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Watch: Video explains what lens diffraction is and why photographers should even care

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Diffraction is a topic that pops up regularly in photography and filmmaking. “Oh, you don’t want to stop your lens down all the way, you’ll get diffraction!”. But what is diffraction, how does it affect your shot, can anything be done about it and should you really even care?

Macro photography expert Don Komarechka has just put out a great video for DPReview TV going into quite some depth to explain the cause of diffraction – in a very easy-to-digest way with lots of practical demonstrations – and why it makes your images softer the more you stop down your aperture.

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This trippy macro timelapse turns shriveling of plants into art

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Motion designer Christian Stangl has shown us some incredible videos shot in space. This time, he chose quite the opposite of the vast universe and filmed a timelapse from up close. Using macro lenses or a microscope, he shot an incredible timelapse named Dry Out, showing various plants shriveling as they dry out.

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Here’s the complete macro setup for photographing your own eye

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The World of Macro Photography is full of fascinating subjects, but eyes and irises have got to be among the most mesmerizing ones.
And as with most captivating subjects, capturing it can be quite a challenge. In this article, I will share tips, tricks, and all the know-how you’ll need to create photographs, just like the one above, yourself.

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Pros and cons of teleconverters for macro photography

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What are teleconverters and how do they work?

Tele-converters are handy lens add-ons that multiply the focal length of the lens they are attached to. They can be mounted in between the camera body and lens (typically a telephoto lens) and increase the focal length of the lens which they are attached to.

By how much is dependent on their power, which is stated as a factor. E.g. a 1.4x teleconverter multiplies the original focal length of a lens by 1.4. As a result a 100mm lens would turn into a 140mm lens, a 200mm lens would turn into a 280mm lens, and so on. Most common are 1.4x or 2x converters, but occasionally converters as strong as 3x can be found as well.

Why am I telling you this in a macro blog? Well, the beauty of these converters is that their power not only applies to the focal length of regular lenses, but to the magnification ratio of macro lenses just as well!

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Just how good are cheap extension tubes and do they really compare to an expensive dedicated macro lens?

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Macro photography is some of the most fun you can have with a camera. But good macro lenses can be very expensive. There are other things we can do, however, to get macro-like images with our regular lenses, though, without actually having to buy a macro lens. There are close-up filters, reversing rings and extension tubes, for example.

But the latter of those three options, extension tubes, is generally thought to give the best results. But how do they really compare to a true macro lens? In this video, Karl Taylor takes a look at true macro lenses vs extension tubes on both Sony full-frame and Hasselblad medium format systems to see how the two techniques stack up against each other.

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Here are seven macro photography ideas you can shoot at home and on a budget

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When the weather is bad or you’re in a lockdown, taking some shots at home is one of the best ways to spend time. And there can never be enough ideas to spark some inspiration if you ask me. So, Spencer Cox has created a video to show you seven low-budget ideas for macro photos you can shoot at home right now. He also shares a bunch of useful tips for getting the best results, which will be especially useful if you’re new to this genre of photography.

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My process for creating insect portraits with macro photography

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Each print that I create is a composite of hundreds (sometimes thousands) of individual photos digitally stitched together. Using a method of macro photography called “photo stacking” it’s possible to create images with an incredible amount of detail, even when printed at a very large scale.

To show you the amount of work involved—often reaching 10 to 20 hours per image or more—I’ll walk you through my process using a giant stag beetle (Cyclommattus metallifer finae) from Indonesia. It is time-intensive and tedious, but worth it. Let’s get to it.

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Here are 13 close-up photography ideas to shoot when you’re bored at home

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Judging from the current situation, we’ll face another round of lockdowns soon. Winter is also closer than it seems here in the Northern hemisphere, so all in all- I guess we’ll be at home a lot more. And in case you get bored, you can always spend some quality time with your camera. In this video, Run N Gun will show you ten ideas for shooting close-up and macro photos around the house, and I’ll jump in with three of my own.

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Close-up Photographer of the Year winners will make you rediscover the world around you

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Seeing the world around us from up close gives us a whole new perspective of even the most everyday things. If you enjoy rediscovering your surroundings through photography, you’re gonna love this year’s winners of the Close-up Photographer of the Year (CUPOTY) contest. It celebrates close-up, macro, and micro photography, and it lets us see the world anew.

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