CalevPhoto

Tips for focusing in macro

One of the single biggest problems new macro photographers have is the issue of focusing.  This is particularly evident in insect shots, where most of them are a bit out of focus.  In this post, I will provide some tips for focusing.

First, if you are using autofocus at all when shooting macro, turn it off.  In macro, when you change the focus using the focus ring, you are actually changing the magnification.  Generally, you care what the magnification is on a given shot. The camera, on the other hand, has no idea. Therefore, do not let the camera do this for you.  Set the magnification yourself (most macro lenses have it printed on the barrel) and focus by moving towards and away from the subject.

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Introduction to Microstock Photography – Other Reasons for Rejection

In my previous post I started to discuss what types of things will result in a rejection.  I started with copyrights and in this post I will cover noise and focus.  Many of these will affect how you take the picture in the first place and in theory should improve the quality of your photographs.

I will start with a discussion of noise.  What is noise? Noise are those little out of color specs that you see in an image.  It is most common in pictures with a high ISO and an underexposed image.  All microstock sites are uniform in their hatred of noise.  While in some print and display formats (such as video) noise is sometimes desired, in stock photography it is universally despised.  All images must be free of noise.  The easiest way to avoid noise is to not take the picture with noise in the first place.

Read on for how to do this as well as avoid other common rejection reasons.

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