Macro Photography Tips

Many ask me how I shoot the macro Subjects. And what equipment I use.?

But Honestly speaking I am yet to own a dedicated macro lens . all the macro I shoot is through the 28-105 semi macro lens or the one I borrow from my friends.

Macro photography is a fascinating world as an every day common subject too looks very interesting in that close distance. So macro is a dream world which you don’t see in the naked eye on daily basis.Pleasing colours and fine details makes any macro photo very interesting for people to watch and follow.

For macro photography the accessories are more important than the camera or the lens you use.

This is what I use

Manfrotto support system , mainly the one which I can bring down to the floor level

1. cable shutter release
2. Minimum 2 flashes , one as master and one as slave
3. couple of reflectors and wind cutters
4. a good powerful torch light and a scissor
   
   

For macro as a photographer you need a special eye to notice many tiny things underneath your feet which can be captured as fascinating macro subjects. Many times I go to shoot big birds and end up capturing a very tiny macro subject which end of the day looks very fascinating.

So rule number one keep watching all the possible subjects.

Patience is a very important quality for any macro photographer and the second is a good fitness as you may need to squeeze yourself to a confined space to photograph a macro subject in the field.

Few tips on macro Photography

1. Careful on your Depth of field as many macros photographs looks acceptable only when the aperture is above F12 or F16.
2. Try to keep your subject parallel to the sensor plane so that your DOF is taken care in most cases.
3. The off camera flash is a very useful technique to bring details of your subject ( please refer the separate post on that on http://sundergurusamy.blogspot.com/2009/01/importance-of-flash-angle-in-macro.html )
4. Try to shoot before the sun is up as the wind will be high after the full sunrise.
5. Respect nature by not disturbing the spider webs or insect nest in the photographing process.
6. If you have the tripod handy you can try to shoot with the available light and use some simple white papers as reflectors.
7. Get ready to spoil your dress while lying flat on the ground on the process of finding a
   
   better angle or composition.
8. Try to comfort yourself and give enough time for your macro subject to settle down with your presence if that is an insect mainly if it is a butterfly.
9. Always keep in mind the background as this makes the Macro photograph more pleasing.
10. If you use the tripod you can cut your shutter speed to bring out the natural Background along with your flash exposure.

Tanjore Bronzes

Part of my research and documentation, recently documented some of the unique bronzes, It is amazing to know the level of metallurgy in our part of the world nearly 1000 years ago, outstanding aesthetics and the attention to detail on this bronzes that you really need to spend good amount of time to appreciate it.