Lynda - Foundations of Photography Macro and Close-Up

It's a small world, and capturing it with a photograph can be challenging. In this course, photographer, author, and teacher Ben Long takes you on a fantastic voyage into the realm of the tiny, detailing the gear and shooting techniques necessary to capture extreme close-ups of everything from products to posies.

After touring the possibilities of macro photography, the course details essential gear at several price levels, including lenses, flashes, and other accessories. Next, Ben explores the special challenges of macro photography: dealing with moving subjects, working with extremely shallow depth of field, focusing, lighting, and more.

The course also explores advanced close-up tools and post-processing techniques, such as using Adobe Photoshop to "stack" multiple shots to yield wider depth of field than a single shot can convey.

Topics include:

What is a macro photograph?

What is a macro lens?

Finding good subject matter

Evaluating macro gear like extension tubes and tilt-shift lenses

Composing and framing shots

Exploring depth of field

Lighting macro shots

Working with light tables

Editing macro shots