Macro photography can create high impact photos, and with a little bit of practice this is a technique that can be mastered. Here are some guidelines, courtesy Aziz Mahmoud aka ‘macro man’…
Using the macro mode
Aziz Mahmoud has been using macro photographing since 1989. He loves the macro mode because “it reveals a world inside our world, a world which we rarely have time for to observe and cherish.” His macro photos are an appreciation of that which we look at but do not see.
Aziz explains that the macro mode is essential in photographing handcrafted work. “In order to appreciate handcrafts, one needs to get a ‘taste’. Photographing handcrafted work needs to convey a feel of the artist’s taste and finesse, and macro photography is a powerful tool to do that.”
Tips for macro success
Macro photography may come easy to handcrafters simply because it involves creative thinking.
“Macro photography calls for creativity in capturing the finer details of an object which sometimes can get overlooked in an auto focus shot,” explains Aziz. “The camera should have a manual focus mode as shooting so close requires precision focusing.”
“The tripod is another tool which makes life easy in macro shooting conditions. Also, having the ability to fire flash off-camera can be very useful in challenging conditions, both outdoors or indoors.”
These may sound like basic tips, but for those handcrafters who struggle to take good quality macro photos, Aziz’s advice should come quite handy.
Follow the work of Aziz Mahmoud at http://community.webshots.com/user/azizes
Jan D’Sa is an artist based in the UAE. (www.janysde.com)
