Macro, Micro and Close Up Photography - Are They All the Same?

Photo by Home Photography

Story by Shereena Vysakh

Macro simply means big, micro means small now are they both the same thing ? In fact yes the two words point to the same realm of photography. Even close up photography is the same thing. That is getting small things to fill up the whole photograph. Now the scale of working is what differentiates them.

Macro and Micro are used interchangeably for the realm of photography which aim at getting the object that is in the photograph to be the same size as the sensor. That is on a aps-c canon sensor the object would be of an area of 22.2x14.8mm. Let me get the idea a bit more clear, here we are talking about the sensor and not the photo. The sensor which is 22.2x14.8 (in our example) will be capturing a macro when the image falling on the sensor is of an area that is also 22.2mm x 14.8 mm. If you want to get an idea of what this size would be take a piece of paper draw a rectangle that is 22.2mm long and 14.8mm wide. Now cut along the rectangle to produce a paper with a hole. Now you are taking macro's when you are capturing the area of the rectangle in the whole photograph, now we are talking in terms of photograph and not the sensor.

Why the two words macro and micro?

This came out from the convention used by major brands. Nikon and some other brands use the word micro with lens that are true macro lens and Canon and many other brands use the word macro on lens that are true macro's(1:1 or more). For convenience from now on we will use the word macro.

Canon Macro 100mm F2.8

Canon Macro 100mm F2.8

Nikkor 60mm Micro

Nikkor 60mm Micro

The above images show a Macro model from Canon and a Micro model from Nikon.

So is macro only 1:1?

No, technically macro is 1:1 or more that is it can be 1:1 or 2:1 or 3:1 and so on. Usually we refer to anything above 2:1 as super macro photography.

3:1 super macro of a flower

3:1 super macro of a flower

Then what are close ups ?

Magnified photo or photos that are not 1:1 but have high magnification ratios are called close up photos. Also some photographers refer to portraits as close ups. That is not part of the discussion on this article. Using diopters to achieve macro like effects on non macro lens can also be referred to as macro photography, but using reversed lens or bellows are actual macros and not close ups. Some diopters or close up filters do allow 1:1 macros but most are not 1:1 and thus this group of photographs also fall into close ups.

Point and Shoots and macro

Many point and shoot camera have the so called macro mode. These are actually close ups , most p&s(point and shoot) cameras have tiny sensors and their lens systems are made to be cheap than to be performers. So essentially it is impossible to achieve 1:! on a point and shoot or even a bridge. The reason being that the optics are not good enough and the sensor is too small. Even those cameras that can focus at distances less than 1 cm are not taking macros. So putting it simply P&S have close up modes and not macro modes. They call it macro because it resemble , a very vague resembles at that, to a macro.

Also point and shoot cameras have a lot of mega pixels cramped onto a tiny sensor thus the quality of each pixel is very low compared to a sensor in a DSLR. Therefore the results that one can expect from the P&S's so called macro mode is limited. This mode is good for the starting hobbyist who is not yet into wasting his whole salary on photographic equipment.

Is there anything else called Micro photography?

Yes there is a realm of photography that attaches a camera to a microscope and then photographs of what is being seen in the viewfinder is taken. This is widely used in making textbooks and the like. There are some artists who make brilliant photographs using this technique.

So next time your friend says his new point and shoot camera has Macro photography you know that he is talking about close up photography. Also when you see an image of an insect with brilliant details you can understand that it is a macro or a super macro photograph.

Remember reading only gives you ideas going out and clicking pictures will make your pictures better.

Visit the Link: http://www.randomequations.com/2008/11/18/macromicro-and-close-up-photography-are-they-all-the-same/

Shereena Vysakh is a Pro Photography Hobbiest Blogging at http://RandomEquations.com

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Some macro digital photography basics

By: Ziv Haparnas

Macro photography is underused by many amateur photographers. Professional photographer use macro photography to take extremely high quality macro photos that impress their viewers. Here are some facts about such macro digital photos.

We have all seen macro digital photos even if some of us did not realize that they were such. The two most common macro digital photos objects are flowers and insects. But macro photography is not limited to these objects. Creative photographers take macro photos of objects that you would never think of – and create astonishing digital photos. For example taking a macro photo of a simple screw that is half way screwed in a piece of wood can be an amazing digital photo if taken using the right techniques of lighting and macro photography.

So what is macro photography? There are many definitions that can be used. The most intuitive one is simple: digital photos that are taken from very close to the objects. Another definition is digital photos that present objects in real life sizes when printed on a 4X6 paper. Yet another definition extends this to a real life size (1:1 ratio) or better (i.e. bigger than in real life).

Professional photographers use special equipment that was designed specifically for macro photography. Special lenses, lens tube extenders, flash units such as ring flashes and more are used. There is no doubt that such equipment can help specially in scenes that are hard to photograph. But even the cheapest digital pocket camera is capable of pretty good macro photography if only used right by the photographer.

Practically all digital cameras can be put in a “macro mode”. Usually this mode is illustrated as a “flower icon” (probably because flowers are the most common object for macro photography). When you put the camera in a macro mode – the camera optimizes its settings for the best macro digital photo. If your camera allows manual control of some of its settings (like aperture and focus) you can improve the quality of the photos further more.

In macro mode the digital camera will set a wider aperture in order to achieve a narrower depth of field. This helps create a macro photo that is focused on a very close item with its background blurry. The camera will also optimize its focusing algorithms to focusing on a very close object. In fact in macro mode it will be hard to make the camera focus on objects in normal or infinite distances.

Some cameras also set the flash intensity to lower since the object is close less flash light energy is needed to light up the scene. Macro photography lighting is a complicated issue due to the close proximity of the object to the lens. A right angle, source and intensity of the flash are hard to achieve. For that reason it is always better to take macro digital photos in a highly lit environment like in daylight.

In conclusion – like most other photography techniques it is important to use macro photography in the right scenarios. It also takes a lot of practice to achieve high quality macro digital photos. For example if you want to get a macro photo of a bee on a flower – you need to learn how to lock the camera focus – press the shutter button half way while all the settings are set and wait for that bee to show up. Also take as many photos as you can so hopefully one of them will be the perfect one you were aiming at. Go out and start taking macro photos to practice your skills. It is a good idea not to limit yourself to flowers and insects, anything can be a good object, a nail, a screw or a piece of candy.

Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com

This article can be reprinted only if the resource box including the backlink is included. Find more on photo printing and photography is on printrates.com - a place about Canon cameras and printing Ziv Haparnas writes about practical technology issues.