Closeups Without A Macro Lens

Some people can buy all the lenses they need for any situation. There are wide angle lenses, macro (closeup) lenses, telephoto lenses, and on and on. This is really an endeavor where you can spend money forever to get the best and latest equipment. But what if you are like me and cannot do that? Some things are still possible.

Macro lenses allow you to get extremely close to a subject and get amazingly clear and dramatic shots. They cannot be duplicated for what they do. If you really want to see the smile of a dragonfly, only a macro lens will get you there. But you can come close after much practice and trial an error with whatever lens that you have as your "go to" lens.

Closeups or macros can be achieved with non-macro lenses in one of two ways: Crop the bejeebers out of your image or get as close as you possibly can and still get good focus. The cropping angle is problematic. First, you still need to have focused really well and have gotten good detail. But, also, if you are like me and offer your images for prints, throw pillows, duvet covers, phone cases, etc., cropping can take you out of the game for some of those products and severely limit the size of a print you can offer.

One extreme example is a duvet cover. This is a large bedding item and sells for a pretty good amount of money. A severely cropped image will look like a postage stamp on an envelope for a duvet cover. I don't think anybody will buy something that looks like that.

The other, better option is to get as close as you possibly can and still focus your lens. A zoom lens is actually better for this than the standard lens that comes with your camera. But you can make either work. If you are working with a subject that does not move, that's great! The gears of a machine, flowers, texture of tree bark will stay still for you to get a good focus and take the shot.

Animals, flowers in a breeze, butterflies, insects, lizards, etc., do not sit still. They flit away,blow around, run like crazy in survival mode and you do not have time to get all fancy with your settings footwork.

I use both options I have described. On the former, I just remove things like the duvet cover from my offerings for that shot and sigh and settle on knowing that if I sell a print, it will be a smaller size. On the latter, I simply get lucky sometimes.

Here are a couple of examples from my portfolio. I'll let you guess which ones use which options above. The main thing to remember is that if you cannot afford a macro lens (like me), do not give up on this type of shot. Give it your best shot, focus the best you can and try for the best possible light.