Reader's take: Why I love macro photography

Get Ahead reader Ronak Gandhi explains why he fell in love with macro photography and shares his tips with amateur photographers in response to our reader invite (below).

He also shares with our readers his favourite macro shots.

Anyone who has visited my Flickr gallery would know that I am an avid fan of macro photography (specially insects). Some people find my passion for shooting insects difficult to digest. What is so tempting about photographing insects that I can spend hours together behind a small creature to get that best shot?

Well, it's the beautiful patterns, or I should say the designs that the insects are gifted -- and we are not. These minute details are which I keep trying to capture as I can not admire those with my naked eyes.

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Coming to macro photography, it is not as easy as it seems. First you have to work with not-so-cooperative insects and second you need a powerful lens to capture them.

Also, either you need some sort of support to steady the camera (a tripod or a monopod or something where you can rest your camera) or you got to have very very steady hands.

I don't have a tripod yet, so I try to utilise my hands as much as possible.

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Here are some tips for macro photography:

1. Know limitations of your camera -- each camera a minimum distance beyond which it can't focus. For example in normal macro mode, my Canon S3 IS can focus at 1 cm but not less than that.

In Super macro mode, it can focus at 0 cm too, nice.

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2. Have enough light -- for macro photography, you need to zoom a lot to get closer to the subject and hence need much more light than shooting at wide angle.

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Are you a gadget/gaming wizard? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard' and we will get in touch with you.

3. Get a tripod (I need to get it too) -- As you are working at far end of telephoto range, a small shake can give you a completely blurred image.

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Reader invite

Are you a gadget/gaming wizard? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard' and we will get in touch with you.

4. Get a good macro lens -- Normal point and shoot cameras are generally not equipped with good enough lens for macro photography.

You need a lens which can enlarge the image and still retain the sharpness. I use Raynox DCR-250 lens on top of my Canon S3 IS. This lens enlarges the image 8 times and is very good at retaining the sharpness of the subject.

5. Keep away from Bumble bees :).

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Reader invite

Are you a gadget/gaming wizard? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard' and we will get in touch with you.