Sapphire Room
Warilla Bowls & Recreation Club
st
rd
1 & 3 Wednesdays of the month
7:30pm
Macro Photography
What Is Macro Photography?
Macro photography is extremely close-up photography in which the image on the film or sensor is as large as,
or larger than, the object being photographed.
Real definition of macro photography - according to Creative Photography
Although most people think of macro photography as just another name for close-up photography, this is not
technically correct. I could get 20cm from a flower with an ultra-wide angle lens on the camera and it would
not be macro - however I could be 50cm away with a 180mm macro lens, and this would be true macro.
The term macro relates to the magnification of the image as it appears on the sensor. For example, if you have
a small metal ball 10mm in diameter and the image cast onto the image sensor is 10mm as well, then this is
called 1:1 magnification (life size). If it is 5mm on the sensor it is 1:2 (half magnification), and if it more than
fills the sensor such that it would be 50mm across it is 5:1 (5x magnification).
Traditionally, macro meant anything that was 1:1 or higher, although it is widely accepted that 1:2 (0.5
magnification) is still considered macro.
In the world of compact cameras, the term macro has come to mean a camera's ability to focus very closely on
an object.
Of course you can increase the magnification when you print the image onto paper. One definition I've seen
for macro is being able to get a life-size image when printed at 6x4". This is not really macro at all as with a
crop sensor camera such as on most Canon or Nikon DSLRs, this would only require a magnification of less than
1:6.
Typically, subjects of macro photography are very small, such as insects or flowers; larger objects may also
prove useful as macro photography subjects if, for instance, you want to focus on some very specific, smaller
detail of the large object in question. Macro photography can be incredibly fun and rewarding, but it can also
be a challenge.
Assuming you are using a DSLR, your best bet is to obtain a dedicated macro lens. If your budget doesn’t allow
for a new lens at the moment, you can try a set of extension tubes to use in conjunction with a lens you already
own.
President: Brian Lefoe
Po Box 45, Warilla NSW 2528
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.kscameraclub.org
Page 1 of 10
Sapphire Room
Warilla Bowls & Recreation Club
st
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1 & 3 Wednesdays of the month
7:30pm
Understanding Magnification - DPReview
To understand the Macro you need to understand the concept of magnification, it's worth taking a very brief
look at how a photographic image is created. Every point in a given scene reflects light rays. The front element
of the camera lens 'captures' these rays and then focuses them onto the imaging sensor, producing a projection
of the scene at the location of the sensor.
This is a simplified diagram of the photographic process. Light rays reflected from an object pass through a lens,
which then produces an image projection on the camera's sensor.
Magnification - or more precisely, the magnification ratio - is simply the relationship between of the size of the
(in-focus) subject's projection on the imaging sensor and the subject's size in reality. Perplexed? Here are some
examples. Suppose that we're photographing a small child, 1 meter in height. Imagine that the height of the
child's projection onto the sensor is 1cm. The magnification ratio is 1cm/100cm, or 1/100. Magnification is
typically notated using a colon, so we write it as 1:100, and pronounce it, 'one to one hundred', meaning the
child is 100 times larger in real life than its image as projected on the sensor. Similarly, if the subject is a 10cm
long lizard, and its projection on the sensor is 2cm long, the magnification ratio is 2cm/10cm or 1:5. The lizard is
five times larger in real life than its projection on the sensor.
What happens if the subject is the same size in real life as its projection? If we shoot a 1cm fly and its projection
on the sensor measures 1cm as well, the magnification is 1:1. The 1:1 ratio has an important meaning for macro
enthusiasts. Technically speaking, macro photography means shooting at a magnification ratio of at least1:1.
Therefore, a 'true' macro lens has the ability to produce a magnification ratio of 1:1, or higher.
President: Brian Lefoe
Po Box 45, Warilla NSW 2528
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.kscameraclub.org
Page 2 of 10
Sapphire Room
Warilla Bowls & Recreation Club
st
rd
1 & 3 Wednesdays of the month
7:30pm
What Is A Macro Lens?
What's so special about a macro lens? Surely
one can take any old 50mm f/1.8 lens and just
move it closer to your subject until you reach
1:1 magnification. The problem, however, is
that a regular lens will not be able to focus at
such close distances.
