Tuesday 24 November 2009

Research for MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY

Macro
A macro lens is unique in that it can focus from infinity to extremely close allowing you to take pictures of very small objects and having them fill the frame and displayed in all of their glorious detail. This is not to be confused with a close-up lens which does not focus to infinity. Macro lenses can produce images at a 1:1 ratio.


Here are just a few superb shots of macro photography I have looked at to 
help me get a better idea of what i would like to acheive with my macro shoot.




I absolutely love how delicate this photograph is. The droplet of water looks as solid and clear as crystal and the texture of the leaves look almost identical to the texture of velvet.



 I stumbled across these two macro photographs (below and above) and HAD to put them into my  research as they put a smile on my face, i would also like to attempt to recreate a macro photograph like this, which should be fun!



I think this photograph is beutifull. This insect looks like it is covered in little crystals and they are magnifing the detail on the eyes and body even more so than the macro lense, also picing up the soft pastel colours on the insects body. When i decide to take one of my macro shot i think i will consider using water droplets on the object as i love the delicate effect and the advantage of even more magnification.

Here i like the definition of the focus point in this photograph. The shine and contrast of the tip of the leaf and the dark and rich red and turquoise of the insects colour.

Above an amazing macro shot that has been taken by Kristina Buceatchi. tho this photograph is not a overly colourfull one, the most amazing element is completely focusing on the cats eye. I personaly have never seen a cats eye from this angle and in such detail which makes this photograph what it is. Almost like the eye has a water barrier over the top. I also came across some other photography work by Krisina Buceatchi that would be usefull inspiration in my research for natural/organic photographs.

here there is quite a famouse and common image by Corrie White. I think the most comon image seen by Corrie is the milk spalsh in coffee. The decicive moment that he seems to capture is perfect, the form of a droplet of anything going into any liquid substance that the human eye alone could never capture or whitnes.  we can only see this image in a photograph, which is what makes the series of images similar to this spectacular. Achiving a macro shot like this would probably take a begginer in photographer like me a lot of time, as it takes Corrie White a few hours to get a shot like this. Either way o would still like to give this kind of a macro shot a go.


I have managed to find  some instructions to take a similar photograph as the one above.

This image is actually the result of three separate exposures: one for the coffee cup, another for the column of pouring coffee, and a final capture for the splash. Getting one capture in-camera of this same scene would have taken many, many more hours, several gallons of coffee, and a box full of branded cups. As it is, I was able to shoot the entire thing in just a couple of hours using the only printed cup I had and a single pot of coffee.

By compositing the best elements of different captures, not only was I able to save a great deal of time in the studio, but I was able to provide the client with a layered Photoshop file that allows them to selectively display each of the elements: if they want just the cup and the splash, they can turn off the layer with the pouring coffee. If just the pour is needed, off goes the splash.
The lighting is pretty straightforward: two Nikon SB-26 flashes, dialed to their lowest power setting to produce the shortest flash duration, were on lightstands just underneath the table surface and pointed up and back to bounce into a white reflector to create a clean, white background. The front was lit with two Hensel monolights bounced into umbrellas.

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