Spring is the time to take Macro Shots.  Learn the details here:

Macro photography is a whole new world of photography.  An exciting new world of photography that is one part of photography, that once it is experienced, it will result in a special new thrill and probably a whole new hobby or profession to get involved in.  The first time I took a macro shot of a flower, enlarged it a bit, where I could see detail, I was shocked at what I found.  The naked eye does not see all this detail that your macro lens sees, when you get this close.  It is an exciting whole new adventure, and it brings you, literally into a new world.

I am going to go over just two methods of how to get this kind of photos for your macro or micro photography.  The first and least expensive way to get good closeup photos is by the means of close-up lenses, or filters:

Close-up filters just screw on your existing lenses.  Check out the front of your lens, and see what size your lens cap is, and order this whole set.  You should already have a protective filter on your lens, so it should tell you what size filter to order.  You can screw it right on top of the protective filter.  You can use these filters in almost any combination.  The bigger the number the larger the magnification.  So a +10 will give you the closest photo.  If you are using a number 2, but, a number 4 is too close, then you can put a 1 and a 2 together to get you a 3.  I have also seen someone use a 4 and a 2 together to get a 6, because a number 10 was too strong.  So, use these in any combination.  But, these work really well.  Are they sharp enough?  That is what I want to mention as well.  There are cheap ones out there, so buy a reputable brand name of these filters.  If you don’t recognize the brand name, or you buy all 4 of these for $10, then you are not going to get good results.  I just can’t see putting a $2 piece of glass on your $100 lens and expect to get good results.

 

And now that Spring is just around the corner, this is the time to get the most from all the spring flowers that are coming out now:

 

 

 

 

The other  most popular item used to take macro shots is, of course the Macro lens.  The nice thing about the macro lens is that you can use it just like a regular lens, plus it just allows you to focus closer than a normal lens would.  It is just designed to do close up photos. Many camera manufactures make several different styles of macro lenses.  Nikon, Sony, Canon, Pentax, Olympus, Leica, Etc, all have a nice variety of different macro lenses.   Today, I am going to just show the line-up of Canon lenses to show you the variety of macro lenses they make.

 

 

Each one of these lenses will allow you to get extremely close to the subject.  I mean real close.  I was amazed how close.  Literally within inches of the subject.  So, why would they make 3 different ones?  The bigger the lens, say the 135mm telephoto macro, will allow you to get pretty much the same image as the 50mm macro, but, you just will be able to do it from a greater distance from the subject.  The advantage would be:  If I was a photographer taking pictures of a butterfly, and I was trying to take a photo of the butterfly real close, and if the only lens I had was the 50mm macro, I would find in order to fill the frame, I would have to get within 3 inches of the butterfly.  I would scare that butterfly away.  But, with the 135mm macro, I could get the same photo, but, I would be almost 2 feet away or more to get the same photo, and I would not scare the butterfly away.  So, if I want to take photos of butterflies, the bigger lens would be the one I want.

One more piece of equipment you will probably need in taking macro photos:

 

Some kind of sturdy tripod will be needed to do macro photography.  As you get down to do close up photography, you will find that the slightest movement will be exaggerated either by you or the wind.  If you have wind problems, you may need to resort to using a flash to stop action.  Yes, a flash.  A flash and an aperture of 5.6, or F8 so that you get the whole flower in focus.  It will work, using your flash outside in daylight.

Here are a few more remarkable macro photos for your enjoyment:

 

 

 

 

 

Article written by:  Lanny Cottrell for 123PhotoGo.

Photos collected from Bing Photos, and also Canon Cameras.