I am here to tell you some easy methods to take amazing Macro shots.
I have seen a lot of my friends taking macro shots on their camera. But let me be honest, I take every macro shot on my phone (basically I am a phone photographer). I will tell you name of some equipment which you can use on your phone to take great shots(let me clarify that I am not doing any advertisement of my equipment).
So, let me introduce you to the equipment that I use:-
- My phone i.e Xiaomi Mi A1 and following are its camera details:-
- 12MP dual-camera, it has a 12MP sensor with 26mm f/2.2 lens and 1.25µm pixels
- There are 17 filters available with shooting modes such as - Beautify, Panorama, Timer, Audio, Tilt Shift, Straighten, Manual, Group Shot and Night mode.
The Manual mode lets you take ISO (100-3200) and exposure value (up to 1/15s), white balance, and focuses as well.
- One of the best thing about its camera is its Portrait mode that allows you to take perfect portrait shots.
- For video recording, it also provides slow motion recording and 4K recording features as well.
- Next comes the lens which I use to shot for better magnification and that is Easy-Macro Lens Band which I bought from eBay.in that is having 4X magnification and can be used with any smartphones.
Now, I think this information is sufficient for the camera and the equipment.
So, here are some points you should make clear before taking you Macro shot:-
- Patience- First of all comes patience. As a macro photographer, you have to keep patience as you will be dealing with small objects like you are taking shots of small insects like ants, mosquitoes and whatever. Sometimes they will fly or change their position so you have to be calm.
- Focusing Distance- This really matters a lot. It will decide the clarity of you image. Especially if you are taking the image using mobile phones. After, all it is rightly said by any photographer that- “If your image is not clear, it means you are not so close”.
- Taking a lot of pictures- You have to take lots of pictures so that you can have a large number of choices to choose between which image to select or which to reject. You can play images on slideshow view or compare in programs like Picasa (which I often take into use).
- Focus- Adjust your focus meter as it meets the demand of the photo. So that you can take the perfect click and judge your images on the basis of focus.
 |
 |
- Focus Peaking- Make use of focus peaking if available in your device this shows the areas which are under focus by your camera. As you can see here, this awesome feature of your camera reddens the focus area of your image and helps to gets the best focus properly.
- Manual mode- Sometimes you have to shoot the photo in manual mode to adjust focus, white balance, exposure value, and Lens, and remember these settings varies from phone to phone. You can say that it is the main setting of your camera, using which you can manage ISO, aperture and shutter speed. You can make your photo bright or dark and even change overall look of your image.
 |
 |
- Filters- You can also make use of filters to give natural look to your image. For cameras like DSLR, you have to buy filters and it comes slightly expensive. These come in many color variant like- yellow, red, blue or green. There are other various like- Polarizing Filters, UV filters, Neutral Density Filters and many more.
- Search for patterns- If you look around yourself you will find a lot of patterns like spots, spirals and much more. And it can be found easily either natural or man-made. They are arranged in any proper or random order that pleases to our eye.
- Break the rules- If possible try to break the rules. As we all know it is said by the famous Douglas MacArthur that "Rules are mostly made to be broken".
- Insects - Sometimes insects are fun to shoot. Sometimes it so happens that the insects collect the pollen grains or nectar from the flower and ignores you. Therefore, you have to be conscious as to when to shoot and when not to. You can bring your lens and camera close to it gradually and smoothly, click large numbers of shoots, and finally go for the perfect one.
- Watch from the third eye- As a good photographer, you must see your image from third person eye. I mean from point of view of other person. You don’t have to think as you have take that particular photo so it is very nice or no one can say that it is wrongly taken.
- Discover in detail- Sometimes you need to discover the hidden things in your image, which you have to look very sincerely. Here is one of my illustration that will give you an idea.
- Play with water droplets- One of the best ways to represent your skills in macro photography is to make use of water droplets. It enhances the beauty of your photos and expresses you in a better way. Here are some images that I took with water droplets.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Some more examples,
 |
 |
All photos clicked by and the blog is written by Vijayendra Keshav for WPC project How to capture amazing Macro shots?
