Next, turn the camera back on, and pull the lens just slightly away from the camera (it should still be detached!). Then turn off your camera, and detach the lens. (There’s a slight risk of exposing your camera sensor to dirt.) If you’re familiar with the concept of freelensing, it’s like that, but with a twist.Ĭhoose a backup camera body and a cheap camera lens in the 50mm range. It’ll help you capture photos with brilliant light leaks, like this: If you’re bored of getting the same macro look over and over again, then this DIY macro photography hack is for you. Detach your lens for an artistic macro look And this will allow you to easily capture powerful compositions.Ĥ. Because they’re in separate vases, they’ll all be perfectly isolated. Place them in front of a gorgeous background.Īnd then photograph all the flowers, individually. The next time the light is good, take all the vases outside. Note: You want the flowers to extend pretty far over the top of the vase, which is why I suggest you avoid taller vases. Find the biggest, best-looking flowers of the bunch.Īnd then put them all in separate vases (or cups). When you get home, check over the flowers for blemishes and other issues. I like to work with tulips, but you can really use anything! Go to your local grocery store, and purchase a bouquet of your favorite flowers. You have to work with what you’ve got.īut if you use this DIY macro photography hack, you can capture a gorgeous set of macro flower photos. Now, when you’re shooting in nature, you don’t have much control over this. …that’s when things start to look really compelling. If several flowers are overlapping, your photo may fall flat. The way that flowers are positioned can make a macro shot look amazing…or terrible. Shoot with one flower in a vase for powerful compositions I recommend increasing the whites, to give a slightly brighter, airier look. Once you have your shots, you’ll probably need to do a bit of post-processing. Instead, mount your camera on a tripod and use a narrow aperture (i.e., f/8 and above) to ensure perfect sharpness. While you can do everything handheld, I don’t recommend this, especially if your flowers are more three dimensional. I recommend shooting parallel to the lightbox from above. Then turn on the lightboard, and place your flowers on top of it. You want your flowers to have a soft, even look. You’ll want to work in a room that has only diffused ambient light. Flowers with translucent petals work best. Once you have your lightbox, you’ll need to choose a main subject. While a bigger lightbox is generally better, anything A4 and above should work fine. You can purchase one for around 20 dollars on Amazon. Have you ever wanted to capture macro photos that look bright and high-key? Maybe even transparent?Īll you need is a basic lightbox, often used by artists for tracing. Use a lightbox for a stunning high-key, transparent look Try it yourself! And watch as you capture amazing macro images. You can work some serious magic with just a board and some paint. But you’ll need to do a bit more work in post-processing to bring down the blacks. You can still make this work with diffused (i.e., cloudy) light.

If you don’t fully achieve this in-camera, you can use an editing program to drop the blacks in your images. The goal is to lose absolutely all detail in the background. That is, you want a light subject on a dark board. You want to create as much contrast as possible between the board and your subject. Position your main subject so that it’s in the sun, with the black board in the shade, a foot or so behind it. You should choose a main subject that’s fairly light (e.g., yellow and white flowers). I’d recommend two coats of black paint for that ultra-dark look. Step 3: Add the primer and paint the board. The primer is to prevent the wood from tainting the color. I recommend getting a sample paint pot (one should be more than enough). I’d also go for a decent size: at least two feet on all sides. I’d suggest something ultra-thin (because wood can get heavy, fast). Step 1: Go to your local hardware store and purchase a plywood board. Because you can use it to create a deep black background in all of your macro photos.

Which is why this DIY hack is so valuable. Now, achieving a natural black background in nature can be tough. One of my favorite backgrounds is a solid, uniform color:īlack backgrounds allow you to capture somber, moodier macro photography. Because the background is what makes your main subject stand out. In macro photography, the background matters almost as much as your main subject. Use a board for a stunning macro photography background You’ll discover 5 DIY macro photography hacks which you can use for consistently gorgeous images. In this article, I’m going to show you exactly how you can capture amazing macro photos (without breaking the bank). Do you want to take stunning macro photos…

Macro photography ideas