Capturing Close-ups

When you want to get up close and personal with a subject, the tools and techniques covered in this topic can help you capture the image you have in mind.

Zooming vs. Moving
If you want to record the details in a subject that’s more than a few feet away, you have two options: You can simply move the camera closer to the subject or you can increase the focal length of the lens by using your camera’s zoom.

Which choice you make affects your photo in a few important ways:

Angle of view - As you increase focal length, you narrow the camera’s angle of view. That means that your picture will contain less of the background than if you position the camera closer to the subject.

Spatial relationships - Moving the camera changes the spatial relationship of your subject to other objects in the scene.

Depth of field - Increasing focal length also decreases depth of field (the range of sharp focus).

Focusing at Close Distances
Depending on how close you want to get to your subject, you may need to switch to macro focusing mode. The universal symbol for macro mode is a tiny flower. Check your camera manual for the minimum and maximum camera-to-subject distance to use when working in macro mode; this range varies from camera to camera.

Any camera shake will register as a slight blur that will be especially noticeable in close-up shots. Use a tripod and snap the picture using the camera’s self-timer mechanism to be sure that the camera is absolutely still during the exposure.

Lighting at Close Range
Getting enough light on your subject can be a challenge in close-up photography. Try to position the camera so that the light source is in front of you. Otherwise, the camera may throw a shadow on the subject or block the light, or both.

Using a built-in flash probably won’t produce good results. At close range, a built-in flash typically blasts one part of the subject with too much light. If your camera offers a flash exposure compensation (EV) control, however, you may be able to use your built-in flash successfully. Flash EV enables you to reduce or increase flash output.

About Digital Zoom
Most people don’t understand the difference between digital and optical zoom. Digital zoom is nothing like having a true, optical zoom lens. Digital zoom simply enlarges the existing image and crops away the outer edges, just as if you had taken the same steps in a photo editor. The resulting photo will be of lower quality than it would be if you captured the same subject with an optical zoom.

Check your camera manual to find out how your camera’s digital zoom function is triggered. In some cases, the camera shifts to digital zoom automatically when you reach the end of the optical zoom range. With other cameras, the digital zoom is triggered only if you press and hold the zoom lever for a few seconds after reaching the optical zoom limit.