RadioShack Learning Center: Digital Photography: Take Great Close-Up Photos

Overview

This article will get you started on how to discover a new world in your surroundings by using just a close-up lens and a tripod.

Digital Photography: Take Great Close-Up Photos

The world of close-up photography is as close as your garden or neighborhood park. Using only a close-up lens and a tripod, you can experience many hours of photographic enjoyment and lots of great mementos.

The close-up auxiliary lens enables you to take sharp photos of small objects, as close as one inch or less from the camera. Tiny insects, pebbles, stamps, or many other photographic subjects can fill the field of view. Using a tripod, you can carefully position your shot to minimize distractions from objects in the background and avoid factors such as wind on your subject.

Take the time to carefully observe your LCD screen or TTL viewfinder so your shot is properly composed. Use aperture-preferred auto exposure to control your depth of field. This way you ensure that the parts of the subject you really want sharp are sharp while keeping the focus off of distracting background items.

Depth of field refers to the range of distance in which subjects are rendered in sharp focus. The depth of field varies according to the focal length of the lens, aperture, and distance of the subject from the lens. You can control the depth of field by selecting an appropriate aperture; large apertures (small f-numbers such as f/4) produce small depth of field while small apertures (large f-numbers such as f/11) produce larger depth of field. Some more expensive cameras are equipped with depth of field preview options that stop the lens down to the aperture you have set and enable you to see what will be sharp by means of a through-the-lens viewfinder.

Don't use your optical viewfinder to frame a close-up shot. At close distances, the viewfinder suffers from parallax -- it produces a different view compared to the lens -- and you'll cut off part of your subject when you using such a viewfinder.

Pick an early morning or hazy day for best results and avoid direct sunlight. When you have a good subject and the proper conditions, your effort will pay off in a pleasing photo.

Flowers aren't your only available close-up garden subjects. There are countless butterflies, birds, frogs, and other insects living in every garden just waiting to be photographed. For easy access, go out to any garden early in the morning while it's still cool and these subjects are not yet moving very much. You may even have the time to set up your tripod and adjust your composition carefully to achieve a winning result. Fungi, rocks, and minerals are more subjects in the outside world inviting your camera for close-up shots.

Close-up photography doesn't have to end with the garden. You can combine photography with other hobbies such as coin or stamp collecting. Scale models, jewelry, and all sorts of miniature objects are around. Use your imagination, look around, and you'll be amazed at what you can capture.