My Life With “Point-and-Shoot” Macro Photography… Part 1

October 22, 2007

It was when I was in high school that I first learned about microeconomics, which — if I remember it correctly — is the study of the individual parts of the economy.

Then we had moved on to macroeconomics where we were taught about the whole economic systems — a look at how the economics principles worked at the national level, said my teacher then.

I was therefore a bit confused when later in my life I come to the term “macro” in relation to photography — where a photographer zooms in to take a close-up photos of things.

The macroeconomics of macro photography

I remember how I had pondered this question: shouldn’t this be called “micro photography” instead of macro?

Macro, as I understood the term then — no thanks to my macroeconomics teacher — was about a view of the larger scenario, hence, macro photography should not be about closing in on things with camera lens, I still remember myself pondering the issue.

I know now how wrong I was. In contrast to macro photography, micro photography is really about taking pictures of very small things and it involves magnification process using optical equipment. Macro photography, on the other hand, is about taking a close-up pictures of things although that is not really the correct definition of macro photography.

I know now that the word “macro” in relation to photography is not to be taken in the same context with “macro” in relation to the term “macroeconomics”, except maybe in terms of coming up with an economic plan so that one day I can realise my dream of owning a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera set.

Macro photography

So, macro photography, as I understand it now, is all about taking close up photos of things. Even then, as I said just now, that is not the actual definition of macro photography.

Darren, who runs Digital Photography School blog, says it better in his write-up titled “Macro Photography Tips for Point and Shoot Compact Digital Cameras“:

“I’ve used the term ‘macro photography’ fairly loosely here. Technically ‘macro photography’ is actually when you produce an image where your subject is captured on your image sensor at life size (or bigger) with a 1:1 ratio”.

“In the case of most (all?) compact cameras this is not achieved and in fact ‘close up’ photography would be a better description. However as most manufacturers call their close up mode ‘macro mode’ I’ve used the term for the purposes of this article.”

I too, am using the term loosely here, hence the title “Macro Photography Blog”.

So, where’s the art?

Those with trained eyes, or those with keen eyes, would immediately notice that the photos here are not taken with sophisticated equipment — the depth-of-field too shallow, subjects not focused at the nice place, built-in flash whitewashes the subjects, etc etc.

That’s because I’m using a point-and-shoot camera, the only equipment I have at the moment.

Point-and-shoot macro photography

Right now I’m using a point-and-shoot camera, an old Canon PowerShot G6 bought in 2004 which I suspect, would die on me any day now.

I’ve slapped in some ad text and banners on this blog and any revenue derived from those ads would go into my DSLR camera fund.

I had set my mind to acquire a decent DSLR camera body (a Canon 40D but if that is too difficult, a Nikon D80 at least), a wide angle lens, a standard zoom lens, a telephoto lens and a macro lens as well as a good flash gun.

After experimenting its capabilities in macro photography environment, I come to the conclusion that the G6 is perhaps among the most competent macro point-and-shooters in its time.

And that was the reason why I chose to concentrate on point-and-shoot macro photography as a niche subject for this blog. I’m sure the G6’s newer siblings, the Canon PowerShot G9 and the G7, are a much better point-and-shooter but, hey the G6 is not bad.

There are many things I like about the G6. First, it has two macro settings — macro, which can be achieved by pressing a button with the tulip flower once, and super macro by pressing the same button a second longer after the first press.

The super macro mode magnifies the subject optically and still allows you to zoom along its full focal range; so you’d get a good close up on the subject. In this mode however, you can only take pictures at 2048 x 1536 resolution.

The journey has begun

I started my journey on Oct 11, just over a week ago. I intend to learn as much about macro photography using point-and-shoot camera in this journey. And then later, hopefully, to shoot macro with a DSLR camera.

When I first started this blog, I had wanted to call it “Macroeconomics” but thought the better of it.

I had also titled it “Point Blank” at one point when this blog was still hosted as a sub-domain to my other blog, but felt the title was a bit pretentious. Then I revamp the whole idea, got this blog its own domain name and relaunched it as “Macro Photography Blog”.

Comments are welcome — positive, neutral or otherwise. Enjoy!

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