SLR Photography Guide

Introduction to shooting macro’s or closeups with a telephoto lens

While not all photographers own a real macro lens, most do have a telephoto lens. By telephoto lens, I am referring to one has a 200 or 300mm focal lenth. Hard core macro photographers often refer to these types of shots as being closeups and not true macro’s. However, it’s hard to argue with the fact that telephoto lenses definately do a great job in photographing objects at close range.

Quick tips for photographing macro’s with a telephoto lens

• Use a firm tripod whenever possible. This is an important tip for all telephoto photography. The more you have your lens zoomed out (longer the focal length eg. 200mm) the more prone your shots are to camera shake.
• Using a remote release will also help with camera shake, which is often one of the main causes for unsharp results. For the same reason, look in your camera manual for a setting called mirror lockup.
• Choose to photograph your subject against an uncluttered background, so the main focus is on the subject. In other words, simplicity is the key.
• If you can’t choose an uncluttered background, ensure it’s positioned a long distance away from the subject you are photographing. Next, zoom the lens all the way out (eg. 200mm) and take the shot as close to the subject as you can physically stand, yet still be able to focus properly. This will result in a nicely blurred background like the photograph of the dragonfly seen at the top of this post.

Telephoto macro tips from nature photographer Peter Madeley

Nature photographer Peter Madeley, shares with us some of his tips for photographing macro’s with a telephoto lens. In this video below, Peter talks about what camera settings and shutter speeds you should be implementing when using a telephoto lens for macro photography. He also discusses the importance of mirror lockup and other alternatives if your camera doesn’t have this option. Towards the end of the demonstration, he shows by example, how light reflectors can be used for macro to obtain a controlled photo shoot.

To watch the video tutorial above, press the go arrow

Baby photography tips

Professional photographer and mom Tracey Clark, shows you how to create treasured baby photo’s you’ll want to keep and show off to all your friends and family. Her top tips for photographing babies include:

• Take lots of photographs. More than you normally would in any other photo shoot. This gives you a greater chance of getting that perfect shot.
• Don’t do it all yourself. Have someone help you entertain your baby, while you concentrate on taking the photographs. This will minimise your chances of missing that smile or cute facial expression.
• Use your camera’s burst mode (also called continuous mode) so you can fire off numerous shots in quick succession.
• Choosing the right light is important to create softer shades and all round tones on the babies skin. Early morning, late evening, or shady area’s of the house and yard is good for baby photography. This will also ensure you don’t have lots of shots of your baby squinting. Also, turn off that flash and use natural light where possible to stop colors and facial features from looking washed out.
• As with all photography, you should try avoiding distracting background elements like toys. After all, your baby should be the main centre of attention, not that bright teddybear in the background. You can create a neutral background with the use of pillows or blankets placed around your baby. The video demonstration further down this page will show you how to do this.
• Choosing the right time when your baby is happy and smiling is also important. For example, just after a feed is a good time for baby photography, as is nap time. Some of the cutest photo’s can be taken when your baby is sleeping.
• Be creative. Often some of the best shots are imperfect. For example, photographing only their small feet, or part of the face, can be just as memorable than a full portrait style shot. You can see some fantastic examples of creative baby photographs over at Tracey’s website.
• Above all else, make it fun for both baby and mother. Know when enough is enough.

The tips shown in the demonstration below, explains the best time of day for taking perfect baby photo’s, the right lighting, as well as how to create neutral backgrounds for taking great portrait photos.

To start watching the video, press the go arrow

How to photograph sunrises

Photographer and author Rick Sammon shares with you his best advice including 8 tips for photographing the perfect sunrise.

1. Know where the sun rises before you go out taking photographs. Once the sun starts to rise, you won’t want to waist any time repositioning your camera gear.
2. Know what time the sun is expected to rise in your particular area. Buying a copy of the local newspaper will tell you this.
3. Use a tripod, because you will need to set slow shutter speeds due to low light conditions. For example, 1/8th of a second or slower depending on the available light.
4. Underexposing your shot will result in richer, deeper colors and shades of reds, oranges and yellows.
5. If you want a small sun in your composition, use a wide angle lens. If you want a larger sun seen within your composition then use a telephoto zoom lens.
6. For composition purposes, don’t place the sun dead centre in the frame. Try and imagine a grid over your composition, like the one shown in the image below. If you always ensure the sun’s position is over one of the overlapping areas, you’ll come out a winner every time.
   
