No doubt you’ve heard it said “Bigger is Better!”  Bigger cars, bigger house, bigger bank balance (ok, I’ll give you the last one!).  But scaling down instead of up reveals a whole new world.  Ordinary objects become amazing landscapes.  That annoying fly buzzing around your head reveals a fascinating combination of intricate design, function and color.  Beauty of shape, pattern, color and texture unveil themselves as you delve deeper and smaller into the world around you.

Traditionally, macro photography is defined as any photo in which the subject has a 1:1 ratio with the image. This means the image you record of the subject is exactly the same size (or larger) as the real life subject.   

In the days when we used film instead of digital sensors, a true macro photograph recorded the image of a subject life size on the film negative.  So if you took a picture of a fly, and that fly was 8mm in length, the image of the fly you had recorded when you looked at your film negative would measure 8mm or larger.  (Obviously, this would mean the subject matter was very small, and not a 30m building or we would not be able to carry the camera!)

Today, thanks to great advances in digital sensor technologies, we no longer need a specialist camera and lens to dabble in extreme close up photography.  On every compact camera you will see this icon.

This is your MACRO setting.  When activated, you can put your camera closer than normal to something and still get a sharp, focused picture. 

Each compact camera has its own minimum focusing distance, anywhere from 1cm to 28cm.  This distance is the closest you can get to a subject and still produce a focused image.  (You can find out in your manual what your camera’s macro distance is.)

Why Use Macro At All?

As a photographer, you are always searching for a new way to look at things, a new angle on the world, a new viewpoint in life.  Macro offers you all that.  

It is true that DSLR cameras offer a photographer more scope to explore macro photography, but you shouldn’t be deterred by that.  Compact cameras offer you the opportunity to taste what macro work is like, without having to invest heavily in specialist equipment.  You can still produce stunning close-ups of your own, even with a compact camera, and will be amazed at what the world of small has to offer.  Things that appear so ordinary and common place take on a whole new meaning. 

Take the watch in the opening photo for example. See how the image demonstrates the precision and attention to detail of the watchmaker.

The tiny parts that make up the dial – the lettering, the pointers, make us marvel at the delicacy and skill of the watchmaker’s hands to create something so tiny but perfect.  Notice the characters that make up the numbers. Their intricacies are not something very obvious when the watch is viewed normally. 

Shiny things, when you get close up, aren’t as shiny as you think they are.  You come to realise that there is no such thing as perfection.  Because you are exaggerating the scale of the object, everything begins to become visible.  This includes any flaws or defects.  

But, you also reveal amazing textures, patterns and shapes.  And a really good macro photograph can keep you looking at, and discovering more about the subject than any run-of-the-mill landscape ever could.

What makes a good macro image?  Great macro shots show something really cool or special out of something that is mundane or ordinary.  They take on a whole new scale and meaning – a pile of sugar crystals can become white sand dunes; textures appear that convey the natural world around us and mimic tree bark, lakes, mountains, etc.  You are only limited by your imagination.

Macro shots bring their own technical challenges.  Because everything is magnified, every tiny movement of your subject makes it look like it is swaying.  So when taking pictures, especially outside, always use a tripod to avoid any small amounts of camera shake, as even a tiny movement will destroy any detail in your picture.

Focusing is critical as macro photography uses a tiny depth-of-field.  Depth-of-field if you recall is the amount of your subject that is in focus both in front of and in back of your subject. With macro photography, many times you can’t even keep all of your subject in focus. Because depth-of-field is tied to how far your camera is from your subject, and with macro photography you are close, depth-of-field is going to be scaled down too.  So precise focusing is needed, along with a high f-stop setting to make sure you get the right part of the subject in focus.

Texture brings a macro to life, and the best way to bring out texture is to light your subject across the surface by making sure the light source is at the side.  This creates shadow and highlight detail which puts depth into what the viewer will see.

