How to Shoot Macro Photos Without a Macro Lens: Simple Setup for Beginners
Have you ever looked at something and wanted to capture a close-up image of it? I mean, really close-up — like “macro” style? You’ve seen the photos of bugs so tight you can see the hairs on their legs. That’s true macro photography. It usually requires a dedicated macro lens, which a casual photographer is not likely to own. They can be pretty expensive. For my camera, the Canon R6, a new lens can run $1,100 to $1,300. Even used, they can start at $800 and go as much as $1,000.
I’ve found a workaround that can give me a fairly tight close-up without owning a true macro lens. This process gives me that macro feel, even if it’s not a 1:1 true macro match. It does still require one specialized piece of equipment, but the price was significantly lower than a true macro lens. Let’s start there.
Macro Gear Alternatives
If you aren’t ready to invest in a macro lens, you have other options. We’ll look at several of them now.
Rent a Lens to Try It
One option is to rent a lens from one of the many lens rental companies, and that’s a great way to test gear. Many lens rental companies will let you buy the lens you’ve rented if you decide you love it. I’ve used Lens Rentals to check out a very expensive lens I was eyeing. I found that it wasn’t any better than the best lens I already had. Cost me about $50 to save $800.
A Close-Up Lens Filter
A close-up lens filter screws onto the end of your standard lens. I got this set from Amazon, but it was after I took this picture, and I’ll do a review of it later. For now, I can say that it does provide handy magnification for everyday use.
Smartphone Camera
My iPhone’s camera can get in pretty close without losing focus. I’ve tried some clip-on lenses to accommodate more macro-type shots. The disadvantage of those is that I keep my iPhone in an Otter Box (each one has paid for itself in avoided repair costs when I’ve dropped the phone). Those clip-on lenses don’t work well with the bulkier cases, and taking my phone out of the case to take a few pictures isn’t a viable option for me. I’ve also tried a couple of apps that claim to provide Macro vision, but I didn’t see that they did as well as the native camera settings. All in all, the iPhone camera on the non-Pro models is a reasonable option, but still not quite what I was looking for.
Your Telephoto Lens at a Minimum Focus Distance
I’ve tried using my 300mm and my 600 mm lenses at the minimum distances, moving into as close a range as would allow a good focus. It “worked,” but not as well as I was hoping. I wanted to really get in there and pick up each strand of the yarn, and none of my lenses would give me the nice, sharp focus I needed that close in.
Set up a Macro-Type Lens
For this shot, I used a Macro Reverse Adapter Ring and Lens Protector that I purchased from Amazon for $11.99. However, I purchased it when I was using my older Canon T5, and they have different filter thread sizes. The T5 is 58mm, and the R6 lenses are mostly 67mm. Additionally, the lens mounts on the camera bodies are different. The T5 uses an EF/EF-S mount, and the R6 uses an RF mount. Visually, there’s not a lot of difference between them, but my T5 lenses don’t fit the R6 – unless I use an adapter.
When I bought the R6, one factor was the investment in the lenses I already owned. Staying in-brand, I can use an adapter to mount EF/EF-S lenses on the RF body. I lose a bit of performance when compared to using the same lens made for the RF mount, but not enough to justify buying everything again.
These are the pieces of my Macro Image setup:
The Connection Process
I connected the EF-to-RF adapter (far right in the image) to my camera, then connected the reversing ring (center item) to my adapter. Sometimes camera gear can be finicky, and the reversing ring resisted connection. Patience paid off, and I finally got it attached. Now, here’s where your mindset has to shift a bit. The next step is to screw the OUTER END of the lens you’re using into the reversing ring. That means you have an open end of the lens exposed to the world, so you need to be careful to keep it covered to protect it from dust. That makes this method less than ideal for getting very close to flower stamens, where the pollen can get into the lens and give you permanent lens dust spots.
Careful Focus
This method doesn’t allow the use of autofocus, because the electronic contacts that control focusing are on the end of the lens that normally connects to the camera body. Those sensors are now facing outward, so you will need to focus manually. The reason we love autofocus so much is that focusing can be tricky, but that’s what this type of setup requires. It’s much easier with a tripod, because you don’t have to accommodate the natural movements of your own body, like breathing or shifting balance. If you don’t have a tripod, try to find something to set the camera down on or lean against something for stability. Use a higher shutter speed to avoid blurry pictures from movement, and, by the way, the slightest movement will show up in the image.