   
7. Like any landscape, don’t place the horizon dead centre of the frame either. If there is a lot of color and light in the sky, then make sure that area takes up the top 2/3’s of your composition. On the otherhand, if there is a lot of color or reflection in the foreground, then compose your shot so the foreground takes up the bottom 2/3’s of the shot. You can view examples of both of these compositions in the video below.
8. Take off all filters when photograhing towards the sun. Otherwise you will end up with a ghost image of the sun, which will ruin any sunrise photograph. It’s also important to remember that a polarising filter is only useful in creating a more colorful sky when the sun is to the right or left of your position. Therefore, in the majority of cases, polarising filters should also be removed for sunrise photography.

In the video below, Rick Sammon explains all these tips for photographing sunrises in more detail.

To watch this photography tutorial, press the go arrow.

What is the best time of the day for macro insect photography

I recently read in a photography magazine that one of the best times of the day for insect photography is early morning, before the dew dries out. This weekend I decided to get up at the break of dawn and put this theory to the test. As it turned out, early morning photo shoots certainly do put a new twist on macro insect photography.

There two main advantages of taking macro photographs early in the morning before the sun comes up:

• Lighting early in the morning is more colorful and less harsh than mid morning. With no sunshine to dull the colors, early morning macro’s look brighter and bolder.
• Insects can’t fly when their wings are covered with dew drops and they havn’t yet dried out. This also give you an opportunity as a macro photographer to show the viewer a part of nature that otherwise goes un-noticed. It doesn’t take long to realise why the early bird gets the worm, so to speak.

Note: You can click the insect macro’s below to see them in larger size

The insect macro shown above was photographed from above the dragonfly, looking down. As you can see by the dew drops on its wings, it wasn’t going anywhere too soon. As a macro photographer, this gave me sufficient time to get a good shot.

The photograph shown below is the same insect, shot at a different angle.

Now for one of my personal favorites, a damselfly covered in dew drops. The black background was created with the use of a Twin Lite MT-24EX flash.

Other times that are good for insect photography:

• I’ve found after a storm is also a good time for shooting macro’s of insects. Like most animals, they come out to play after a rainshower. Like early morning, many are also covered with water drops and can’t fly too well until they dry out.
• You’ll also find plenty of insects in the late afternoon and on cloudy days, where the lighting is perfect for really colorful shots.

In contrast, the worst time of the day for this style of macro photography seems to be hot sunny daylight hours, say between 10.30am and 3.30pm. Of course every insect is different, so it’s best to do your research.

Post production tips for macro photographers who edit their images with Photoshop

One question I’m asked on a weekly basis is: What editing or post production work do you make on your macro photographs?

While most of these types of questions come from those who use the same camera and macro lens as I own, the post production tips listed below will assist all macro photographers who edit their images with Photoshop.

It’s also important to note, that no amount of post production work is going to improve a bad photograph. Personally, a good macro photo consists of 50% photo taking and 50% post production editing. However, as I said, you do need a sharply detailed image to start with.

How to edit macro photographs using Photoshop software

1. The first editing I do to macro photographs is to crop them tightly. Not every viewer will look at the larger image (even when you supply a link), so it’s best to tightly crop the image so the details are clearly seen by a thumbnail. This also presumes the viewer prefers to see detail that isn’t normally seen by the naked eye. Which of course, is the true beauty of macro photography.

Take the two images below for example, the first shows the original photograph (resized for display purposes), while the second photograph is a cropped version showing the finest detail.

2. After cropping the macro photograph, I might resize the image, depending on how I am intending on using it. For example, if the plan is to display the image on a website, I’ll resize to no larger than 1024 width so it doesn’t take too long to download in the viewers browser. For printing purposes, I don’t normally resize.

3. Next I sharpen the image by implementing a mixture of Photoshop’s Lab color mode and the unsharp mask. I won’t go through the steps here as we already have a tutorial for this called: How to sharpen photographs in Photoshop.

This method not only sharpens, but in many cases also increases the color of the photograph.

4. After sharpening, I’ll continue on to the Shadows and Highlights adjustment tool. Once again, we already have a Photoshop tutorial for this: How to use Photoshop adjustment tool?

You will find this adjustment tool increases the detail seen within either (or both) the shadows and highlight area’s of your photograph.

5. Lastly, I use Photoshop S curves to add or reduce contrast. The S curve tool allows you to highlight the parts that are important and darken those that are not. The S curve also seems to make the colors within the photograph appear brighter and bolder. You can find a tutorial on S curves at: How to use Photoshop S curves?

Learning a few post production techniques can help improve your macro images ten fold. The steps shown above will result in more colorful and sharper macro photographs, that contain more detail than you’d otherwise have seen in the original image.