Macro photography

Macro photography is very close up photography often getting details and images that are not possible any other way. This is a type of photography that intrigues me and I am trying to learn to do better. I love working with macro and while I am not that great at it I am getting better with it as I learn how to see the images and work with the lens.

My macro lens was the lens I bought as soon as I could afford it after buying my camera. I have the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro. I would have loved to have bought the 100mm f/2.8L but that was not in the budget and I was told by several photographers who do wonderful macro work that the lens I bought was terrific. I have to agree that it is a very sharp lens.

Here is an early attempt with the macro lens. Chocolate Covered Cherry, the setting were iso 800, f/4.0, 1/12sec

 While I like the photo I can see how I could have improved it. My iso was was too high, my f stop way too low, I should have positioned my lighting better and a slightly different angle would have made it more interesting.

As I have played with the macro lens outside as well as inside. Here is a dandelion puff that I took in my yard. The settings for this photograph were iso200, f/11, 1/40sec

In this photograph I like how you can sense the silkiness of the dandelion puff while seeing the detail of the puff, but the problem with this is the background. I should have been in a different angle. The green/white line is very distracting. While I would have loved to try again shooting the dandelion puff I was not able to because we did not have more in our yard or many of the normal places this year because of the weather.

I played with the very close up as well. This is a circuit board that we had lying around the house. The settings for this photo was iso200, f/5.6, 1/32sec

This photo does show an improvement in my ability to handle the lens and is better that the others there are still a couple of things I would change. I would use a more indirect but even lighting maybe even a back lighting at the same time. I think that this would bring out the colors of capacitors. I love the intricacy of circuit boards. They are often tiny works of art but there is something about this photo that is sterile and a bit boring to me.


This last one is a rose that was part of a bouquet that my husband gave me. The setting for this photo are iso200, f/11, 1/6sec

One of my recent ones was an experimental one because I was playing with my reflector and using a desk lamp for the light source. I am please with the depth of field, the color, the shadows and the background. To allow me to control the camera and lighting easier I used my cable release for my shutter. On this photo I sprayed the rose to create more texture but I think I went a bit overboard with the spray. I do think I need more practice.

I decided to try again with the rose, a couple of days later, only this time be a bit further away and use only one drop of water. The setting for this rose are iso200, f/11, 1.0sec

I like the drop falling off but think that even thought I also was trying to diffuse the lighting a bit the shadows are a bit harsh but I still like this photo.


As you can see there is a definite improvement with each photo but there is still lots of room of improvement and experimentation in my adventures in Macro photography.