Macro Photography Ideas, Hacks & Tricks

Published by Color Expert Admin August 22, 2022

Snowflake Macro Photography

Though it seems that the winter season is not the perfect time for macro photography, still there is a fantastic opportunity to have stunning macro photos. All the macro subjects like insects, flowers, and tiny things remain invisible during the winter, but you can shoot wonderful images of snowflakes. Snowflake macro photography is tricky and you must be very quick, as they might melt away quite soon. You need some different accessories for photography, which are very much needed for getting beautiful snowflake photos.

What you need for this photography are:

🔷 Black blanket / towel / mitten

Block woolen cloth is very important for collecting suitable snowflakes. It must be dark or construct a color background since snowflakes are mainly white. A considerable amount of gap should be between snow and the background for proper light reflection. That’s why woolen clothes with fur are perfect because they can create insulation under snowflakes.

🔷 Camera & Lens

No matter how your camera is. What you have, you can start with that. But, there is something about the lens. If you can afford it, buy a suitable lens or you can use your existing lens with a macro photo reversing ring. Usually, the snowflakes are around 2-5mm across, which needs powerful magnification. So, a suitable lens is needed capable of magnifying 1:1 life-size that is enough to shoot a full-frame macro photograph.

🔷 Lighting

Natural lighting is the best for perfect snowflake photo shooting. But, on a snowy day, you may feel the shortage of enough lighting necessary for this macro image. To cope with such a situation, you can keep a suitable ring flash with you that we have described earlier in this content. During the use of flashlights, be aware of not melting the snow. So, try to get your job done very quickly and on the first try.

🔷 Snowflake

Finally, you need a macro photography subject that is a snowflake. So, go outside and keep the woolen blanket open so that it can hold some snowflakes that are falling from the sky. Usually, you need one flake, but, don’t take the risk of melting or bad shape. So, hold more than one. Now, your subject is ready for getting captured. However, there is another way to get snowflakes during summer, from your refrigerator. But, we’ve tried and it’s really too risky during summer. In most cases, they start to lose their aesthetic shapes very quickly, even if they do not melt. However, after getting a whole bunch of them, you can start shooting at random and get some of the best ones.

How to Shoot Snowflake Macro Photos

Although macro photography is a little bit challenging and not like the average photography, it will need acid tests. Get some shots to try your luck and then perfect it. If you arrange everything perfectly, it will be easy for you.

Alright, for shooting snowflake images, go outside with a mitten or blanket during snowfall. Set mitten and try to hold snowflake. Hold more than one snowflake and select the best crystal for your photography. It should be a big, clear, and reflective snowflake with a lot of branches.

Once you have collected snowflakes, try to shoot images in the very first hour because there is a risk of melting. Now, set your camera and lens as close as possible to shoot macro. Usually, these images are captured in board daylight, but if there is not adequate light, then use flash for creating a proper lighting environment. Ok, if everything is ready, capture macro snowflake photos as much as you can, because later you have to do focus stacking. During taking macro images, it is not possible to focus on each part of your tiny subject. As a result, use Adobe Photoshop (we love it for better results) for focus stacking. This technique enables you to focus on all parts of the macro snowflake image. However, in this way, you will get awesome snowflake macro photographs.

Underwater Macro Photography

Underwater photography is not easy. Perhaps it is more tiresome than you think. A lot of things depend on you and when everything goes with you perfectly, then you can claim to be capable of capturing underwater photography. Unlike the average photography, here you need to buy thousands of dollars of photography gear and diving equipment underwater, you need to know diving techniques, and most importantly, you have to know underwater photography lighting. Besides, you must have the ability to shake frustration. Many times, you may experience what you never want, suppose you dive into the water, but there are no fish or other subjects you are looking for. Again, you may feel sick or have some other physical shortcoming, etc. That’s why you should have a good preparation for experiencing the amazing things underwater that most people never experience.

UnderwaterMacro Photography Gear

A good preparation, in case of this type of photography, is needed and it includes long planning, some training as well as suitable underwater macro photography equipment. This task is pretty much hard, but it is a lot of fun. Its success depends much on the right use of gear. So, let’s have a talk about the gear of underwater macro photography.

🔷 Camera & Lens

You can capture underwater macro photos with a water-resistant compact camera or a DSLR. What you have to check out about it is only its zooming capability which allows you to shoot closer photos. Nothing more, you need regarding the camera, but you need a macro lens and an appropriate flat port. You should select a lens with a suitable focal length, minimum focus, and working distance. The macro lenses you will use for an underwater macro photo should have a 60mm to 100/105mm range. There are lots of brands such as Nikon, Canon, Olympus, etc. you can take their lenses for the best performances.

