Macro Series, Part VI: Composition and Tips

July 14, 2024  •  Leave a Comment

Great macro images do not become great simply because of being macro images. Yes, the details and often never seen before (for most people) intricacies of an insect or flower petal does command the viewer's attention but that is not enough. If the image is not a great image, people will look at the image for the intricacies' sake rather than because it is a good photograph. Their comment will often revolve around the subject of the image rather than the photography thereof. You know that you have a good image if people start to ask photography questions such as, "how did you get that image?" or "you must have some specialized equipment." What makes for a great macro image then?

          Just like any other photograph, composition matters, background matters, angle of view matters, and color matters. Let's look at an example:

This image is not staged. It is not taken indoors or using a studio type setup. Everything about this image is natural, even the background. But the way the image turned is no accident. Everything about this image was intensionally orchestrated to come out that way. Let's see what we can learn from this image by looking at each element.

  1. Compositionally speaking, you can see that the rule of thirds are used here.

  2. The ladybug is looking into the image and has room to move into the image. You never want your subject to leave your image as so will your viewer.

  3. There is action. Interaction between animals makes images more interesting. Have your insect interact with another animal or with a water drop, or with a leaf or a flower or something. Images that show behavior, interaction, and movement will most always be more interesting than static images of the bug just sitting there doing nothing and looking half dead.

  4. With insects, just like with birds, try to get to their eye level. The worse kind of shot is the boring angle right from above or from a 45 degree angle from above. We want the viewer to engage with the insect, they need to make eye contact with the subject. Get down low.

  5. Since the stem this ladybug is sitting on is controlled with my left hand, I can slightly move the plant. So move it in such a position that the background is pleasing. Backgrounds can make or break our images.

  6. Direct sunlight on insects often do not make for great images. I deliberately placed myself between the insect and the sun to place the subject in my shade. Let your flash manage your light and let that diffuser do its work. If your position relative to the insect and the plant's stem does not make for a nice composition because you moved to block the sun, just gently move that plant or stem with your left hand to get it the way you want it. This is the nice thing about macro, much of it is in your control.

  7. Remember that depth of field is your biggest enemy when it comes to macro images. To maximize your depth of field make sure that that stem runs parallel to your focal plane (your sensor). Often we let the stem angle away from us, only to ruin the focus. The more parallel everything is to your sensor the better your depth of field will be.

  8. Compose a bit loosely. There needs to be some space around your subject. Because we are taking a number of images at different distances, the size of the subject is going to differ from image to image. The composition needs to allow for enough room around the subject to allow for a slightly larger subject towards the end of the stack of images, so as not to cut any part of the subject off.

Now that we have our stack of image, it is time to process them. I will share my processing workflow with you next week.


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