ID YOU NOTICE that the word macro is missing from the title of this book? There’s a very good reason why! First of all, let’s define macro, since there seems to be a lot of confusion about this one very important word. The word itself is derived from the Greek word makros, which means large or long.
Think about that for a moment. Does that make perfect sense or what?! It does, considering that the images normally shot with a macro lens appear on the CCD (charge-coupled device) or film as “large” subjects—a dragonfly, for example—and more often than not take a long time to shoot. By long, I’m not referring to the setup times or the time spent waiting for the wind to die down or the dragonfly to return to that same tall grassy reed where you’ve set up camera and lens. Rather, I’m referring to the long exposures (long when compared to conventional photography). Exposure times of 1/15 sec. to 1 second are often the norm when shooting macro images, whereas in conventional photography, exposure times average between 1/60 sec. and 1/250 sec.
The technical definition for macro photography is photography that is at 1X magnification (life size) and greater, and I couldn’t agree more with that description. So, this simply means that, in a side-by-side comparison, the actual size of the subject and the size that it appears on the piece of film or the CCD (where the sensors are in a digital camera) is exactly the same. Only 1X magnifications and greater qualify as true macro shots, and I must emphatically add that anything less than 1X should be, and is, defined (by me and other photographers, as well) as close-up photography, not macro photography. Sure, I’ve shot a number of images with my Nikon Micro-Nikkor lenses, but that doesn’t qualify them as macro images. (Note that Nikon names their macro lenses Micro, which can be somewhat confusing.)
A 1X magnification is often indicated as 1:1, meaning a one-to-one ratio. As an example of “life size,” an ordinary honeybee is approximately half an inch, so when photographed on film at life size, it will take up a 1/2-inch-long space on a piece of 35mm film (which measures 13/8 × 7/8″ by the way). And now here’s where it gets interesting for us digital shooters. When you shoot with a true macro lens (a lens that will render 1X magnification), you can, in theory, not only shoot macro images at 1:1 (life size) but at up to 1.5 times life size. Why? Because the CCD is smaller than a piece of 35mm film. The CCD on my Nikon D300 is roughly 5/8 × 1″, and when I use any one of my three Micro-Nikkor lenses (105mm, 200mm, or 70–180mm), that same honeybee photographed with a true macro lens focused all the way to its normal 1:1 life-size reproduction ratio will, in fact, be recorded at 1.5X life size. At least, that’s what many people think. Truth be told, the 1.5X life-size image of your honeybee is nothing more than a cropped-in-tighter version of the same honeybee photographed at 1:1 on 35mm film.
At 1:1 magnification, this is a true macro image. Returning home from taking the kids to school one day, I spied this large yet very dead blue fly on the sidewalk. I picked it up and was soon photographing it on my terrace atop a small table, using only available light. I placed the fly on a piece of white paper, knowing this would showcase its shape, texture, and color without distraction.
In addition, the image here is a close-up of just one of the fly’s wings. The magnification of that image is approximately 3X life size, an enlargement I was able to record using the Micro-Nikkor 200mm lens and all three of my Kenko extension tubes (see here). And for both that shot and this one here, I used a cable release along with the camera’s mirror lock-up feature.
Micro-Nikkor 200mm lens, ISO 200, f/16 for 1/30 sec.
Let me put it another way. When seated in a standard-size airplane seat, you hopefully have a bit of room to maneuver. But when you climb aboard those smaller commuter airlines and take your seat, the fit is often a bit tighter. What the heck? Did you bloat up somehow? Of course not! You haven’t gotten bigger at all. The seat just got smaller! Again, the CCD on my Nikon D300 is a bit smaller than the standard 35mm film format; so, that same honeybee, when photographed with the Nikon D300, appears larger only because its “seat” got smaller, too.
So again, keep in mind, for an image to truly be considered macro photography, the magnification must be 1X or greater.
Years ago, it would have been hard to imagine that I would one day begin to see numerous “portrait” opportunities with my macro lens. Back then, I directed my macro most often at nature subjects, namely flowers. But over the past ten years, my macro world has extended far beyond the backyard flower garden, and on more than one occasion, I have stumbled upon “faces,” both literal and figurative versions, as was the case with this miniscule face on a bridge railing in Lyon. (My daughter later explained that this was actually a stick-on tattoo that comes free with a piece of bubblegum.)
What drew me to this face were the textures found upon it. As you’ll discover, it’s textures that are often the center of interest in macro or close-up work. With my camera and Micro-Nikkor 105mm lens mounted to my tripod, I made certain to choose an almost-straight-down point of view, and due to the subtle curve in the railing, I also made sure to set the aperture to f/22 to achieve the necessary depth of field for top-to-bottom sharpness. With my camera set to Aperture Priority mode, I simply fired the shutter with my cable release, allowing the camera to set the shutter speed for me since the light levels were even throughout.
The 1:1, or life-size, magnification of this “portrait” was a direct result of using the Micro-Nikkor lens, but it’s safe to say that I could have also achieved a life-size magnification combining extension tubes with a “street zoom” (18–70mm, 24–105mm, or 17–55mm lenses, for example). Achieving 1:1 magnifications is simply much easier with a macro lens, since most true macro lenses offer the ability to focus from infinity all the way down to life size without the need to add extension tubes or close-up lenses.
Micro-Nikkor 105mm lens
