Macro Photography — The Complete Guide

The ultimate video guide to macro photography.

Macro photography is an exciting area of photography and is accessible to all photographers. There is something suitable for all budgets and skill levels. It is all about getting close up, magnifying the small and blowing it up to a larger than life size. We do this with the power of our lens and camera.

This series of macro tutorials takes you from a basic macro setup, through to a more advanced setup. It concludes by delving into the complex work of macro focus stacking. Also included is a water drop photography tutorial. This is a practical and extremely fun use of macro photography.

The first video covers shooting macro photography on a budget. We use cheap gear like a standard kit lens, macro reverse ring and extension tubes. This introduction is the place to begin if you are entering the world of macro photography for the first time.

The second video features a more advanced macro photography setup. It includes the use of a dedicated macro lens, macro flash, tripod and off camera flash. The better quality gear and increased skill levels will allow you to capture beautiful images in uncountable scenarios. Everything from a dragon fly hovering above a leaf, to a cool close up of a Star Wars lego character.

The third video covers the complex world of focus stacking. This area of macro photography overcomes the very shallow depth of field often associated with high magnifications. It allows us to capture amazing images with sharpness from front to back. The video includes shooting the images and the post-processing in Adobe Photoshop.

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Adam Karnacz is a photographer in London, England. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Flickr. He has written for Vantage, previously, about drip photography and infrared image-making.