CalevPhoto

How to get started in macro photography

Macro photography is unique from other types of photography in that equipment does make a serious difference. With landscape and people photography a wide variety of lenses can be useful. While certain lenses are obviously better than others, the truth is a top notch photographer can create interesting pictures with even substandard lenses. This is not the case for macro photography. The simple fact is macro photography requires specific equipment in order to be successful.

Macro photography equipment falls into two categories.

1. Optics – most people realize this. Standard lenses simply cannot take macro pictures. You need either a macro lens or an adapter for an existing lens. I will discuss this in more detail shortly.
2. Lighting – most people do not realize that proper lighting is vitally important for many types of macro shots. I will discuss when lighting is necessary and what types of lighting are available shortly.

Before I get into the different types of equipment you can buy, I need to mention what is meant by 1:1 when discussing macro photography. Basically, when you take a picture at 1:1, this means that your photograph fills the space equal to the size of your sensor. So, if you have a Canon 5D camera with a 35mm sensor, a 35mm object will fill the entire frame when taking a picture at 1:1. At 1:2, a 70mm object will fill the entire frame and at 2:1 a 17.5mm object will fill the entire frame. When people speak about macro photography, they generally mean photography close to or exceeding 1:1.

The first thing you will need to do is purchase the optics that enable you to take macro shots. There are two choices you have – either buy a macro lens or buy an adapter for an existing lens. If you are not sure how much you will get into macro photography, the latter is probably where you will want to start. There are two types of adapters that you can purchase.

1. Extension tubes – basically extension tubes are hollow tubes that increase the distance between the front lens element and the back of the camera. To determine the magnification using extension tubes, divide the length of the lens by the length of the extension tubes and add the original magnification of the lens (available in the specifications of the lens). So, if you have a 50mm lens that by default has .25x magnification (1:4) and you add 25mm of extension, the final magnification will be .75x. (25/50) + .25 = .75. From this information it is evident that extension tubes work best on short lenses. In order to achieve 1:1 magnification with a 400mm lens you would need almost 400mm of extension! Extension tubes are rather inexpensive and I recommend those made by Kenko. The set comes with 12mm, 20mm, and 36mm extension tubes and costs only $169.
2. Diopters – basically these look like a thick filter that is placed at the end of the lens. The formula for determining the resulting magnification is complicated and depends on the inner optics of the lens, but in general diopters work best on long lenses. Using a diopter you can achieve close to 1x magnification on a 300mm or a 400mm lens. Some photographers do not like diopters as much as extension tubes though because there is a loss of optical quality, as you are adding optical elements. An ideal diopter to purchase is the Canon 500D. Although it is made by Canon, it will work with all SLRs – including Nikon. The price of the 500D depends on the size you need but a 77mm 500D costs about $140.

   This picture of a spider was taken with the Canon 500D on a Sigma 80-400mm lens on the Canon 5D.

   Tomorrow I will continue this discussion with information about macro lenses.

Related posts:

1. Canon 500D or Macro Lens On a recent post I received a question over how the Canon 500D diopter compares with a true macro lens.  When I first bought my camera, I knew I wanted to do macro but I didn’t have the money for a true macro lens.  I wound up purchasing the Sigma...
2. Macro photography lenses In my last post, I started discussing what is necessary to get started in macro photography. I started with the basics – extension tubes and diopters. Eventually though, once you get sufficiently addicted to macro photography you will want to buy a macro lens. So which macro lens should you...
3. Macro photography lighting Of all the equipment necessary for macro photography, it seems like lighting is the most controversial. I think lighting in general is considered an “unnecessary evil” by many photographers. After all, few photographers would argue about putting down the money for a good 70-200 or 24-70 2.8 lens (assuming they...
4. Macro Photography The following are helpful links to different aspects of macro photography. Equipment Canon 500D or Macro Lens The 180L vs MP-E 65 Sharpness Test Playing around with macro lights Fun with the new 180L + MT-24EX and stink bugs Canon 180mm 3.5L macro first look L-plates, camera plates, and lens...
5. Playing around with macro lights This weekend, while putting together a presentation on macro photography that I will do for the photography group at my work, I played around a bit with macro flash arrangements.  Macro lighting is often not considered by many beginning macro photographers - who spend the time working on whether to...

Tags: beginner, equipment, macro, photograph