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The stunning banded demoiselle damselfly makes an excellent macro subject, with its large metallic blue (male) or green (female) body
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How to improve your…
MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY acro photography can reveal a hidden world that is full of wonder. True macro lenses will magnify your subject to at least life size (1:1), but even without this magnification you can still capture amazing detail. Many telephoto and zoom lenses allow you to focus very closely, and even some mobile phone cameras have a close-focus capacity. Due to a small sensor, phones have the added benefit of lots of depth of field. Depth of field is the area in your photo that appears sharp and in focus. In every picture, there is a zone both in front of and behind the point you are focusing on that also appears sharp. Making sure you have sufficient depth of field is
Images by David Tipling
M 40
Waterlife
MARCH/JUNE 2022
BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN
crucial for macro photography, as the area that appears sharp decreases the closer you get to your subject and the more you magnify. To shoot at macro level successfully, you ideally need lots of light or you might struggle to get all of your subject in focus. If part of the image is affected by shadow, or if light levels are low, for example on an overcast day, try using flash to rectify this. The torch on your mobile phone can be used to experiment with the direction of light for more control, especially if you are photographing a plant or fungi or a very still insect. Try making a simple reflector out of tin foil stretched over a bit of card, or the foil lining inside some fresh juice cartons. Use this to direct light onto your subject and balance out the shadows.
Look for a clean background Move around and try to find a position to shoot from that gives your subject a clean background with no distractions that compete for the viewer’s attention. Using a longer focal length lens or a shallower depth of field can help to throw messy elements in the background out of focus, and diffuse intrusive foreground elements.
