Close-up & Macro Photography TRACY HALLETT THE EXPANDED GUIDE > TECHNIQUES 2 Close-up & Macro Photography CCLLOOSSEE--UUPP && MMAACCRROO CCHH 11++22 11--4455..iinndddd 22 1111//44//1111 1111::1144::0022 Close-up & Macro Photography THE EXPANDED GUIDE Tracy Hallett CCLLOOSSEE--UUPP && MMAACCRROO CCHH 11++22 11--4455..iinndddd 33 1111//44//1111 1111::1144::0044 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 CCLLOOSSEE--UUPP && MMAACCRROO CCHH 11++22 11--4455..iinndddd 55 1100//55//1111 1166::1188::5500 CCLLOOSSEE--UUPP && MMAACCRROO CCHH 11++22 11--4455..iinndddd 66 1111//44//1111 1111::1144::0044 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION CCLLOOSSEE--UUPP && MMAACCRROO CCHH 11++22 11--4455..iinndddd 77 1111//44//1111 1111::1144::0055 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 8 Close-up & Macro Photography CCLLOOSSEE--UUPP && MMAACCRROO CCHH 11++22 11--4455..iinndddd 88 1111//44//1111 1111::1144::0077 FLY AGARIC Learning all you can about your subject allows you to photograph it in an informed, imaginative way. The Expanded Guide 9 CCLLOOSSEE--UUPP && MMAACCRROO CCHH 11++22 11--4455..iinndddd 99 2200//44//1111 1144::4455::0055 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. 10 Close-up & Macro Photography CCLLOOSSEE--UUPP && MMAACCRROO CCHH 11++22 11--4455..iinndddd 1100 2200//44//1111 1144::4455::0077