MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY Basic Photography Class

MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY

!   consists of taking close-up photos of tiny objects

!   extreme close-up shots

!   a perspective that shows extraordinary angles of tiny things that are usually not part of the normal human scene and view

MACRO LENSES

!   designed for close-up work

!   with a long barrel for close focusing

!   optimized for high reproduction ratios

Canon Macro 100mm f28

FOCAL LENGTH

!   The focal length of macro lenses:

!   from 50mm to 200mm

!   others range to 470mm

FOCAL LENGTH

•  The distance from the lens to the sensor, when focused on a subject at infinity.

•  focal length equals image distance for a far subject.

•  To focus on something closer than infinity, the lens is moved farther away from the sensor. This is why most lenses get longer when you turn the focusing ring.

•  The distances follow this formula:

TELEPHOTO

• This means a 400mm lens should be 400mm long.

• If you get out your ruler and measure it, you will find it is less than 400mm.

• That is because a camera lens really has many individual glass lenses inside, and this makes it behave as if it is longer than it really is.

• This is called "telephoto."

F/STOPS

F-stop is the focal length divided by the diameter of the lens. For example, a 200mm f/4 lens will be 50mm wide. Get out your ruler and measure it.

200mm/50mm = f/4. That is why f-stop is typically written as F/4, meaning "focal-length over 4" or "focal-length divided by four”.

Lenses are marked with a series of f-stops, each one lets in half as much light as the previous one. The light-gathering ability of a lens is determined by its area, and f-stops are determined by diameter. Area is related to diameter squared. The progression of f-stops, 1 - 1.4 - 2 - 2.8 - 4 - 5.6 - 8 - 11 - 16 - 22 - 32, are powers of the square root of 2.

24MM

35MM

50MM

100MM

200MM

400MM

800MM

2100MM

FOCAL LENGTH

FOCAL LENGTH

FOCAL LENGTH

FOCAL LENGTH

FOCAL LENGTH

FOCAL LENGTH

MACRO LENSES

!   L-R

!   Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens

!   Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens

!   Canon EF 180mm f/3.5 ML USM lens

MACRO LENSES

!   L-R

!   Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro lens

!   Tamron 90mm f/2.8 DIi Macro lens

!   Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro lens

MACRO LENSES

!   L-R (extended in their shotest focus)

!   Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro lens

!   Tamron 90mm f/2.8 DIi Macro lens

!   Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro lens

Background Blur Comparison

Same aperture setting (f/16) and identical subject to background distances.

FOCAL LENGTH

!   The focal length also affects other macro photography aspects.

!   Longer focal lengths require more distance to acquire the same subject framing. The result is a change of perspective - the telephotos compress/flatten the subject features more than short focal lengths.

!   The wider angle of view of the short focal length macro lenses mean that more of the background will be in the picture - and that the background will be less-diffusely blurred.