I was late coming to know about macro photography but having found it I love it nearly as much as regular photography. It has opened up a world I never really thought about, seeing the small things and taking notice of the detail in items we see every day.
In the spring of last year I began by photographing insects in the garden. I happen to have a polytunnel which seems to attract lots of little critters who are very happy to stay still and have their portrait taken. This led to me taking so many bug pics that I had to start another Instagram account especially for them. (@just_bugged) It is a little more difficult taking pictures of them out in the ‘wild’ as they tend to be more lively and don’t stay still long enough. The other issue I found with this type of photography is focus, which can be quite tricky with a smartphone. Being a 56 year old who wears reading glasses I couldn’t always get the focus right, but perseverance prevails a lot of the time (and lots and lots of shots!). The depth of focus is very short in macro-mode so you end up with a tilt shift effect in your images. This can work in your favour depending on the subject. If your subject of interest is spread out your focus point is less imperative than if, say, you are taking a photo of the face of a fly. As with everything it is all about trial and error and seeing what works best for you.
If you are not into insects, an interesting experiment you coud try is to fill a glass of water to the brim and add a few drops of oil. This gives you lots of interesting configurations of little (and big) bubbles that float on the surface of the water to create beautifully abstract images. If you add coloured light to this scenario it gets really exciting.
And of course the natural world is an endless choice of macro photography. Getting up close and personal with anything in nature is sure to reveal a glorious bounty of macro interest. It could be a leaf, a mushroom, beads of dew on a spiders web or rain drops on leaves after a shower. You’ll find you are spoiled for choice at almost any time of year.
The best thing about taking pictures with a smartphone is that you don’t waste any film, all you’re using is a bit of memory. So takes lots and lots of pictures, they won’t all be great but there will be one or two that are. Afterwards delete all the ones you are not happy with and just keep the ones you like, freeing up your phone memory again for more photography experiments.
If you want to share your photos or chat about anything smartphone camera related join our Facebook group, Jet Black Shares. We would love to see you there.
