Macro Photography

Macro Photography

A macro photography is one in which the size of the subject on the negative or image sensor is life size or greater, although most of the time we will end up looking at a large size image of a really small insect or flower.

Image Bank







I chose these images because I liked how they were simple ideas but they still look very interesting and intriguing from the high amount of detail in them. I take a lot of inspiration from the eye picture because you can see all of the different colours inside the eye and the texture from the skin.

Contact Sheet



I've decided to use these photos because I was inspired by the eye picture in my image bank and I was able to create something similar but I was able to expand on it by taking photos of different facial features.

I like these photos because I was able to capture the texture of the skin in a lot of detail. Also, I like how I took pictures of someone wearing a nose ring because it creates a slight contrast between the rough texture of the skin to the smooth surface from the silver. I have managed to centre the eye in the middle of my frame which attracts more attention to the detail in the iris.

However, I do not like my photos because they look slightly underexposed due to the amount of shadow on the face from the studio light. In my opinion, my photos seem boring because there is not much going on in the photos. For example, in the eye, there is not as much colour compared to the image bank photo which created an interesting/ alluring affect. Also, the overall photo are roughly in the same colour pallet making the photo seem plain and boring.

To create these photos, I used a macro lens and a studio. I liked using a macro lens because it was another technique/ equipment I could experiment and try a different types of photography. This will allow me to produce my work further and wider my thinking on how to take photos because I'll be think about how close I could be to the object to take the photo and show the amount of detail from it. I used a studio so I was in a controlled environment so I could experiment with the lens for further. I used one light to help highlight the skin more in the photo and see the texture easier. However, looking back at my photos, in the future, I might use two lights to help reduce the intensity of the shadow on the face.

Manipulating My Photos



To create this macro final edit photo, I used different settings in photoshop. I at first slightly exaggerated the dark and light areas using curves so it would create a slight contrast and using the contrast setting to set it to the way I liked and then used levels to darken the overall photo a bit. Also, I took down the saturation as the skin started to look slightly reddish but i tried the same affect everywhere else. Afterwards, I used the dodge tool to bring back the colour and some highlights in the eyes.



I like this photo because I have been able to demonstrate macro photography by capturing the different details of the eye. Also, I have managed to bring more colour in the skin which helps emphasise the texture because you can see more visible by being able to see the shadows more clearly. Also, I like how I have been able to bring back the highlights in photoshop because in the studio the light was darkening slightly because it was in the shadow of something else. To improve this photo, I would like to of made the eyelashes slightly more bold to add more texture and another feature to draw the viewer in.