Even though you want to avoid movement during the exposure itself, you can still move your body around and change the shooting angle between shots instead of just zooming. Play around with the way you see the object, and get several different perspectives. It’s just 1s and 0s, after all, and you can always delete the ones you don’t like. You may find that the closest shot isn’t the one that tells the story you want to tell.
Focus and Depth of Field
Depth of Field
When you’re shooting macro images, depth of field is naturally very shallow because you’re very close to your subject. Use the information in this post to understand depth of field. The basic relationship is that higher f-numbers (smaller numbers) give you more depth of field, and lower f-numbers open the aperture more, providing less depth of field. You’ll probably want to experiment, but at macro distances, the depth of field stays quite thin no matter what, so you need to choose your focus plane very carefully. Let me explain that.
Focus Plane
The focus plane is an imaginary flat surface, parallel to the camera’s lens. Imagine a super-thin pane of glass. Anything that is on that surface is as perfectly in focus as you can get it. Changing your depth of field settings changes the ‘good enough’ zone around that plane, but the focus plane itself is the only place where objects are as sharply focused as they can be.
Using Focus
You can try using Auto Focus, but you probably won’t be satisfied with the results. Using single-point Auto Focus will give you the best results, but coming in that close, it’s still challenging for a lens to do a good job. You’ll probably end up wanting to use manual focus. That’s sometimes a challenge for me, because, while I’m right-eye dominant, my right eye has very poor vision. If I have to take my glasses off to do the focus, I have to use my left eye, because its vision is almost perfect. I find that harsh midday sunlight almost always calls for taking off the prescription sunglasses to get a good focus. It’s still worth doing, though, for the quality of shots I can get.
Diffraction
If you are using a lens that can go really small on aperture, it can be tempting to “stop down” to the smallest aperture (the biggest number) it allows. You should, at least once, so you can see what happens. You’re likely to find that as you take that opening smaller and smaller, you get to a perfection point, and then the image starts getting “softer.” As you dial that aperture smaller, the light coming in through the opening sort of “squeezes” through it. However, as it comes out the other side of the opening, it’s no longer traveling in a straight line. It spreads out and interferes with itself. Each point in the scene is recorded as a slightly bigger soft spot rather than a tiny point. The result is a reduction in fine detail.
That “sweet spot” of sharp focus will be different for every macro or macro-type shot. Each object has its own shape, your distance from the subject will never be exactly the same twice, and moving around changes how the light hits the subject. Photography is an activity of “try and see,” but learning some of the science behind it can help you learn why some things work better than others in certain situations.
Light and Backgrounds for Macro Shots
So much in photography depends on light that it’s worth studying in depth. Macro photography is no exception. Macro shots work well with soft light, coming from overcast skies or window light. Direct light with diffusers can work, but you don’t need to invest in expensive studio equipment when you can bounce a light off a nearby wall and get plenty of light for your shot. You can also try using a piece of white poster board to put some gentle light where it’s lacking, to kind of reduce a shadow where it exists, and where you don’t want it.
Macro shots work best when the background is clean and uncluttered. You can usually walk around the object and find a background that meets that expectation. It helps to shift your angle or the distance between yourself and the object. You may also have to move the object further from its background to separate it from the background. Solid colors work best, but it’s not necessary to introduce a separate item for the background, since you’re using a very shallow depth of field.
Good Starter Objects
You don’t have to start with bumblebees and water droplets. This image came from a ball of yarn, but I’ve also used candy canes, the detailed carving on my desk, and tree bark. The fascination can be in the texture you’re illustrating. As you get familiar with your own process, move to household items, showing something special in something ordinary. Look for abstract patterns in simple objects. Eventually, you’ll see a bug that captures your attention. Hopefully, by then you’ll have enough experience that you know what it will take to show him off.
Post-Processing
I think the only hard and fast rule I follow is not to listen to “purists” who say that a good photographer never needs to use post-processing. Even Ansel Adams used post-processing. If it’s good enough for him, I’m not going to be ashamed to admit I use several processing tools. You won’t always get the composition perfect, so cropping can be a strategic choice. (Even in my wildlife shots, I can’t always be standing in the “right” spot for the perfect shot, but I can make it look like I was.)
You can also use some gentle sharpening and noise reduction for some smaller details. You do want to be careful about how much you adjust. There’s a fine line between “almost right” and “overdone.” It won’t look horrible, but it also won’t look quite natural. Again, it’s 1s and 0s, so play around with the image and select the one you like best.
Your Turn
Have you tried macro shots? I’d love to see a few. Even if you aren’t ready to invest in any gear, try isolating something using a close focus, and see what details you notice. Then come back and share your experience in the comments!
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