Six Easy Ways To Improve Your Macro Photography

During the summer months, I like to put down my telephoto lens from time to time and focus on shooting with a macro lens. With so many possibilities in macro photography, one doesn’t have to travel far to find a subject. I prefer to focus my macro efforts on insects as they are prevalent anywhere I go and are fairly simple to shoot provided I follow a few easy steps. 

1. Get Close

When shooting with a macro lens my goal is to capture as much detail as possible. Like any other any lens, the closer you get to your subject the more detail you will capture. Macro lenses are designed with a much shorter minimum focusing distance than other lenses which allows the photographer to get incredibly close. The lens I shoot with will focus at 7.87″ allowing me to get close enough to fill the frame with even the smallest insects capturing incredible detail. 

2. Lower Your ISO

In my previous posts and during my workshops, I encourage photographers to increase their ISO when photographing wildlife. This is because in most situations when trying to capture images of birds and other fast moving subjects a higher ISO results in and a faster shutter speed, thus sharper final images.

In macro photography, the majority of subjects including flowers and insects are either stationary or slower moving and therefore I can get away with a much slower shutter speed. In most cases, I find a shutter speed of 1/250 to 1/500 plenty fast enough to freeze the action of bees and other small insects as they crawl about gathering pollen and nectar. Depending on the amount of available light I generally shoot at ISO 400 or less which results in a sufficient shutter speed while leaving less noise in my final images. 

3. Carefully Select Your Aperture

Depth of field is where I really struggled when I first picked up a macro lens. My subject was always out of focus due to choosing too wide an aperture. Ultimately, depth comes down to personal preference and capturing the image how you want it to appear. For me, when shooting wildlife I like the entire subject in focus from nose to tail whenever possible. There are two ways to control depth of field. The first is by changing your physical distance from the subject and the second is by adjusting your aperture (also known as f-stop). When I am photographing insects with my macro lens I want to capture as much detail as possible and typically shoot between f/8 and f/11 even when I am at my minimum focusing distance of 7.87″. This ensures the entire insect is sharp and in focus capturing the most detail, which is the look I am trying to achieve.

When photographing flowers or something more abstract, perhaps a more blurred foreground, background or even subject would be more appealing. In these cases selecting a wider aperture of maybe f/4 or f2.8 (remember smaller f-stop equals wider aperture) will achieve a more interesting image. The nice thing about photographing flowers and other stationary subjects is they aren’t going anywhere so take plenty of images at a range of apertures and see which one you like best.    

4. Think About Your Composition

Composition is one of the most important elements of photography as this is what draws our eyes to and through a photo. Spending a few minutes before pressing the shutter and imagining how you want the image to appear is very important. Composition really can make or break an image so take the time to line up your shot. Just like any other genre of photography following the rule of thirds applies to macro work. If you are not familiar with the rule of thirds, simply imagine a grid similar to a tic-tac-toe board over top of your image. Try lining vertical subjects up with the vertical grid lines and horizontal subjects up with the horizontal lines. Ideally, you will place your subject where these imaginary lines intersect and in the case of wildlife, the subject should be looking across the frame. Many cameras allow you to turn this grid feature on displaying it on the LCD screen while shooting in live view to assist with composition.

5. Shoot At Eye Level 

Often times insects and flowers can be low to the ground. It is important to kneel down or crouch in order to photograph the subject at eye level. In most cases, an eye-level view will result in a much more appealing image than something shot from below or above. That being said, don’t be afraid to get creative. Sometimes the underside of a flower or bee with a blurred out expansive background can look pretty cool. I always wear clothes that I don’t care if they get dirty whenever I am out with my camera as I regularly find myself kneeling in dirt or laying on my stomach in order to get the best angle.    

6. Check Your Histogram 

This applies regardless of what you are photographing in order to achieve the proper exposure. On sunny days, flowers and insects will almost reflect the light which results in highlights being overexposed and a significant loss of detail. This lack of detail negatively impacts the final image. I get asked all the time “can’t I just fix that in photoshop?” In my opinion, “fix” is not the correct word to use in this situation. You can certainly change this by moving the highlight slider in post-production in an attempt to recover detail, but this will not result in the same capture of detail as checking your histogram and making the required adjustments in camera.

By shooting in aperture priority mode exposure compensation can easily be adjusted by a few clicks of the camera’s dial resulting in proper exposure and preserved detail. I personally don’t mind taking macro shots during the midday sun and typically shoot between -1/3 and -2/3 of exposure compensation to control the highlights and preserve detail. Watching for shadows is paramount to ensure the subject is well lit. Often waiting just a few seconds for the light to change or the subject to move, even only a few centimeters, can make all the difference in the world. 

My lens of choice for macro photography is the Canon EFS 60 mm F/2.8 Macro USM. This lens is incredibly sharp and focusses almost instantly. The lack of image stabilization is not an issue for me and all of my macro images are shot handheld. If you are a Canon shooter and considering a macro lens, I would definitely check this one out. Just remember this lens is an
EF-S mount and only works on crop sensor bodies and not on Canon’s full-frame cameras.

I cannot say enough good things about this lens including the price point. Canon’s next model up in their macro series comes in at $300 more while their L series professional lens is double the price making this a great macro lens at a more affordable price. The focal length and wide aperture of this lens also make it a great portrait lens providing more bang for your buck; however, I won’t bore you with family photos in this post.

If you enjoy macro photography but are not seeing the results you had hoped for, give these 6 easy steps a try. A few simple adjustments are often all it takes to capture the image of your dreams. 

Good birding,
Paul