Once you have a selection of shots, don’t be tempted to review them on the camera and start deleting them.  This can give a distorted impression.  Wait until you can see them full size on a computer screen.  Only then will you be able to make an informed decision as to what works and what doesn’t.  By studying the images you can begin to develop your macro vision and method of working.  Macro photography takes a lot of patience, especially if you want to take macro shots of the natural world. 

Shooting Macro Tips

Here are few handy hints to getting the best macro shots…..

• Use a tripod to avoid any slight movements.
• Light overcast skies mean nice soft diffuse light.
• Experiment on stationary subjects first to get used to the way your camera handles at a macro level before moving on to chasing moving subjects.
• Insects are more sluggish in the morning and on cold days, hence are less likely to move until they get warmed up.
• Carry a white card to use as a mini reflector for extra lighting.
• Take a black and white card to use as a background to isolate a subject from a confused or overly busy background.
• The closer you get to your subject, the more you notice.  Distressed surfaces can make for great texture.
• To highlight texture, light your subject from the side.

 Now it is time to get out there and take some close-up pictures of your own!

Knowing how to use both your built-in and external flash will improve your flash photography immensely.  In this article, we will cover some of the common photography problems that can be overcome by using your flash, some problems caused by using your flash, and some solutions on how to minimize the effect of those problems. 

Built-in Flash -

First, let’s discuss using your built-in flash as your main light source.  Doing this will create the following problems:

* Undiffused, it produces washed out highlights with sharp-edged shadows

* It can give your human or animal subjects the unnatural red-eye look.

* It over-lights the foreground and creates ghostly shadows on the background.

You can overcome or at least minimize these unwanted effects by:

* Diffusing the light coming off of your flash by taping a couple layers of tissue over the flash to diffuse its effect or buying one of the many manufactured diffusers that slide onto your flash head.

* With diffused light, move your subject eight to ten feet away from the background to minimize unwanted background shadows.

*Turn off the camera red-eye reduction feature. This will reduce your number of shots of people have closed eyes from the pre-flash associated with red-eye reduction 

* Make sure there isn’t a prominent object closer to the camera than the subject.  Otherwise, this object will show up on your photo as a white over-exposed blob.

External Flash -

An external flash provides much more versatility than a built-in flash.  An external flash allows you to:

* Control the direction and angle of light

* Bounce the flash

* Eliminate red-eye

* Cover a much wider and deeper area.

* Use it as a key light and the built-in flash as a fill light

The first step to flash creativity is to purchase a synch cord for your camera. With the flash hooked to a synch cord, you can hold the external flash anywhere within reach of the cord.

Red-eye will no longer be a problem because you can get that flash twelve inches or more from the camera lens. A built-in flash is too close to the camera lens which is the cause of red-eye.

External flashes have more power therefore they can reach out further and as that light travels out further, it spreads out covering more width.

External Flash Tips –

If you want to “fool” your automatic flash to produce either twice as much or half as much light, change the ISO setting of the flash if your flash, is equipped to do so. 

When shooting close-ups, portraits or details, create a lighting angle that is flattering by holding the external flash at arm length and at a 45-degree angle from the camera. 

If you are shooting a subject with strong back-lighting, use a flash to light up the shadows.  Otherwise, your subject will end up being a silhouette.  

Meter through your camera’s TTL for the correct exposure.  If you camera does not automatically set the shutter speed to the synch speed, make sure you manually set it.    

Buying an External Flash -

If you currently do not have an external flash or you are shopping for another one, here are some things to look for:

* Swivel head – This allows you to have more control over the light direction and angle.

* Synch cord connection – Having this feature allows you to retain the automatic exposure feature of your camera.

* Auto or manual mode – Having both modes gives you more flexibility when using this flash.

* Built-in slave unit – This is a must.  With this feature, you can position the light anywhere without having to be connected to the camera.  All that is needed is your built-in or camera connected flash to fire your slave unit.

These are a few of the basic ways you can use your built-in and external flash.  These tips and techniques will dramatically improve the look and feel of your next flash photography shots.

With Valentine’s Day fastly approaching, have you thought about offering to shoot Boudoir photos to some of your female clients? When done right, they make a great gift for a boyfriend or husband. But they do require some minor location preparation.

