Getting Up Close With Macro Photography

Macro Photography is essentially taking extremely close up pictures of smaller subjects so that the size of the subject in the photograph is far larger than its actual life size. This is by far one of my favourite types of photography because it lets you get up close with the subject and brings out a lot of different details that could other wise be missed. A good portion of macro photography pictures are related to nature in some way although it doesn't have to be limited to that alone. I particularly like taking pictures of things nature related, but however due to the fact that there is still snow on the ground and its been rather chilly, I haven't had much opportunity to go out and take pictures. I've taken a few shots but i'm thinking that I will revisit this type of photography when the weather gets better!

Okay so these are the shots that I did take and they taught me a lot about how macro photography works. 

1) Using a smaller aperture ( the space through which the light has to travel) can help you bring out more detail and help you make the most out of your depth of field. 

2)The appropriate lighting is super important, because you have to get so close to your subject you don't want to be in lighting that will cause you to cast a shadow across your pictures.

Often times whenever I actually see a photo shoot I partially wonder why photographers take so many pictures of the same thing. However whiles taking these pictures I found myself taking multiple shots of the same thing, trying different angles, apertures, and camera lighting. I've realized that unknowingly when you see something that you want to photograph you already begin to know exactly what you want to see in the picture and when you do see it you will know but that only can come with the patience of being able to take time to try different things with your subject, meaning taking more than one picture!

Sometimes however whiles your messing around with different ways to take a picture you end up with something you totally didn't plan but still find that you like.

For me this picture was one of those surprises, I had been messing around with the aperture and I got really really close to the leaf and all that caused for the main subject to turn out blurred but to have the whole background extremely sharp... and although it wasn't what I planned I loved how it turned out. So that was a nice unexpected surprise.

Types of Photography & Camera Envy

Through much of my research, I'm starting to realize just how broad the field of photography is. There are many different types of photography and although I would love to try all of them it wouldn't be realistic to say that I could or would in the next four months. I'm realizing that I'm going to have to pick a few types that I like and then work on those. One type of photography that I really love is landscape photography, another is architecture photography ( though I'm not sure how much of this I'll be able to do), also macro photography and street photography. Along with trying different tips and tricks, I will try to pursue and improve my skills in these types of photography.

Also the topic of "Camera Envy." I read this on a website and it made me laugh because the name is so close to the truth. Most people like me who are just starting out in photography don't have an extremely fancy camera such as a digital SLR, rather just simple compact point and shoot. However the internet is filled with tips for making the most out of having such a camera. I'm learning lots about my cameras capabilities and finding out that it is still capable of taking "good quality" pictures. In the future I do plan on getting a DSLR camera but as of now I don't have the money for it  (the one I would like is currently $549)  , so until then I'm going to use the camera I have now and do my best to live with my "Camera Envy."