If you’ve recently bought a macro lens for your DSLR but haven’t quite achieved the crisp, clear shots you were hoping for, you might be making one of the common mistakes photographer Susan Stripling often comes across in her work. In the clip below, she explains what these mistakes are and how to fix them to get the results you’re looking for:
Common Macro Photography Mistakes
According to Stripling’s experience, if you’re not getting the macro results you’re looking for it’s most likely because of one of the following:
- not choosing the correct f-stop
- not working correctly with your foreground and/or background
- using the wrong shutter speed
- not lighting the piece correctly
Her main tip for professional photographers? Practice shooting at home.
“Go home. Take your own jewelry off. Set it on something, shoot it, and move your background in, and then move it further away. And see what the relationship between the foreground and background does when you start moving it around, shooting with a macro lens.”
Shot at f/16 with a Nikon 105mm macro lens
Macro Photography Tips
Some of Stripling’s other macro photography tips include:
- If you’re having trouble getting everything in focus, open up your aperture to something like f/9 or f/11 (the shot above was taken at f/16!).
- Know your camera-shake limits; if you know you won’t be using a tripod, don’t shoot at slower speeds than your hands can handle.
- Try using natural lighting on jewelry.
How about you? Do you have any other tips to share?
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Thanks for the tips. A magnifying glass has been placed in front of my camera many times, but I have never admitted to doing so since it would make me feel ashamed.
Great tips, really useful content!