Prior to the shoot, discuss with your client the feeling that she wants her photos to convey. Be sure to ask her what she thinks are her best features and then work out the poses to accent those features.

A boudoir photography shoot can be a trying time for a woman. With most women being self-conscious about their bodies anyway, be sure to set them at ease by complementing them and keeping to the topic of the shoot. Most women prefer working with a female photographer or at least have a female friend present during the shoot. If you are a male photographer, encourage her to have a friend present.

Outfit Selection

While corsets and bustiers are a popular choices, other great choices include well-fitted bra-and-panty sets, sexy leggings, nylons, garters and cute baby-doll pajamas. Have your client bring three outfits and multiple accessories. Accessories can include jewelry, hats, veils or a sexy pair of heels or boots. Also to personalize her photos, suggest she brings something her significant-other gave her.  Don’t overlook his dress shirts, ties, work clothes, baseball caps. If he is in the construction business, why not suggest putting on a work belt with some tools!

Location

While there are other settings you can use, one of the best for a boudoir photography shoot is still a bed. Use a white or light colored sheet as these create a great contrast against skin tone. You can also use the same color sheet to cover unwanted distractions such as a bed head or foot board.

Keep  sheets bunchy and wrinkled. Not only will you fight a losing battle trying to keep them wrinkle-free, but the ruffled look adds to the mood of the shoot. You can do a sexy or sweet shoot depending on the poses your client wants and the amount of skin she is comfortable with exposing.

Poses

As far as poses, there are six basic ones you can use:

• Lying on the stomach facing the camera.
• Lying on the back, head toward the camera.
• Kneeling down facing the camera.
• Full length figure.
• Head and cleavage.
• Arms raised above head or playing with hair.

And of course, variations of the above poses. Use your imagination!

Session Length

For a one-hour shooting session, give yourself at least two hours of working time. Because it takes awhile to set-up and figure out which lighting and angles will work the best, and usually some time for your client to warm up to the camera, total time takes about twice as long as the shooting time.

Lighting

There are two types of lighting used in boudoir photography shoots – natural and artificial. Of the two, natural is best, so be sure your shooting location is close to windows or French doors that can let in lots of light. If you don’t have enough natural light coming in, use off-camera slave lights or a studio light for additional light. If you are using multiple color light sources, be sure to set your white balance setting accordingly.

If you keep the setting light and airy, boudoir photography shoots can be a lot of fun both for you and your client. And her significant other will thank-you when he sees the photos!

There are times when it can be difficult to decide on what the ideal exposure would be to get the best image of a scene.  It may be that you don’t have the time to think about your exposure.  Or, it may be that there are elements of extreme brightness and shadow within the picture that you want to capture, and you’re not sure whether exposing for the highlights or the shadows will give you the better final image.  Well BRACKETING could be the solution.

What is bracketing?

Bracketing is the technical term for a sequence of frames of the same image, shot in rapid succession and all at different exposures.  Normally, it is a sequence of 3 or 5 frames with each exposure differing from the other frames in steps of between 1/3^rd of a stop up to a full stop or even two stops.  Each sequence starts with a central exposure the camera deems to be the ideal exposure for the overall scene. Then another image is shot under exposed and one image shot over exposed.  Hence the ‘correct’ exposure is bracketed (or sandwiched) between 2 exposures which are under or over exposed by the same amount.

How do I bracket?

While DSLR camera users have the option to manually bracket between exposure settings, many DSLR and compact cameras have a built in feature known as Automatic Exposure Bracketing or AEB.  AEB lets you select how much variation you want between frames and then fires off 3 frames in quick succession once the shutter is depressed. If you do manually bracket, be sure to use Aperture priority so that you are only changing the shutter speed and not depth-of-field.

The sequence is centered round the exposure the camera has determined will be the optimal exposure to produce the best image, so this is the first picture frame taken.  It then takes the same picture but with less exposure, and finally the last frame is given more exposure than the first.  This will give a series of 3 images, all of the same subject but with different amounts of shadow and highlight detail in them.  The exposure variation that can be set between picture frames can vary between a third, two thirds or a full stop of exposure. Some photographers even bracket up to two full stops between images.

