Texture Up Close

he more you find yourself exploring the world of close-up photography, the more you will discover the role that texture often plays in much of your work. Texture in and of itself can certainly be the shot: a frame-filling image of sidelit rough tree bark or soft rose petals, for example. But texture can also create a tremendously supportive background. One of the best exercises I know for familiarizing yourself with texture and the role it plays in close-up photography is to spend an hour with a single subject—such as the bloom of one yellow daisy, a golf ball, a bottle cap, or a stalk of wheat—placing it on various background textures and filling the frame with both.

Although there was considerable cloud cover, it didn’t prevent me from spending an hour with a small feather and various textures found along Oregon’s coast. There’s a popular belief among a lot of shooters out there that textures should only be photographed when sidelit by the low-angled light of early morning or late afternoon. Obviously, I couldn’t disagree more. It’s true that when a texture is sidelit, it has a greater sense of depth (due solely to the combination of light and shadow), but even without sidelight, you can still find numerous texture-filled opportunities.

    In all four of these shots, I made a deliberate choice to shoot at the critical aperture of f/11, since depth of field was not a primary concern. At every turn, it seemed I found a new and different texture on which to place my lone feather, including sand and rock on these first two images and burnt wood and foliage on the following two. In each shot, I placed the feather on a subtle diagonal. The diagonal line, much like the feather, conjures up feelings of movement and speed, and when combined with each of the four textures, the feather evokes a different emotional response. In each case, with my tripod, 200mm lens, and aperture of f/11, I simply adjusted my shutter speed until the camera meter indicated a correct exposure; not surprisingly, since the light levels never changed in that one hour, all four images called for the same exposure of 1/30 sec.

All photos: Micro-Nikkor 200mm lens, f/11 for 1/30 sec.

I often find myself shooting simple compositions of roadside textures—namely, the wild grasses that line many a ditch on country roads throughout the world in the summer months. You should keep in mind that if you aren’t finding inspiring camera-ready subjects, you can always rearrange things, within reason. That’s what I did a few years back when the students in a workshop I was leading in Tuscany expressed a lack of vision on one particular morning. I suggested that we simply shoot close-up shots of textures, and because we were near a roadside ditch, I was quick to find not only a few stalks of wild wheat but also a few chamomile flower blooms. We placed a few stalks of wheat on the ground, topping them off with a single chamomile blossom. It’s a really simple yet very effective and powerful composition, and its power is due to texture. Get to know texture, and you will soon get to know a host of new and exciting close-up opportunities.

    Note that I did use a tripod and also made it a point to fill the frame edge to edge, top to bottom with the wild wheat, choosing to place the flower near the left third of the composition. I used the critical aperture of f/11 and merely adjusted my shutter speed until 1/100 sec. indicated a -2/3 exposure (since, as mentioned previously, green needs to be metered at -2/3 if it is to be recorded as a correct exposure).

Micro-Nikkor 105mm lens, f/11 for 1/100 sec.

Typical of most abandoned industrial sites, you will almost always find rusting metal, and this site in Brooklyn was no exception. What was once, I’m sure, a painted and well-maintained freight-delivery door had succumbed to the ravages of time. The rusting metal, combined with the colorful remnants of a passing graffiti artist, made for a compelling image of texture. With my camera mounted on tripod and set to Aperture Priority mode, I chose the critical aperture of f/11 and the camera selected a shutter speed of 1/30 sec. I then fired off several frames, one of which you see here. Again, it’s an image whose success lies primarily in its ability to appeal to your sense of touch. Such is the power of texture-filled compositions.

Micro-Nikkor 200mm lens, f/11 for 1/30 sec.