Close-up photography
When you want to get up close and personal with a subject, the tools and techniques covered in this section can help you capture the image you have in mind.
Lighting at close range | Exploring macro photography
Zooming vs. moving
If you want to record the details in a subject that's more than a few feet away, you have two options: You can increase the focal length of the lens, either by using your camera's zoom or by attaching an accessory telephoto lens. Or you can simply move the camera closer to the subject. Which choice you make affects your photo in a few important ways:
- Angle of view: As you increase focal length, you narrow the camera's angle of view. That means that your picture will contain less of the surrounding area than if you position the camera closer to the subject and use a shorter focal length.
- Depth of field: Increasing focal length also decreases depth of field (the range of sharp focus). In the example above, the wood cabinet is much less sharply focused in the zoomed image (left) than in the wide-angle picture. For this subject, the shorter depth of field is helpful because the grain of the wood becomes less distracting.
- Exposure: When you zoom in, the lens transmits less light than when you're zoomed out. So as you change focal length, the camera needs to adjust aperture or shutter speed accordingly to ensure a correct exposure. In autoexposure mode, the camera handles this adjustment for you; in manual mode, you need to make the necessary changes. Keep in mind that enlarging the aperture (selecting a smaller f-stop number) further shortens depth of field. And a slower shutter speed means there's more possibility of handheld camera shake, so you may want to use a tripod.
The left image was shot from a distance of approximately six feet, with the camera zoomed in to the maximum focal length. The right image was shot with the camera zoomed all the way out to the widest-angle setting and moved to within about a foot of the vase. The vase and feathers are roughly the same size in both pictures, but the wide-angle version reveals much more of the surrounding area.
Tip: Turn off "digital zoom"
Check your camera manual to find out how your camera's digital zoom function is triggered. In some cases, the camera shifts to digital zoom automatically when you reach the end of the optical zoom range. With other cameras, the digital zoom comes to life only if you press and hold the zoom lever for a few seconds after reaching the optical zoom limit. Some models enable you to turn off digital zoom capability altogether; We recommend you do so if your camera provides this control. You can always turn the function back on later on the rare chance you need it.
Focusing at close distances
Depending on how close you want to get to your subject, you may need to switch to macro focusing mode. Check your camera manual for the minimum and maximum camera-to-subject distance to use when working in macro mode; this range varies from camera to camera.
The universal symbol for macro mode is a tiny flower
The universal symbol for macro mode is a tiny flower.
Many camera lenses produce the sharpest images at a medium aperture setting. However, depth of field is shorter at a medium aperture than at a small aperture, so the range of the scene that is sharply focused will be more limited. Experiment to find out how different f-stops affect your camera's focusing abilities.
What appears to be faulty focus in an image may actually be a camera movement problem. Any camera shake will register as a slight blur that will be especially noticeable in close-up shots. Use a tripod and snap the picture using the camera's self-timer mechanism to be sure that the camera is absolutely still during the exposure.
Previewing your shots
When shooting close-ups, always check your framing in the camera's monitor instead of the viewfinder. The monitor more accurately represents what the camera lens sees. On most point-and-shoot cameras, the lens and the viewfinder operate independently, and the viewfinder has a slightly different angle on the scene than the lens. This disparity, known as parallax error, increases as you move closer to your subject. If you use very tight framing and compose the shot using the viewfinder, your image may not capture the entire subject.
Lighting at close range
Getting enough light on your subject can be a special challenge in close-up photography. Here are a few tricks that can help:
- Try to position the camera so that the light source is in front of you. Otherwise, the camera may throw a shadow on the subject or block the light, or both.
- Using a built-in flash probably won't produce good results. At close range, a built-in flash typically blasts one part of the subject with too much light, as shown in the photo below. If your camera offers a flash exposure compensation (EV) control, however, you may be able to use your built-in flash successfully. Flash EV enables you to reduce or increase flash output. Of course, you may need to increase exposure time (by reducing shutter speed) or open the aperture (by selecting a lower f-stop number) to account for lower flash output.
At full power, the camera's built-in flash lit the upper-right corner of the image much too strongly (left).
By lowering the flash EV to -2.0, the built-in flash worked successfully.
Exploring macro photography
As mentioned earlier in this chapter, many digital cameras offer a macro focusing mode. But whether or not you're really getting macro capabilities depends on the camera. Traditionally, the term macro was reserved for a lens that could render an image at life size on a 35mm negative. Camera manufacturers are a little sloppy about using the term, though, so your lens may not actually fit that precise definition.
Bottom line: Unless you have a need for extremely detailed close-ups of small objects, the macro mode on your digital camera will likely serve you just fine. Remember that if you're working with a high-resolution digital camera, you can always enlarge the printed image to reveal as much detail as you like.
Content adapted from Shoot Like a Pro!: Digital Photography Techniques, McGraw-Hill Publishing, and used with permission: CNET Networks © 2007, and McGraw-Hill © 2007.
Like this article? Click below to send it to your mobile for free!
Be the first to comment on this article!