This is a really interesting area of photography and can produce some very artistic and abstract images. These images can often leave people guessing the nature of the original item.
Although macro, close-up, and copy photography all overlap, they are definitely different art forms.
Macro photography focuses on the smallest scale. Macro pictures often highlight small insects, drops of water, or details of plants. There are special lenses designed specifically for macro photography. These lenses, like most other lenses can be expensive.
Macro lenses allow the photographer to focus at a closer distance than a regular lens. Where a regular lens may have a closest focusing distance of 3ft a macro lens may let the photographer get within 6 inches of a subject. Macro lenses also will attempt to minimize distortion at the edges of the photograph.
Macro photographs can also be achieved by using extension tubes. These tubes will attach to the camera between the camera and the lens. The extension tubes will give a multiplication factor or zoom factor to the lens itself, for example 1.4. Some tubes will still allow the lens to auto-focus. With some tubes you will need to still manually focus. These tubes will not produce the same quality photograph of the lens but will produce a better quality image than the close up filters.
Close-up is a scale a bit larger than macro. Close-up images can be captured with a macro lens, or close-up filters can be purchased. These filters will screw into the front of a regular lens. These filters will come in different magnification factors like: +1, +2,+4....+10. Filters will be much more affordable then the macro lens or extension tubes but will not produce the same level of quality. Filters also may start to show distortions at the edge of a photograph where the macro lens will not. When the filter is attached to the lens, the lens most often must be manually focused.
Copy photography is used to capture flat works of art like a map or a painting. A higher quality macro lens should be used to avoid any distortion.
Macro, Close-Up, and Copy Photography is a very specialized art form and can produce some fantastic images.
Today's takeaway's:
1) Spend extra time ensuring the image is focused correctly. Any focus error will be magnified at this level of detail.
2) A tripod is a must. In order to focus on such a small detailed area it will be necessary to stabilize the camera.
3) Bring extra back-drops in addition to black and white. Fabrics, like the gold metallic above can be great back-drops for jewelery and other small items.
4) Focusing on the small details can bring an interesting perspective to an item.
5) Have fun!
Happy Photographing!
Here are a couple favorites close-up images from the studio session (all of the items below are less than 3 inches):
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