Macro work at home

After reading the feature on taking macro images in Practical Photography, I was inspired to try my hand at it. No doubt some people will think that macro photography is a much tougher endeavour and should best be left to a time when I am more proficient at digital photography. Well, as they say too – no pain no gain and without practice, knowledge will only be theories running on hot air in the brains.

I set up my “studio” quickly, using my “xbox-cum-ironing-cum-exercising-cum-spare” room. As the soft light coming in from the window was low, I needed an extra lamp for specific shots, probably to bounce the light off the walls or a makeshift reflector. I found the only lamp in my home, on top of my wife’s piano. That will have to do. Then I had to find either a white background or a black background for contrast purpose. I found an old black file, but it proved a bit tricky, as the surface was slightly reflective and it wouldn’t stand properly for me. I asked my wife if she has some black cloth and she said, “Ai yah, just use your jacket or something!”. Alrightie… my jacket will have to do then.

Next comes the task of finding my subjects. The feature article said to keep it simple. The trick is to find things in the house and take them from interesting angles, or maybe break them into pieces or something (alright I made up that last part about breaking them). It took some creative lighting, position of my tripod and props, as well as playing around with my camera’s 1cm macro capability to pull off some of the better shots. Not every image was what I wanted, but I guess they will have to do for now.