When we expose any image, we are trading off losses in some of the shadows and highlights to gain the most acceptable exposure overall, regardless of whether we make the exposure decision ourselves or allow the camera to do it for us.

What is the point of bracketing?

Bracketing gives photographers leeway to take and combine these multiple images in photo-editing programs to produce the ultimate perfectly exposed final image.  Photographers are able to replace areas of shadow and highlight detail that could not be recorded with the main tonal range of the subject because the extremes of exposure went beyond the sensor’s dynamic range.

Bracketing can also give you subtly differences of exposures and allow you to choose what exposure compromise you are happiest with.  Some photographers prefer to lose a little detail out of the shadows to keep the highlights from blowing out and becoming featureless white areas.  Others prefer to see detail more in the darker tones.

So the next time you’re at a loss about your exposure, try a little bracketing.  You never know, you might like it!

One of the biggest challenges I have faced in digital photography is trying to capture action shots of youths participating in sports. Not only do you have to contend with various lighting issues and stopping action, but finding an optimal location to shoot from can be problematic, especially with indoor sports.

The article below written by Rick Berk and published on Digital Photography School.com has some great tips on how you can get great youth sports shots.

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One of the most popular subjects people photograph is their children.  Everyone is always showing off photos of their little ones.  And when those little ones grow bigger, we photograph their activities. One of the more challenging children’s activities to photograph is youth sports.

With a few exceptions, sports tend to take place on large fields, where a photographer will have limited ability to get close to his subject. Couple that fact with a lack of control over lighting, and sports of any level can be a challenge to photograph.

The biggest issue most beginners seem to have with sports is stopping action.  Motion blur, caused by using too slow a shutter speed, frustrates many new sports photographers.  The bottom line here is very simple: a minimum shutter speed of 1/500 is needed to freeze action.  The longer the lens, the faster the shutter speed needs to be.  So while 1/500 is the minimum, if your focal length is 600mm, you will need a shutter speed of at least 1/640. Faster is better.

The next issue to contend with is the backgrounds. Youth sporting events take place in . . .

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You can read the rest or the article at: http://digital-photography-school.com/catching-the-action-photographing-youth-sports#ixzz2C1U0Dj8K. Enjoy!

When composing a picture, most people check that the subject is focused, well exposed, fully framed and interesting to look at.  But something to consider is how the VIEWER is encouraged to read the story in the image you’ve created.

Often, we’ve taken a picture because we’ve seen something we want to bring to people’s attention, but many then leave the viewer to draw their own conclusion about the message.

Look at your image and ask yourself :

• How do I want the viewer’s eye to be drawn through my image?
• What story am I trying to tell?
• What mood am I trying to set?
• Is there a definite journey I want my viewer to take through my image?
• Will the viewer see the main focus of my image?

The way we can accomplish these considerations is by using leading lines.  Leading lines do exactly what they sound like they do – they guide the viewer through your image and help them either come to the conclusion that YOU want them to reach, or bring their attention to the main focus of your image.

Leading lines can be glaringly in-your-face obvious, or so subtle that the viewer doesn’t even know they are being shown the way, but they won’t necessarily be in every picture you take.

Here are a few examples of leading lines and how they can be incorporated into your photography.

Lead lines can intrigue by leading the viewer’s gaze toward a point that they cannot see beyond, causing them to wonder what lies beyond or where it goes.

Getting the viewer to follow a path through your image leads them into and out of the frame, either top to bottom or left to right.

Spirals are one of the most obvious but fun forms of leading lines.

You can lead your viewer in more than one direction!

Leading lines take your viewers where you want them to go. If you enjoyed this article and you would like to read more like this one, consider subscribing to Digital Photography Magazine. It comes out monthly and only costs $9.95 per month for each 15 to 20-page full-color issue. Plus your first issue is free and you get 50% off your second issue.Subscribe Now!