Photography Monthly's tip week: Making the most of macro, Tip 3

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for our third tip of the week on Making the Most of Macro.

Today’s tip is all about focal points:

The focal point of your macro shot can effect the final composition drastically. Focusing on different areas, just by altering the point by a few millimeters, can give you a completely different perspective on your subject.

For example, you’re crouched in the garden with your lens poking into the flowerbed, photographing a butterfly on the flower. Your chosen focal point could be on the probing tongue, telling the story of the thirsty insect, or it could be slightly over on the butterfly’s wing, picking out the dusty scales.

It’s good practice to take a few shots of the same subject, moving your camera slightly to adjust the different focal points, to see what effect gives the most interesting finish.

Using manual focus is an easier way of obtaining good quality macro photography, as you have complete control over the focal points you want to pick out. Sometimes using autofocus when in macro mode can confuse the camera as it jumps about in shot trying to determine what you want to focus on.

Get to grips with the manual focus by taking shots of static objects is a good way to start, as we mentioned in tip one of the week on Monday.

Have a go at focusing on perhaps some unusual points and angles of your subject and send them into our online gallery, where they could be chosen as Photo of the Day!

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