Close up versus macro photography | The definitions
Close up versus macro photography | The definitions | ||
|
Different authors and manufacturers use the terms close-up photography and macro photography in different ways, often meaning different things, and it is important that they are clarified right at the start. Close-up photography is usually applied to any situation where the subject is closer than 'normal'—in other words, a rather vague and meaningless term. To a wildlife photographer, being within 15 feet of a hungry crocodile is close up! In general, close-up photography describes when the subject is reproduced at around one-tenth of life size or greater on the image sensor in the camera. The term macro photography has a more tightly defined definition, generally being used for photography where the subject is reproduced at a magnification of life size or greater. Magnifications up to around 4× or 5× are relatively easy with digital single-lens reflex cameras (SLRs) equipped with appropriate lenses and accessories. Beyond that, it may be necessary to use special optical bench assemblies and microscopes. Micro is another related term worth mentioning. The term is applied to photographs taken with the aid of a microscope, strictly known as photomicroscopy. Micro photography, on the other hand, is the photography of large subjects and then making them into very small images such as micro dots, or the photography of, for example, large circuit boards and then making them small integrated circuits. (An old way of quantifying micro photography was to use the scale of 'Bibles per square inch': How many complete Bibles could be imaged onto one square inch of film!) Rather confusingly, Nikon calls their range of macro lenses Micro-Nikkors. | ||