6 steps to configure your camera for optimum macro images
6 steps to configure your camera for optimum macro images | ||
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Choose an appropriate zoom setting (focal length) for your picture. Some digital cameras offer close focusing only at particular focal lengths. That means they focus closely at medium to telephoto settings, but not at the wide-angle setting. So your choices may be limited. Remember that wide-angle settings can add apparent distortion to your image, making things that are closer to the lens appear much larger than they normally look. This effect is most pronounced with close-ups. A normal or short telephoto zoom setting may produce a more natural look. Frame your picture to exclude extraneous subject matter. Get in tight to produce a photo that will require a minimum of enlargement and will be as sharp as possible. Close-up pictures are often an exception to the rule about arranging your subjects off-center. Many good macro photos have the main subject smack in the middle of the frame or evenly distributed throughout the frame. Make sure your camera has been set to close-up or macro mode (usually represented by a flower icon on your status display LCD). Focus very carefully. Some cameras allow switching autofocus to a center-oriented mode. Use that if your subject matter is indeed in the middle of the picture. Switch to manual focus if your camera offers it. You might want to use aperture priority mode, if available, and select the smallest f-stop available to increase the depth-of-field. And keep in mind what you learned about how depth-of-field is arranged: Two-thirds is allocated to the area in front of the plane of sharpest focus, and only one-third is allocated to the area behind it. Check to make sure the back of the camera (where the sensor is located) is parallel to the plane in which your main subject lies. That's the plane you'll be focusing on, and where the maximum amount of sharpness lies. If the camera is tilted in relation to the plane of the main subject, only part of the subject will be in sharp focus. Unless you're shooting for a special effect, you want as much sharpness as you can get. Watch your camera's focus indicator, which may be an LED light near the viewfinder that glows green (or some other color) when the image is in focus. Use your camera's LCD display to evaluate your framing, composition, and focus. The optical viewfinder of your digital camera won't show you exactly what you are going to get and may indeed cut off part of the picture area. | ||