Close Up Photography

Close Up Photography

by William Lulow

Many times photographers like to concentrate making images of objects that are very close to the camera. We do this to get a better view of what things actually look like as well as making images of products, natural things and other man-made objects. One of the signs of a close-up image is that there are no real indications of any other background other than the object itself. Here are a couple of examples:

These are images of natural objects found at various places I was just visiting. Normally, photographers make these kinds of pictures with a special lens called a “Macro lens.” It is designed to be able to focus on objects at close range and has the ability to reproduce them at 1:1 (same size) magnification, for real, tight close ups. Whenever I am called upon to make images of products, this is the lens I use:

It is a 60mm Macro lens designed for 1:1 magnification close-ups. It is also able to be used with extremely small lens openings. It actually closes down to f/32, which is extremely small. Because of this, when you want to use that small of an aperture, you often need to compensate by using a very, very slow shutter speed AND put the camera on a tripod to make sure there is not movement. The reason for this is that very small apertures INCREASE THE DEPTH-OF-FIELD of an image. (Again, DEPTH-OF-FIELD refers to how objects close AND far away from the camera are rendered “in focus” in a photograph).  Here is an example:

Making this image of one of my guitars, I wanted to be sure that everything was in focus from the bridge (where the strings are attached) all the way to the neck. The camera was on a tripod and the exposure was something like f/32 @ 5 full seconds. As a matter of fact, I even had to add some light to the image to be able to shoot with those settings. Here are some more examples:

This image was made on a light table so that there would be NO SHADOWS!

With all this information being said, there are times when you can use a wide-angle lens to shoot close ups as well. This type of lens has greater DEPTH-OF-FIELD than regular lenses and can sometimes focus close enough to give you a crisp look at certain objects. Here is an image made with my 20mm f/2.8 lens:

This image has all the characteristics of a close up without really being THAT close! It was made with my 20mm f/2.8 lens which, on my camera, acts like a 32mm lens, which is a slight wide-angle lens and can render great detail. Wide angle lenses have much more of a DEPTH-OF-FIELD ability than any other lens, so you can often use them instead of macro lenses to get good close ups. There is a limit to how close they will focus, however. Here is a shot of an audio mixer’s knobs shot at a distance of about 6-8″, ISO 1000, f/7.1 @ 1/60th of a second, with my 60mm Macro lens:

The diameter of each knob is less than 1/2″ in reality. You can see here, how large the rendering is!  Sometimes it is nice to be able to make images of just a part of a scene or object.

It is often a good idea when doing CLOSE UP PHOTOGRAPHY to put the camera on a tripod. Not only does it make it easier to focus on what you want to show, but it provides a steady platform to capture images. When making these kinds of pictures you also may have to shoot with a slower shutter speed in order to be able to stop the lens down (use a smaller aperture, f/stop) to get the right amount of DEPTH-OF-FIELD. Very briefly, DEPTH-OF-FIELD refers to the distance in front of and in back of your subject that you want to render sharp. Wide angle lenses, as noted, have greater DOF than do longer lenses. 

So, the rules of close-up photography are:

1. Only include one object or part of it
2. Really move in as close as you can to the object. Remember: Macro lenses are the only ones that allow a 1:1 representation of any object
3. Make sure that the object you are concentrating on is really sharp.
4. Use a tripod if you can
5. Make sure your object (subject) has enough light

Close-ups are exciting to do because they force you to literally focus on ONE THING and study it intensely.