For some
photographers, close-up
shots are all they do, they become totally engrossed in the extraordinary
photos, which sometimes are not visible to the
naked eye.
The eye, though, will come quickly accustomed to close-up photography, and beginner's pictures will change very quickly, become more technically and graphically advanced.
A main problem for the close-up photographer is providing enough light for the photo. What happens is, the closer the lens come to the subject, the narrower the depth of field becomes, which leaves you with two alternatives; long exposures or flash.
The camera must be relatively solid and once the subject is complety stationary the next problem is to get light into the space between it and the lens. Something what can be done is to get mirrors, baking foil, white card, or anything reflective to use, to bounce the light in at an oblique angle.
When photographing something like a flower it is advised to use either a ring flash or a small hand flash. What this will do is, freeze the movement from the wind and allow the lens to be stopped right down for maximum depth of field. Then, take a silver reflector and a piece of white paper to use in combination with the hand flash (it will throw a shadow that will probably need to be softened). The ring flash will provide a shadowless light so no reflector is needed.
When you want to emphasize the contours and shape of a subject, you can photograph the subject against a relatively dark background and rimlight it by placing lights slightly behind the subject. When you do this, make sure the camera lens is shielded from the direct light of the lamps. You can emphasize surface textures by skimming the light across the surface of the subject.
It is advised that notes be kept while shooting close-ups.
Brief list of Equipment that can be used:
- Close-up supplementary lenses. The simplest way to shoot moderate close-ups. There are no exposure adjustments necessary, but there is some loss of definition.
- Extension tubes or bellows.
- Macro lenses! There are all different kinds of models. You decide.
- Tripod
- Ring Flash
- Tungsten lights with diffusers and barn doors.
- Reflectors.
- Flashes.
- A big lamp- easy to model the light. You'll be using a tripod, so shutter times won't matter.(thanks SharQ)
The equipment list could go on for a very long time, there are many lenses, filters etc that can be used.
Feel free to /msg if I missed something out of great importance.
What I have described above is mainly used on a manual camera, 35mm.