Taking close-ups -- extreme close-ups where the recorded image is life-size or larger -- used to require a lot of expensive equipment, like bellows, extension tubes, supplementary lenses, reverse collars, ring strobes, and special macro lenses. Not to mention fast film.


But many consumer-level digital cameras include a macro mode, putting this previously obscure photographic activity in just about everyone's hands.


And, boy, is it fun!


Some of the hard-learned lessons of the old days are worth repeating, but with a digicam most of the drudgery is history. Still, there are important limitations when you start shooting real close-up.


The Macro Lens


Not every digicam offers a macro mode and among those that do, the macro capabilities vary. Cameras with very wide-angle lenses often have very close minimum shooting distances (say, three inches), while cameras with zoom lenses tend to require you to back up to five or six inches (unless, like the Nikon 900 series, you can attach a supplementary wide-angle lens).


Setup


The most important rule of macrophotography is to stabilize the camera. Any camera movement at close range will blur the image.


A tripod will do the job, but it isn't absolutely necessary. A handheld shot often works (and sometimes you have no choice). The point is to stabilize the camera -- and provide some mobility, too. The easiest way to frame your close-up shot is to move the camera, not the lens or the subject.


That's because the critical focusing distance in close-up photography is the opposite of normal photography. We normally focus by changing (ever so slightly) the distance between the lens and the film plane (where the CCD sits) and we change the size of the image by moving the camera closer or further away from the subject. But in macrophotography we focus by moving the lens closer or further from the image and change the magnification by moving the lens further or closer to the film plane.


Stabilizing the camera includes eliminating camera shake when you press the shutter. (See "Rock Steady Without a Tripod" for more on this subject.)