June
Newsletter
Greetings from
Porter's Camera Store!
Whether you shoot with a 35mm SLR, a digital camera or video, the world of close-up photography yields fascinating results. Casual snapshooters seldom take close-up shots, so adding a few well-executed close-up shots your photo collection will catch plenty of attention when viewed by others.
What
To Shoot?
There are no limits. Nature subjects such as flowers, leaves
and rocks are very popular objects to photograph, since capturing the
colors, shapes and textures is an interesting challenge. Look also for
close-up details of commonplace objects. They can be good "what is this?"
puzzles for the viewer.
What
Equipment Do I Need?
It depends on what type of camera you will be using. 35mm point
& shoot cameras are limited to the closest they can focus, so most are not
well-suited for this type of photography. A 35mm SLR camera is a natural choice
for close-up shooting, since the viewfinder gives you an accurate preview
of focus and cropping. A set of filter-like close-up lenses enables the prime
lens to focus much closer. Each lens attachment in the set is a different
strength, so select the one from the set to cover the corresponding distance
range. If you intend to do quite a bit of close-up photography, consider getting
a fixed focal length macro lens. This type of lens is designed for close-up
shooting and will focus continuously from infinity down to a few inches.
Digital and video cameras often have outstanding close-up capability. Their lenses are much shorter in focal length than 35mm cameras, providing good close-focusing ability and plenty of depth of field. LCD viewfinders and monitors give you a great preview of the subject. With some, switch the camera into a special close-up mode to shift the lens into the correct focusing range.
Lighting
Tips and Techniques
Good lighting, whether sunlight or artificial, is the key
to successful results. Take several shots, moving the camera position
between shots, to try different lighting angles. If you're shooting a
flower or some other translucent object, take some pictures with natural
light coming from the side and some with the light coming from behind
the flower. The side- and back-lighting will make the colors glow and
add more dimension to the photo than with frontal lighting. Be sure to
use a lens hood to keep the lighting from causing lens flare that will
degrade the image.
The quality of light is also important. Cloudy and partly cloudy days are often better for close-ups outdoors, since the lighting is much less harsh than on a bright sunny day. Ideally, the lighting should have enough contrast to cast a shadow, but the shadow should have some detail in it and not be solid black. The strong lighting of full sunlight can be very effective as a sidelight to bring out texture and form of opaque objects such as weathered wood and metal. Care must be taken to keep important details from washing out in the highlights.
Reflector panels are a great way to easily modify the quality and quantity of light. Holding a reflector to one side lets you add fill light, reflect light into shadow areas, or block light from the background to darken it. They can be as simple as cardboard or foamcore sheets, maybe 8x10 inches to 16x20 inches in size, or pop-out fabric reflectors in translucent, silver or gold colors. With your camera mounted on a tripod and using a cable release or remote control cord, move the reflector around until you get the effect you want, then take the picture.