5 Out of 43 Great Macro Photographs

In December 2008, smashinapps.com published a list of 43 creative macro photographs. They not only listed 43 great photographs, but encouraged photographers to post comment about other great pictures online.

Here is a list of 5 randomly chosen pictures from the entire batch.









All the images are copyright of their respective owners and creators. Visit smashinapps.com for the main source of the pics.

Top 5 Macho Photographs on Flickr

I searched Flickr.com for macro photography and top 5 listings were really interesting! No spiders, no flowers, no tiles – but color pencils and chocolate. I appreciate the photographers; view; they have indeed presented familiar things in an unfamiliar way.

Color pencils are chose and placed nicely so that they look great when photographed. And who doesn’t like chocolate? I am sure everybody is going to love these macros. Take a look.

Click to see this Photo on flickr.

Click to see this Photo on flickr.

Click to see this Photo on flickr.

Click to see this Photo on flickr.

Click to see this Photo on flickr.

Macro Lens Ranges – Which One Is Right for You?

Macro lenses are available with different ranges; let’s see which one is to be used and when:

50 – 60mm: Suitable for small object and product photography
90 – 105mm: Used while photographing flowers, insects and similar small objects.
150 – 200mm: These lenses offer more working distance – hence can be used while photographing small animals or insects from which safe distance is to be maintained

Lens is of great importance in macro photography. One needs to use lenses specifically designed for macros. Long barrel helps in close focusing. Macro lenses are set to provide 1:1 magnification.

However, Canon MP-E 65 mm f/2.8 offers magnification up to 5:1 allowing photographers frame small objects such as eyes of the insects, snowflakes etc.

How To Reduce Shaking

It has nothing to do with your efficiency. A lot of people believe that when a newbie start shooting, her hand shakes during clicking the shutter; as a result the image gets blurred and appears to be shaken.

This can be a reason behind shaky image; but when the same happens with an expert photographer or while shooting with a tripod – what is your explanation? Here is mine:

It happens due to the to and fro movement of the mirror inside your camera. The mirror is heavy; it goes up when you click the shutter and then comes down to close the shutter. As a result, the camera shakes and the effect is observed on the image.

To avoid this, you should enable mirror lock-up while shooting. Just click the shutter and let the camera take care of everything else. Look at the images below: the first was shot without mirror lock-up and the second one was taken with mirror lock-up enabled.

Without mirror lock-up:



With mirror lock-up:



Image courtesy: aemenblack.com

Macro Photography Class

Lincoln Wildlife is going to host Macro Photography class. There will be classroom session followed by a field work. Basic macro photography techniques and equipments will be focused in the classroom session. Techniques such as use of natural light, diffusion techniques, reflectors etc. will be covered. At the same time, there will be sessions on equipments, lenses, use of color, background etc.

Attendees will be provided with hands-on experience in the field session. This is an instructor led session that will give the learners opportunity to apply and practice the techniques taught in the classroom session.

Photography basics will be taught be renowned photographer Joe Warfel. Though the classroom session is open to all, the field session has limited seats. Visit Lincoln Wildlife for more information.

Spiders – Macro Photography Examples

Garden Orb Spider



Photography is an addiction. A person afraid of spiders can spend hours in garden to shoot a Garden Orb.

Jumping Spider



Jumping spider on green background – ready for action!

Spider catches Honeybee



The spider did his dinner with honeybee and preserved one for next day’s breakfast! LOL!!!

Wolf Spider



With 8 eyes and 8 legs wolf spider don’t use webs to catch their prey.

Itsy Bitsy Spider



Photographers are artists. They not only enclose right moments within frames, they write great poems as well. LOL.

DSLR OR Digital Point and Shoot with Macro Mode

Darren Rawse of Digital Photography School considers the photographers with a DSLR lucky over those who do not have a DSLR. However, he suggests photographers to explore the macro mode of compact point and shoot cameras while practicing macro photography.

Though the quality of DSLR image is much more superior than the images shot with point and shoot cameras, the images can be made presentable by keeping the macro mode on.

However, majority of professional still photographers prefer DSLR cameras. The reasons are:

• Options to select one of various interchangeable lenses
• DSLR cameras enable photographers to view an accurate preview
• Larger sensors (most compact point and shoot cameras have smaller sensors)
• DSLR sensors are almost of same size as traditional film formats
• Modern DSLRs provide live preview
• Wide range of lens aperture – starting from f/1.0 to f/32

However, if you haven’t got your DSLR yet, don’t get disappointed. Go through Darren’s macro photography tips for point and shoot camera users.

25 beautiful macro photography shots

The Monday Inspiration column of Smashing Magazine publishes attractive, revealing and inspiring pictures. The editorial team did a great job by selecting 25 macro photography shots and publishing the list along with photographers name and source of the image.

The photographs cover a wide range of subjects starting from the eye of a Tokay Gecko, water bubbles, flowers, to eyelids of a girl. The series describes true form of macro photography where minute details of objects are revealed.







Click to see all 25 photographs.

Macro Photography

The term macro photography has been coined very recently. Macro photography is a stream of photography which can be compared with close-up photography. It is the art of taking close-up shots to enlarge a small area so that minute details become visible to naked eye.

According to wikipedia, the classical definition of macro photography is:

…” the image projected on the "film plane" (i.e., film or a digital sensor) is close to the same size as the subject.”

In reality the image projected on the film plane can be close, same size or larger as the subject. Using 1:2 macro lenses, one can shoot a photograph where the image is 1/2 of the subject and with 1:1 macro lenses image size becomes equal as the subject.

1:4 magnificent ratio is quite good to focus a subject and print it on 15x10 cm paper so that the image is equal to or larger than the object.

Image courtesy: shotaddict.com