A more specific definition of a macro lens,
then, is one whose minimal focus distance is
short enough to allow photography of a
focused subject in 1:1 magnification.
I should point out that with a regular macro
lens, 1:1 magnification is achievable only at the
very closest focus distance. Using a longer focus
distance necessarily means the magnification
will
be lower. Indeed, for a fixed focal length,
magnification is inversely related to subject
distance.
Once you have a macro lens, how do you
accurately calculate its level of magnification at
an arbitrary focus distance? The easiest way, by
far, is to use a ruler, as shown in the examples
below.
Read more at DP Review
Download this image from our website
President: Brian Lefoe
Po Box 45, Warilla NSW 2528
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.kscameraclub.org
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Sapphire Room
Warilla Bowls & Recreation Club
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1 & 3 Wednesdays of the month
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Comb My Hair by Hamed Saber, on Flickr
I don’t need shades to look cool by spettacolopuro, on Flickr
One feature that’s shared by all macro lenses is that they’re ‘flat field’ lenses. General-purpose lenses typically
suffer from field curvature. In macro lenses, field curvature must be minimised as much as possible, so if you
photograph a small flat object square on, such as a postage stamp, the centre and corners of the stamp should
all be sharp and in focus.
Nikkor 105mm Micro Lens
President: Brian Lefoe
Po Box 45, Warilla NSW 2528
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.kscameraclub.org
Canon 100mm Macro Lens
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Macro on Compact Cameras
Compact camera users don't need any extra equipment as most compacts allow you
to focus very closely on an object. All you need to do is put the camera into macro
mode (usually this mode is represented by a small flower icon).
Photo by Colin Bell. Picture taken with a
Fuji S9600 superzoom/bridge camera. This
camera had the ability to focus as close as
1cm from the object. This British two
pence coin is 1inch (2.5cm) in diameter.
With the lens this close, getting light to
the object can be a problem so a tiny LED
torch was used.
If you do need to get closer, then some bridge/superzoom cameras have a filter screw thread on the lens and
so you can add close-up attachments.
What is a macro lens’ minimum focus distance?
Download this image from our website
The minimum focus distance of macro lenses with the same magnification
factor of 1.0x increases with longer focal lengths.
For example, it’s around 20cm for a 60mm lens, and as much as 48cm for a
180mm lens. These distances aren’t measured between the object being
photographed and the front of the lens, but rather between the object and
the focal plane; this is marked on the camera body towards its rear, in
line with the image sensor.
Some macro lenses also have internal focusing, which can be a bonus, as the
front element doesn’t extend when you shorten the focus distance.
In other lenses, the overall length can almost double at the shortest focus
setting.
President: Brian Lefoe
Po Box 45, Warilla NSW 2528
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.kscameraclub.org
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For macro lenses that have shorter focal lengths, this movement can put the front element of the lens
uncomfortably close to the object that’s being photographed.
Close-up Lenses
Close up filters are a bit like the glass in spectacles worn
by a long-sighted person - they change the direction of
the rays of light to allow you to focus closer than you
normally would. These are often the only option
available to users of bridge cameras, but for DSLR users,
we would not recommend them as it is adding
additional glass elements into the light path and this
affects image quality. If you do buy one, try to get one
that consists of two glass elements rather than one
otherwise you would suffer reduced image sharpness
and increased chromatic distortion.
Extension Tubes.
These hollow tubes fit between your existing lens
and camera to enable it to focus much closer than
before. And even if you get a macro lens later, you
can still use the tubes. Combine them with macro
lenses and you’ll get greater than life-size
reproduction of tiny subjects.
Most independent manufacturers of extension
tubes supply them as a set of three, each of a
different size, but original camera manufacturers
tend to sell them individually.
There are two main types of extension tube; those
with the electronic connections to work fully
automatically, and those without. The latter are
slower, because you have to set the exposure and focus manually, and only offer limited metering on most
SLRs. But they offer a cheap route into macro photography.
President: Brian Lefoe
Po Box 45, Warilla NSW 2528
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.kscameraclub.org
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Fully automatic tubes are much more convenient because they enable features such as metering and
autofocus, but are more expensive.
Focus and Depth of Field
When you’re shooting at the minimum focus distance,
depth of field is extremely small. For example, with a
100mm lens on an APS-C camera, it’s just 0.6mm at an
aperture of f/2.8, so only areas that are within 0.3mm in
front of or behind the focus point will be rendered
sharply. Even at f/11, the depth of field is only 2.6mm.