🔷 Strobe for Lighting

It is a significant issue. You know, good photography is all about proper lighting. Underwater macro photography is not an exception, even here it is more challenging. The only built-in camera flash is not enough and cannot create clear images. That’s why, an external flash or flashgun which is also known as a strobe, is crucial. It will provide you with more flexibility. There are lots of options that allow using various light effects regarding watercolor, depth, and clarity. For perfect exposure, use more than one strobe and place those at different angles.

🔷 Diving equipment

Then you need the necessary underwater diving equipment. There are lots of things such as gear bag, hand torch, compass, surface signaling device, GPS rescue device, some emergency tools, oxygen tank, diving knife, and more, just know the activities and facilities of everything and justify which are suitable for you and buy that are affordable. Moreover, you need proper training for underwater macro photo shooting.

How To Shoot Underwater Macro Photographs

First thing first. For underwater macro photo shooting, take preparation, make yourself ready, and dive into the water. Get as close to your subject as possible, especially within 12 inches. Make ready your flash and turn it on. Use an external strobe or flash for minimizing backscatter and to get proper exposure, use strobe more than one, because water reduces color, contrast, and sharpness. Get low and shoot from an upward angle and focus on your subject’s eyes for the best composition. Then, set your camera to the highest resolution. In this case, ISO should be the lowest to begin. However, now shoot your underwater macro images. If your images lack sharpness, concentrate on shutter speed. It should be1/30th for still subjects, 1/60th for the slow-moving subject, and 1/125th for fast-moving subjects like fish. Finally, if requires, edit your images DIY or take a photography post-production service from any professional bulk image editing company.

Water Drop Macro Photography

This type of photography is really fun! Taking a perfect shot of a speedy water drop macro image is very challenging. It is the art of capturing close-up photos. These photos have details, though they cannot be seen with bare eyes. Actually, macro photography means greater images than the subjects. Waterdrop macro photography is also that. Usually, water drop is seen naturally on leaves, flowers, or anywhere. It looks like a world on its own. You can also create a water drop with a perfect background or a nice scenario reflected on the drop by yourself.

Water Drop Macro Photography Gear

To get wonderful water drop macro photos, you should have some important gear such as a camera, macro lens, a steady platform like a table, dropper or syringe, pin, etc. These gears will provide you with more ease to have beautiful water drop images.

🔷 Camera & Lens

If you can afford it, use the costlier camera. But, if you cannot, start water drop photography with what you have- SLR, DSLR, or smartphone. Only what you have to think about this photoshoot is shutter speed. Your camera must have a very quick shutter speed. The shutter should be around 1/200^th per second and for having enough depth of field, the aperture for macro photography should be f4-f5. Anyway, the proper use of a macro lens is another issue. Use a macro lens so that you can focus on your subjects easily.

🔷 Tripod

It is another significant gear for taking a water drop photo. If your hand is shaky (even though it is not shaky), use a suitable tripod to have a clear and blur-free water drop. Without a tripod, your best images may get distorted and lack sharpness. Because, though it looks steady, we are always moving even a little bit which will ruin the effort of taking macro images.

🔷 Table

After getting a steady camera with a tripod, you need a steady subject. So, keep your subject on a table. You’ll get another advantage with the table and that is the perfect angle which is very important for perfect shots. Your tripod or camera and the subject should be placed on the same level.

🔷 Dropper or Syringe / Pin

Though you know how to create a water drop, we like to give you some extra info about the water drop creator. If you use a dropper or syringe without a needle, you can easily create a water drop. You can also use a pin for the same purpose.

How To Shoot Water Drop Macro Photos

For stunning water drop a beautiful macro photo, take good preparation with all of the necessary accessories. Then, set up the photography equipment at the studio or anywhere you like to take the photo. At the very first, place a table and keep a water bucket on it. A suitable tripod should be setup then just beside and parallel with the water drop. You can take such an image in two ways- one is still a droplet on a flower or leaf and the other way is to take a falling water drop in the still water.

In the case of a still water drop photo, create a water drop on a flower or leaf using a dropper or syringe. Try to use natural light or if needed, use an external flash. To increase the beauty, place another flower just behind the water drop so that it can be focused through the drop. Finally, set the camera on the tripod, concentrate on ISO, and aperture, and take the image.

If you want to take an image of a falling water droplet, set everything like the static water droplets photography. Here you should be quicker while shooting with the pace of falling water drops. Concentrate on the right momentum and the shutter speed of your camera. For taking this type of image, the minimum camera setting is ISO 200, 85mm lens, 1/125 shutter speed, f/11 aperture, and the DSLR you like most. If your smartphone can take water droplets, you can also use the phone.