideas 148
Chapter 10 Post processing 166
Glossary 186
Useful web sites 189
Index 190
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
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Defi ning the terms
Imagine that you see a mushroom growing in a wood. You walk
past it. Your dog investigates it with his nose. Your son or daughter
tries to touch it, eyes wide with fascination. When you get home you
try to describe it to someone, but all you can remember is that the
mushroom was red. Now imagine the same subject seen through the
eyes of a close-up or macro photographer.
The red cap of the mushroom, dotted with transporting him or her back to that clearing
white, indicates that this is a Fly Agaric in the wood, without even leaving home. You
(Amanita muscaria). You know from the fi eld perform this clever trick when you show them
guide that the white specks are the remains your photograph.
of the veil that once covered the fruiting body.
Having crouched down to study the gills from Childlike curiosity
underneath, you notice that they do not quite Close-up and macro photography requires the
touch the stem. There is a chunk missing from adoption of a childlike curiosity. By thoroughly
the cap—the circular bite suggests the work of exploring a subject we can begin to understand
a horse, no doubt dissuaded from eating the its intricate beauty—we notice the curve of
whole by its legendary poison. a shell on the beach, or the complementary
When you’re on the ground, you can smell colors of neighboring fl owers. Furthermore,
the decaying vegetation surrounding the base by remaining receptive, we allow the subject
of the mushroom. You can also feel the damp to dictate our photographic approach. If, for
leaves against your skin, leaving a grubby example, the shell has a mark that threatens to
imprint on your knees. Rising to your feet, you dominate the picture, we shift our composition
scan the surrounding landscape and note that to eliminate this imperfection. Similarly, if the
the Fly Agarics all sprout under birch trees. All fl owers are blowing too violently in the wind,
of this information forms the background to we create a homemade windbreak to arrest
your picture. their movement.
As you set up your tripod, camera and lens, While we must learn to respond to the
the smells, sounds, and subtle details guide subject, we must also understand how to
your composition. Now, when someone asks control as many of the variables as possible.
you to describe what you saw, you delight in One of the many joys of close-up and
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FLY AGARIC
Learning all you can about your subject allows you to photograph it in an informed,
imaginative way.
The Expanded Guide 9
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MOSS GARDEN
By adopting a childlike curiosity we begin to notice the beauty of everyday objects and scenes,
such as this tiny moss garden.
macro photography is the size of the stage Technical profi ciency
on which we perform. While landscape Many great images appear to have been
photographers sweat and stress over the created intuitively, but in reality they are
shape of a distant tree and the condition the result of good photographic technique,
of foreground flowers, close-up and macro combined with personal style and vision.
photographers have the advantage of Learning how to use the equipment at our
working on a much smaller scale.
Most of the time distracting elements can be CLOSE-UP
played down, or removed altogether to improve A reproduction ratio below 1:1 (life-size)
is classed as close-up, not macro.
the composition. But that’s not to say that
close-up and macro photography is without its
challenges—far from it.
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