Image of the Week #15 - Get up close with macro!

Macro photography sounds technical, but it simply means extreme close-up photography, usually of very small subjects, which are then shown greater than life size. It’s great fun to do and most point and shoot cameras have a macro setting, which is usually shown as a little flower symbol. Professional and DSLR cameras use specific macro lenses.

There are some great tips here from the Digital Photography School blog. My favourite tip is to use a tripod to minimize camera shake – it really shows when you are close up to something. If you don’t have a tripod – improvise. Small bean bags are great if you are out and about, or simply resting your camera close to the subject and using the self timer will get much better results than a handheld shot.

Here is our selection of macro shots. It’s a big world out there – go find some small things!

MELISSA

I took this shot last year for the launch of an online wool company. I love the idea of shooting with tiny figures and I had a lot of fun setting this up.

PENNY

Dandelion heads are just fab for macro shots… there is so much detail there from the spongy centre, the rough seeds and the fluffy seed tails.

VIX

Sometimes we’re all guilty of taking the world around us for granted. There are truly astounding things, tiny things, around us constantly. Take this Pomegranate for instance, it’s like a whole new world. The kids found it really astounding looking through the macro lens. We did a potato with shoots on but it looked too scary so they chose this one to post instead. Honey I Shrunk The Kids springs to mind seeing the TMK team photos.

ROSIE

This is Flora the girl photographer. She’s the mini me that comes with me on my travels and photography adventures and makes me take a look at the little things in our great big landscapes.

MEGAN

I love raindrops! They are photography gold! This was taken with my 3.5 – 5.5 mm Sigma lens. I got up as close as I could, and shot. It was taken with f stop 5.4, Focal Length 55mm, Exposure 1/640, ISO 100. I love this shot for the crispness of the drop and the shadowy branch and background.

NAT

I’m only slightly, ok, totally obsessed with sushi so it seemed the obvious choice for this week’s macro theme. I set up my camera on a tripod and focussed in on the tiny egg roe to capture this shot. It was fun to try it out on food as I’ve not done that before.