The world is moving very quickly, technology is racing ahead and before you know it it's all got a bit messy. Sometimes you just want to slow things down and this is the perfect time to get into macro photography where not only can you appreciate the smaller things in life - you can shoot them.
When you get up close it's pretty awesome, getting in close means bringing up bags of texture and finer detail. Even the most mundane of items can be captured to reveal hidden highlights and subtleties. Your choice of equipment can be the cheap as chips to the more-money-than sense (my personal favourite, every time.)
Compact cameras
These often have a macro setting - normally a silhouette of a flower, you can use a tripod (the camera needs a tripod bush) or handhold. The closer you get you will probably cut down on light so the flash may pop up, experiment with using the flash and disabling it.
Compacts are actually a fantastic choice for macro and close up photography. There's a trick of optical physics (yeah, yawn) that means the smaller the sensor the more depth of field you have. Digicams have tiny sensors and so h-u-g-e depth of field. F5.6 on a digicam often gives a similar depth of field to f32 on a DSLR and in macro terms that's a lot.
One word of warning here is that macro focusing on lots of digicams only works at certain zoom settings. If you can't seem to focus then try zooming as wide as you can. If that doesn't work then zoom right in. If that doesn't work, well dare I suggest the manual?
Close-up Filters
Guess what - these get you close-up to stuff, no honest. They're very basic and act like magnifying lenses, you can purchase them in sets and they cost a couple of pounds. There are different diopters to choose from - +1, +2, +3, +4, +10; basically the higher the number the closer the lens can focus. Using them is a bit of a doddle as all you do is screw them onto the front of your lens - you can even pop them on the front of a skylight and stack them up.
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Close up filters are best used with prime (fixed lenses) and at apertures around F8/F11. If you're shooting a flat subject (no, not a hedgehog) you're more likely to get quite a bit in focus otherwise your results could suffer from either softening at the edges (spherical aberration) or colour fringing (chromatic abberation.) Nasty.
You can also use close up filters on plenty of compact and bridge cameras. The bonus here is that the small sensor will give you a much larger depth of field than a DSLR.
If your camera has a threaded ring on the front then you're sorted - just find out the size and buy a close up filter to match.
If there's no threaded ring then don't worry. It's possible that the manufacturer makes an adapter - check their website. If even that fail then check out SRB. They sell all manner of adapters including one that lets you use Cokin filters with almost any digicam.
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Extension tubes
Another attachment you can purchase are extension tubes, and as you might guess they extend your lens - they're designed to make it possible for a lens to focus closer than its normal minimum focus distance. Which ultimately makes things appears larger in the viewfinder. (There's a joke there somewhere but for once, I'm not going to be tempted.)
Like the close up filters they're best used with prime lenses. Extension tubes are a good bet as they convert a lens into a macro equivalent, at a fraction of the cost of purchasing a true dedicated macro lens. The actual tubes have no optics - honest - they're hollow and fit between the camera body and the lens. If you move the lens farther away from the CCD sensor the lens has no option but to focus closer than normal.
The greater length of the extension tube the closer your lens can focus. But you lose light, sometimes up to 3 f-stops when using multiple tubes together, if the camera cannot focus just pop it into MF. If you want to guesstimate the level of magnification (I'd rather put the kettle on) just divide the size of tube by the focal length eg. 25mm tube used with 50mm lens voila 1:2 - half life size reproduction. To achieve life size (1:1) the size of tube should be equal to the focal length. Got it? Good.
Tubes, like close-up filters can be purchased in sets and these normally consist of a 12mm, 20mm and 36mm you can also buy individual ones such as: 12mm and 25mm (made by Kenko.) A word of warning though as so many new cameras are being created it's best to source autotubes dedicated to your DSLR otherwise you will be on your own not just for focusing but metering and stopping down the lens.
Macro lenses
These are very expensive but the quality is great. Some macro lenses have coatings that reduces flare and ghosting that can occur when using DSLRs. Optical quality is awesome - incorporating shedloads of technology and this provides you with a nice large depth of field, things get a bit easier when focusing with an aperture of 32 if not 45! The lenses allow you to use a longer working distance and carry specific markings (a magnification scale) on the barrel/focussing collar to help. Great stuff.
Standard Zoom
These can have a macro mode capability, this will come into play at a certain focussing length. These provide limited results of up to (approx) 1:3 (third life-size reproduction) magnification.
Specialist Kit
There is only one lens to consider and it's the Canon MP-E65mm and it can give you 1x - 5x lifesize results. The downsides are the cost - around £750 and it's not easy to use. Focusing this beast can be very very tricky - breath and it's out of focus. Oh and forget using 5X maginification on anything that isn't nailed, screwed and stapled down. But the results - well they're incredible, with so much detail it's like something out of CSi. I'm not giving it back.
Accessories & Props
A sturdy tripod with a two way tilt and pan head is a must. Position a table near a window - you have to maximise light. If you need more light you can always create some simple reflectors out of pieces of foil - for subtle results use the dull side and for a brighter more defined result use the sparkly side. On reflection (sorry) foil is great as you can create specific shapes to fit in small areas and they can be self-supporting. Crinkle the paper up for soft lighting, use it flat if you want very strong highlights.
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Small compact mirrors can be placed (or stuck down with blu-tack) to provide useful fill-in light. It's really useful if you can look through the viewfinder as you move a reflector. If you need to support small items you can use stacks of coins or small curled up pieces of selotape - all those years of Blue Peter were worth it!
If you need to support larger items - get your fingers to do the walking and go and get yourself a copy of the Yellow Pages. I've used this sturdy tome, 'many many times'. I often tell the advertising sales person this when he calls and he gets all excited.
Detailed items such as feathers and small non feathery items require careful handling and a set of small make-up brushes can come in very handy as well as the old favourite - cotton buds and tweezers. Sometimes a little background will be visible in a shot and the choice must complement your subject, a simple sheet of white paper will help to bounce light and once shot, will give your image a studio feel.
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So there you have it, shoot macro and you open up a whole new world., get in close and get stuck in.
'What? A Canon MP-E65mm? No I haven't seen it, ...oh that box over there, the one that says Canon MP-E65... yes, er.. ah.. that's it I'd completely forgotten I had it...'
