Macro Photography Guide

Taking better close up photography

This blog was written with photography of miniatures in mind such as Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 however the principals can be applied to any macro photography

Camera Shake:
Whenever you get a blurry photo from camera shake it means your shutter speed is too long, if you're shooting in Auto it will do this by itself without your control.

It means there is not enough light for the camera to get correct exposure and still have a short shutter speed. There are different things you can do to help.
1) add more light source.
2) use a tripod
3) use a flash (last resort as flash ruins correct colour tones)
4) increase the ISO (this will enhance the light levels but slightly decrease the image quality)

Don't shoot in Auto mode but instead the mode which controls the aperture (hole size).. possibly AV on your camera (whichever mode changes a value that has a F next to the number) change the F number to the smallest possible.. This will force the camera to use the fastest shutter speed in the available light to match.
A small F number = a large whole

If Camera Is Not Focusing:
If the camera is not getting a clear photo when you shoot, chances are you are too close and within the minimum focus range for the camera. This is very easy to do with shooting miniatures especially because you want to zoom in as far as you can to get the close up.

Most lenses will not focus if you put the camera any closer than 25 centimetres to the target. My advice is to take the photo from a suitable distance and then crop in later on the computer (or on the camera itself if you know how!) Unless your using a very old digital camera then you wont have any problems with losing image quality.. however make sure your camera isnt set to a low image quality (because even a 10 mega pixel camera can take 2 mega pixel photos if you set it that way, so check)


Long Shutter Speeds:
Other than using a tripod or setting the camera on a still surface another method to prevent camera shake is to use the self timer on the camera... This is because even the slight movement which occurs when you press the trigger/button is enough to effect some blur on the photo.. so use the self timer.. set it to say, 2 seconds... focus, then press button.. that way it will take the photo without you needing to bump it.

 White balance:
Make sure you change the white balance (WB) settings to suit your light source. e.g. change it to sun if you are in sun, fluro tube if you are under fluro tube lights, tungsten if you are under regular light bulbs etc. This is very important, auto white balance tries its best but often fails as each light source throws a slightly different colour hue and the camera must know what in order to compensate. Auto white balance is a last resort.

Depth of Field:
Have you ever noticed that when you take photos close up the main target will be in focus but things that are only about 3 centimetres away are blurry?

Sometimes you might want this for an effect. but most times it is undesirable. Depth of field depends on the aperture value (the size of the shutter hole). A large F number e.g. F22 represents a very tiny hole. A small F number e.g. F4 is a large hole. A large hole will give you a small depth of field (blurry over shorter distance as described before) and a small aperture will give you a long depth of field.
set your camera to the mode which changes the F numbers. change to the highest F number possible, F18 (or F22 if you have a good camera) This will give you a long depth of field however because the hole is so small now, to get the same exposure the shutter speed will need to go for longer! much too long to be able to be shot hand held, you will need a tripod or set the camera down (it will probably have a 6 second shutter speed or more)

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Don't buy eBooks. Buy paper books! For an SLR camera there are so many buttons and abilities that a normal digital camera does not have that I found I had to do a photography course just to learn some of its features to make use of. But I have also found books a good option too and much less expensive than courses