A small way to be creatively productive when confined to one’s home

Written by Daniel Klockenkemper

At the time of this writing, I’ve been sequestered at home for about three weeks. I’m lucky to be fortunate (or fortunate to be lucky) during these times: in good health, not wanting for food or shelter, and happily spending time with my family. Given a dearth of job-related work to do, there’s been ample time for reading, catching up on films and television series, calling up old friends, and rearranging furniture around the house.

Rest and relaxation is important and healthy, but too much of a good thing can also easily bring about restlessness. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a little like me, with a photographic itch to create; to contribute a little bit to the world in some way by engaging and indulging your imagination. What can we do when we’re unable to go outside to seek out new sources of inspiration?

I invite you to take a look around yourself, at the regular objects in your own home. Naturally, they appear mundane at first glance; you’ve looked at, handled, and walked past all of them countless times. But look again, look closer – much closer.

Superficial scratches on a kitchen knife, or star trails above a row of standing stones?

Up close, the casting imperfections on this sheet metal screw look like waves in the ocean, seen through the opening of a cave.

The smooth lines of corduroy fabric become dense, chaotic hedgerows.

The tip of this pencil could be a comet, streaking through the sky towards planet Earth.

Under extreme magnification, the textures of unremarkable surfaces become alien landscapes; imagination can transform tiny points of typical items into abstract representations of unexpected forms.

The best part about macro photography is that it only requires a camera with a removable lens. Though it isn’t all that different from most other forms of photography, there are a few things that are helpful to keep in mind:

Lenses made specifically for macro photography are convenient, but aren’t the only way to focus extremely close. The farther away a lens is from the camera, the closer the lens will focus, and the more the subject will be magnified. Special equipment like extension tubes or bellows are another convenient way to achieve this, but an inch or more of cardboard tube and sufficient quantity of photo tape or painter’s tape can make almost any lens work as a macro lens.
A short telephoto focal length can be more convenient in some situations because it allows for more working distance between the lens and subject. Experiment with different lenses if you have them to find what works best for each subject.
As you move the lens farther away from the camera, the inverse square law of lighting applies, so be cautious of underexposure. An in-camera, through-the-lens light meter helps quite a bit.
Unlike other types of photography that favor using wide apertures, with macro photography it’s often difficult to get enough depth of field. It’s not uncommon to use f/16, f/22, or even smaller apertures just to get more than a fraction of a millimeter in focus. Lenses with manual aperture control are preferable, but there are methods to stop down some electronic aperture lenses separate from a camera.
Since macro subjects are small, it’s much easier to light them compared to a large subject. Place your subject by a window, or bring a desk lamp close to the subject. A folded notecard works like an enormous bounce card when your subject is only a fraction of an inch in size.
Because macro subjects are so small, moving the camera a tiny amount can change the composition significantly. Again, while dedicated macro stands and precision-adjustment positioning arms are helpful luxuries, they’re hardly necessary. Every photo in this article was taken with the camera either sitting on a table or stacked up on some books, with subjects stacked on books or notecards and sometimes held down with tape.

If you have a camera, a lens, and some film at home, you have everything you need to start exploring macro photography. Give it a shot - you never know what you might discover in front of your lens!

I had no idea I had houseguests until I put one of my plants in front of the camera.

Macro Photography