Shallow depths of field aren’t too much of a problem
when shooting flat two-dimensional objects, but things
get tricky in 3D.
Because focusing is so critical, you’re usually best off
switching to manual focus, so you can focus on exactly
the part of the object you want to be sharp.
President: Brian Lefoe
Po Box 45, Warilla NSW 2528
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.kscameraclub.org
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Sapphire Room
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1 & 3 Wednesdays of the month
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Fixing the camera in place and using Live View is helpful, as you can select a magnified view on the camera’s
LCD for high-precision focusing.
Focus Stacking
Depth of field (DOF) depends almost entirely on two factors: aperture value and magnification. The wider the
aperture we shoot at, and the closer we get to the subject, the shallower the depth of field becomes. When
doing macro work, we often shoot at 1:1 magnification or more, compelling us to be extremely close to the
subject. This inevitably means that depth of field is extremely shallow - so shallow that in many cases, most of
the subject goes out of focus, even if it’s as tiny as a fly, and even if we close the aperture to f/16 or more.
One way to solve this problem is by using a method called focus stacking. Focus stacking is a process that
involves two tasks. The first task is to take a series of pictures at different focal distances, so that the entire
depth range we want to have focused is covered. For example, say we’re shooting a fly from the front. We
could take one picture where the fly’s head is in focus, one with its thorax (middle body-segment) in focus and
one with its abdomen in focus.
This may sound easy, but it’s critical to get all the images in a stacking series with the exact same conditions
and parameters: aperture, ISO, shutter speed and white balance. For example, the lighting may change if the
clouds move, or the subject might decide it doesn’t feel like staying put, which will ruin the shot.
Left:
This robber fly
was shot at f/9,
a medium
aperture
setting,
and it’s not
even close to
being entirely in
focus. Canon
EOS 7D, Sigma
150mm f/2.8
macro, 1.3 sec
ISO 200, f/9.
The same
fly, focus
stacked
from 8
different
images, all
1.3 sec
exposures
at f/9. ISO
200.
Read More at DP Review……
President: Brian Lefoe
Po Box 45, Warilla NSW 2528
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.kscameraclub.org
Page 8 of 10
Sapphire Room
Warilla Bowls & Recreation Club
st
rd
1 & 3 Wednesdays of the month
7:30pm
Reversing Rings
Reversing rings allow you to attach the lens in reverse on to your camera (the attachment screws on to the
filter thread and this attaches to the body of your camera). For obvious reasons, all electronic contacts with
the camera are lost so you'll be working in full manual mode.
The magnification is the focal
length of the normal mounted
lens divided by the focal length of
the reversed lens. For example, a
200mm lens which has a reversed
20mm lens on the front will give a
magnification of 10:1.
Lighting
The problem with lighting comes from the camera being so close to the subject that it blocks the ambient light.
Most on-camera flashes are designed to work no
closer than about one metre. The camera's lens will
most likely cast a shadow over the image if the flash is
your main source of illumination. DSLR users with a
lens hood on the camera can suffer even more.
To get around this problem, there are various
external flashguns designed specifically for close-up
photography. These often use either multiple smaller
lights positioned level with the front of the lens, or a
ring flash that goes around the lens. I've even seen
accessories that channel light from an external flash
gun into a ring diffuser that fits around the lens.
Shadow cast by the lens hood. Photo by Amanda
President: Brian Lefoe
Po Box 45, Warilla NSW 2528
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.kscameraclub.org
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Sapphire Room
Warilla Bowls & Recreation Club
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Examples of Macro Flashes
above left: Sigma EM140 Macro Flash
above right: Nikon Speedlight Commander Kit.
left: an LED-based light designed to fit around the lens of compact
cameras.
A cheap alternative is to use some form of torch (flashlight). Modern LED lights are excellent for this as they
are small (and therefore easy to throw in your camera bag) and very bright. Reflectors are also useful for
throwing light back onto your subject.
Macro Cheat Sheet and DOF Cheat Sheets are available on our club’s website.
ref: Digital Camera World
Lightstalking.com
Google Images
Creative Photography
President: Brian Lefoe
Po Box 45, Warilla NSW 2528
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.kscameraclub.org
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