Online Photography Courses - Macro Starter

Online Photography Courses - getting started in macro photography.

The below article was originally published in Ezines and Australian Photography magazine. Photographs are also avilable to view at Online Photography Courses Blog. See link below to view.

There is often confusion between the terms Macro photography and Photomacrography. Macro photography, is shooting something that has normal perspective and enlarging the result to oversize proportions. A mural is an example of macro photography. Photomacrography is shooting something that cannot be studied in detail with the naked eye; the result is enlarged to normal proportions to view. Macro photography does not make use of special equipment, photomacrography does.

Micro photography and Photomicrography are likewise confused. Micro photography is again shooting something that has normal perspective, but reducing the result so that it cannot be observed in detail with the naked eye. Micro film is an example of this procedure.

Photomicrography is photographing something that cannot be observed at all with the naked eye. This method uses the microscope and an example would be photographing cell tissue.

There are several devices manufactured for photomacrography and a brief description of each follows.

A Reversing Ring is the most inexpensive way to achieve macro abilities with your existing equipment. The ring is inserted between your lens of choice and the camera. The lens however, is reversed and is fitted by its filter thread. The result is high quality macro photographs.

Macro Lenses allow you to get close enough to the subject to focus at 1:1 or to give you a life size image on the film. Dedicated macro lenses are generally round the 50mm and 100mm focal length. You will also find telephoto and zoom lenses with a macro setting, these are generally in the 70 to 210mm focal length range. A macro setting on the cheaper lenses with normally provide an inferior result to the dedicated macro lens.

The lens to choose is very much a matter of personal choice, depending on the type of photographic requirements you have and of course, your budget.

The dedicated macro lens provides you with the best result quality wise. It also is the most expensive of the options but has a distinct advantage over other lenses. These lenses maintain the automatic coupling and associated functions with your camera. This makes your exposure and composition a lot easier to deal with. The standard macro lens is very flexible lens as it allows continuous focal lengths from 50mm through to macro.

Supplementary Close-up Lenses attach to a conventional lens in the same manner as a filter. These will allow you to focus much closer to your subject with existing lenses. Close-up lenses are measured in optical diopters and are represented by diopter numbers such as +1, +2, +3. The higher the diopter number the higher the magnification. You can also combine these lenses to give you greater magnification.

The advantage of the close-up lens is cost - they are cheap. All camera functions are maintained and they will not cost you any light. The down side is you will lose quality. Generally the more elements you add to your lens, the poorer the image quality.

Extension Tubes are spacers that fit between camera and lens, they have no optics of their own. This means that you will retain the quality of your lens. The tubes come in varying lengths and can be added to each other to create greater magnification. The principle applied here is; the further the lens from the film plane, the greater the magnification. The advantages of extension tubes are first cost, these are cheap also. The second is that they will couple with any compatible mounting hardware. Most good tubes automatically couple with the camera to retain functions and use TTL metering. You will probably have to manual focus as most extension tubes do not allow auto focus.

Bellows Extension is similar to the extension tube but provides greater flexibility. The price of bellows is also considerable greater. Like the tube, this device sits between your camera and lens. Its greatest attribute is that the distance between film plane and lens can be varied. This is achieved by a simple bellows mechanism. This gives you total control over magnification; you can simply choose what magnification is best for individual shots. Some bellows do not provide automatic coupling so you must revert to manual operation in this situation.

Macro Bellows attach to the filter mount of your lens and are intended primarily for studio use. The bellows are similar to studio bellows for lighting control, with one major difference - the bellows are translucent. The object to be photographed may be placed near the bellows end or even in¬side. Flash or spots can be used to light the subject through the bellows. The bellows will produce a soft, wrap-around lighting effect. These bellows have been specifically designed for scientific, medical or any close-up photography that requires diffused lighting.

Ring Flash is another form of lighting specifically, designed for medical photography and close-up work. This device screws into your filter mount providing you with a flash unit close to the subject. The flash is in the shape of a ring for practical reasons, that being it does not inhibit the film plane view of the subject. The ring design allows you to shoot through the centre of the flash unit.

Hope this brings some clarity for those interested in pursuing the fascinating area of photomacrography.

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