Macro photography tips from Jackie Ranken

The great thing about macro photography is you have to experiment, explore and find inspiration from the act of doing, because it gives you a different way of seeing.

1. Getting closer to your subject means your depth of field is going to get very small

So your aperture is going to be of major importance. If you have a very small aperture then you'll have a bigger depth of field and vice versa. All the different alternatives in between are definitely worth exploring.

2. If you don't have a macro lens you can turn your standard lens around

While your normal lens makes the big world small, when you turn your lens around on your DSLR body, it makes what's small big. And it works. Use manual focus for control, turn the stabilizer off and then hold it on the front to get a sense of where it needs to be at. Then it's a matter of simply taping it on. Make sure the tape is a nice, good quality, sticky stuff. 

3. If your subject is moving, use a faster shutter speed but keep your subject still

Use a tripod to minimise your camera shake or change your ISO, which is the sensitivity of the sensor to light. The higher you make your ISO, the faster your shutter speed can be. Another way to minimise camera shake is to use a cable release, which stops you pressing on the camera, which creates a little bit of blur. If you don't have a cable release, use a two or 10 second timer. Then that delay means by the time you've clicked, the camera will settle down and will make the exposure after two seconds.

4. Consider a polariser to get rid of glare from surfaces or flare

Find something that excites you and then go for it. Ideas come from anywhere: magazines, art galleries, or the impressionists.