Beginners Guide to Macrophotography

Have you ever tried using macro shooting in a photo contest or in your everyday photography? Macro shooting is like over zooming the camera on one particular subject and take the a picture of it. Its an amazing view and you can clearly see every small detail up close. Macro shooting is very effective on photo contest, I have seen many portraits that bag first place using this technique.

To produce great photos for picture contests, most professionals make use of expensive cameras with numerous lenses. Not all of us can afford such equipments so I have this bunch of tips to make great macro photos with regular compact digital cameras even if you’re not a pro.

Activate Macro Mode

First, we have to activate the macro mode of the camera. We do this by pressing the flower icon on the back of it. While on macro mode, you will notice you can zoom in approximately 1 to 1.5 feet away from the subject compared to normal mode that focuses about 3 feet away.

Imagination

Now its time to use your imagination and start shooting really small objects like insects, rings, clockwork gears, flowers, spider web and so on. Using macro shooting for picture contests can be limited only by the photographer’s imagination. So, go get creative and look for other unique subjects, even things lying around the house could be used as subjects.

Extra Batteries

If you’re planning to go for an all out macro shot, bring some extra batteries because you will be using the LCD screen more this time and it really consume a lot of power. The LCD is one of the important camera tools used in macrophotography. In photo competition, the photographer can get closer to the subject using the LCD screen while checking if the photo needs a retake.

Camera Control

Making use of marco in photography contests require a steady camera hand. Even the slightest movement will result to another take because the camera is zoomed for the close up. Tripods can be handy but not most of time since you are exploring the world of small things and the locations of the subject sometimes hinder the use of it. The best thing to do is by practicing your camera hand and utilizing high shutter speed for better results.

Parallax

When using compact-style camera with an optical viewfinder, beware of problems with parallax – an effect caused when the viewfinder is offset from the lens. In photo competitions, the closer you get to your subject, the harder the you see it in the viewfinder. So although you think you have a perfect composition, most of the images are altered due to the camera lens offset.

Lighting

Lighting could also be a problem on macrophotography especially when you use a flash. You need perfect lighting in photography contests, to achieve this we compensate the lack of light with a flash but in some cases they can also provide too much brightness when the subject is close to the camera. To get around this, place external flashes further away from the subject. Another solution is by using light reflector.