Work Diary - Macro

For my Macro photoshoot, I decided I wanted to make use of the studio rather than shoot on location. I decided this as I felt using the studio setup would allow me to light my subjects well in order to capture the extreme detail you expect from a macro image. Once I had gone into the studio, I used another student as my subject, deciding to use his face to photograph, as I could get close ups of lots of different features in close up. I used the soft lights on flash to brighten my image and shot my photos between f3.5 and f5.6.

This is an image that I feel went well from my shoot. This image was shot on f5.6. This image shows a very high level of detail on my subjects tongue, and was successful as a macro photo as it makes the tongue look larger than life. One reason for it being a success was the lighting. The softlights made the image bright and vivid, making the close up detail on the tongue very clear and bright. It also helped that I used manual focus when taking this photo, as I was able to ensure the image was sharply focused on the tongue rather than anywhere else on the image, meaning that is where your attention is drawn. Because I had shot the image using a low f stop value, a narrow depth of field has been created, which draws more attention to the tongue, which is the focal point of the picture. This image has also been a success on its use of formal elements. It features lots of muted shades of pink on the tongue and on the lips. Pink usually represents love and romance, therefore a muted shade of red could represent the end of a love or romance. It also shows a range of textures; there are some smooth and soft texture around the mouth and on the lips, but there are rough and bumpy textures visible on the tongue.

 This is an image that I feel was not successful in terms of being a macro image. A macro image is defined as being an image that makes something look larger than life, and I feel this image didn't replicate that effect well. Unlike the image above, which featured some depth which allows me to create a narrow depth of field, the subject of this image was flatter, meaning there is a less prominent narrow focal zone and out of focus background; the narrow depth of field was less prominent. Also, I feel photographing an ear didn't work as well as a tongue, as there is less detail which can revealed from a close up perspective; most of the image is skin, which has the same smooth texture. However, there are some rougher textures shown on the shaved hair around the ear.

This is a technique that I will almost definitely not be using during my project, as it is a technique designed for small subjects close up, and the majority of my project revolves around buildings and landscapes.