Tips for Macro Photography.

This is a photo of a microlepidoptera namely the Plume Moth taken at Nagla Block SGNP Mumbai in 2015.  These generally have wingspans of under 20 mm and are about the size of a small mosquito.  To take photos of so small subjects one needs a macro lens.  It can also be done by attaching a reversing ring to the camera and using your kit lens by reversing it.


In Macro photography one needs to use very small apertures so as to have a greater depth of focus.  Macro lenses have very small depth of fields and will give you blurred legs if you focus on the eyes of the insect.  To get the whole insect in focus use apertures like F/20, F/22, F/29 etc.


Using very small apertures decreases the amount of light entering the camera.  To counter this use a ring flash which attaches on top of the lens.  As the subjects in macro photography are very small light from the in built flash may not reach them.


The plane of the camera sensor should be placed parallel to the wings of the butterfly or moth to get an ideal view of the subject.  The subject placed according to the Rule of Thirds (ROT) lends to a pleasing composition.


A fast shutter speed is essential to avoid blurring due to shaking hands.  To get a faster shutter speed increase ISO setting to maximum permissible level to avoid noise.   Too high ISO settings causes photo to break up into pixels showing noise.