Starting Out
As in most photographic endeavors, equipment is readily available and very expensive. Since most of you are likely just beginning your close-up photography journey, you probably do not have expensive specialized hardware (yet). We will start out with ways you can explore close-up photography for relatively little money. You may already have almost everything you need for your first forays into the jungle of close-up photography. If all goes well, you can learn how to make do without breaking the bank. We will aim for that happy result.
Experiment – Figure it out for yourself
Most of us like to know or at least believe that we know what we are doing. We like to be sure that we are doing things the best way, using the proper equipment in the proper fashion, so we ask everyone we think has the answers. Unfortunately, there are almost always several answers to any question. The worst thing is that they may all be right or all wrong or somewhere in between. The digital camera era has made it possible for us to answer most of these questions for ourselves.
Before you go out and start taking close-up photos, do some tests at home, in comfort, with coffee and helpful snacks at hand for moments of need. Set up some object and photograph it with your own equipment and then evaluate the results. It’s digital, so you can do that in short order. When you do this, take notes!
Once you have done this, you will know what equipment you have to bring along, how to put it together and use it, and what kind of results you ought to get. If you cannot get what you need with your current equipment, you will have a very good idea of what you need to add to your toolbox. You can also determine, for instance, what f-stops yield the best results for your equipment and type of photography. This process, if you do it thoughtfully, will save you much time and effort down the road.
Technique - Mirror lockup and Self-timers
The worst way to release the shutter is with your finger. You move the camera and you start some vibrations, which take time to die out. In the range of 1 second to maybe 1/50 second, the mirror slap is the worst. If it is a long exposure, mirror slap is a very small part of the time, so it has little effect. If you enable mirror lockup, and use a remote release or the camera self-timer, you will get the sharpest results possible with any given setup. This becomes more difficult if there is wind, say, since you want to control just exactly when the shutter opens. Then a remote release along with mirror lockup is probably the best way.
Experiment – Figure it out for yourself
Most of us like to know or at least believe that we know what we are doing. We like to be sure that we are doing things the best way, using the proper equipment in the proper fashion, so we ask everyone we think has the answers. Unfortunately, there are almost always several answers to any question. The worst thing is that they may all be right or all wrong or somewhere in between. The digital camera era has made it possible for us to answer most of these questions for ourselves.
Before you go out and start taking close-up photos, do some tests at home, in comfort, with coffee and helpful snacks at hand for moments of need. Set up some object and photograph it with your own equipment and then evaluate the results. It’s digital, so you can do that in short order. When you do this, take notes!
Once you have done this, you will know what equipment you have to bring along, how to put it together and use it, and what kind of results you ought to get. If you cannot get what you need with your current equipment, you will have a very good idea of what you need to add to your toolbox. You can also determine, for instance, what f-stops yield the best results for your equipment and type of photography. This process, if you do it thoughtfully, will save you much time and effort down the road.
Technique - Mirror lockup and Self-timers
The worst way to release the shutter is with your finger. You move the camera and you start some vibrations, which take time to die out. In the range of 1 second to maybe 1/50 second, the mirror slap is the worst. If it is a long exposure, mirror slap is a very small part of the time, so it has little effect. If you enable mirror lockup, and use a remote release or the camera self-timer, you will get the sharpest results possible with any given setup. This becomes more difficult if there is wind, say, since you want to control just exactly when the shutter opens. Then a remote release along with mirror lockup is probably the best way.
