What is the definition of macro photography?

Macro photography is one of the technique that many photographer or even newbie love to learn. It is not something very difficult to learn, but require certain delegated equipment that may put a hole in the pocket. However if the interest and desire is great, investing on equipment is a must, else there's no purpose to continue pursuing the hobby.

However Macro photography have many time being confuse with close-up photography. Both uses similar technique but the end result is difference. Many beginners had found confusion here and wrongly label their creation. This can be quite humiliating when someone has to point out your mistake.

Therefore understanding the definition of macro photography can be helpful here and help improve your composition better.

The definition of Macro photography defines that when photograph an object with an enlargement ration of 1:1 or larger is consider as Macro photography. On the other hand photographing objects with close approximate is know as close-up.

Close up photography usually involve photograph of flowers, object that big enough to focus with standard equipment, while Macro photography involve certain equipment such and Macro lens, extension tube, close up filter or even teleconverter. The objects photographed usually is very small like insects but look big on the picture.

There are many write up on the definition of Macro Photography. Some are very technical while other are just general. It is good to learn both as it give you greater understanding on the subjects.

I have written a post on the true definition of macro photography in NIX Digital Photography blog. If you keen to know more in detail, do head to my post by clicking on the link below.

Definition of Macro Photography

Now that the definition of Marco Photography is clearly define, it is now importance to choose the right equipment for this hobby. As mention earlier on, Marco photography required dedicated equipment, equipment that was specially design with this purposes.

All macro photographer will agree that a macro lens is a must have. This lenses do not come in cheap because of the complexity of the design and architecture. However there are 3rd party lens maker such as Sigma and Tamron that produce reasonably good quality macro lenses that do not cost you an arm and leg.

Alternatively, extension tube and close up adepter are widely used by beginner to learn macro photography. This is because it is cheap and easily available. However there are some downside on this equipment, Extension tube, which is just a long tube that helps extend the focus point of the lens tends to have short depth of field. This make focusing a difficult task. Close up adepter on the other hand will cause image quality issue due to the cheap lens quality involved.

Other equipment that needed is a dedicated flash system that provide even lighting on the object. Most commonly use flash system is a ring flash. There are also hobbyist who design their flash defuser that fix nicely on any normal flash system yet provide enough coverage on the object itself.

There are many alternative and DIY gadget that can help product good macro photo. All this is make possible by fully understand the definition of macro photography.