David Pogue's Digital Photography: The Missing Manual

The Ultra-Closeup

Most people usually photograph people and places. Every now and then, however, you'll need to photograph things: flowers, butterflies, and bees, for example, not to mention stuff you plan to sell on eBay, illustrations for a report, your personal belongings for insurance purposes, and so on.

Every camera, cheap or fancy, has a Macro (close-up) mode. It's always marked on the Mode dial by, for some reason, a tulip.

In any case, macro photography is really fun, because seeing a tiny object blown up huge gives it an automatic impact that inevitably wows your audience. There's not much to it—but do beware:

• Not all cameras let you get equally close to the subject, even in Macro mode. Some cameras can get so close the lens is practically touching the subject (Nikon compacts are famous for this feature). Others have to be at least a couple of feet away. The only way to find out what your camera can manage is to experiment (or just read the specs in the back of the manual, if you can find it).

  

• The half-pressing trick is extremely important when you're shooting close-up. If you half-press and you don't hear the little beep (and see the "OK, we're focused" indicator on the screen), then the close-up shot will be slightly out of focus. If you don't hear the beep, back up a little and half-press again. Repeat until you find the minimum focusing distance.

  Tip

  If you don't follow this ...