Natural Selections

You've probably heard that any photograph can be improved by moving closer to your subject...and then closer still (and you know to ignore this advice if your subject is a lion, tiger, bear or one of those giant Burmese pythons that's taken up residence in Florida).        

But what if you're taking close-up images? Aren't you already close enough?

Probably not, says Carol Freeman. She suggests that if you're thinking close-up, think really close because you'll best depict, even define, your subject by really getting in there.

"People tend to bulls-eye their close-up photos," Carol says. "They take the picture with the flower in the center of the frame, the background all the way around it, and that's their idea of a close-up. I'd like to suggest they move in, closer and closer and closer, until they have just the essence of the subject."

What those photos will reveal, she says, is a whole new world—and maybe some surprises. "I've often looked at my pictures on the monitor, blown them up a hundred percent and seen more than I saw when I took the photo. I didn't see that little aphid or those pollen grains or water droplets or bits of color."

It's a process of exploration and discovery. "You'll see an amazing variety of colors, shapes, patterns and textures. You can see a whole universe in the center of a flower."

Lately Carol's been exploring the world of close-ups with a new lens, an AF-S DX Micro NIKKOR 85mm f/3.5G ED VR . With a minimum focusing distance of 12 inches and 1:1 life-size reproduction capability, it's ideally suited for extreme close-ups.

And ideally suited for the way Carol likes to work—specifically, without a tripod. "Maneuverability is a key factor for me," she says. "I need the fluidity of movement to be able to make those tiny macro movements that are so important for composition. Sometimes it's just a fraction of an inch or a fraction of a centimeter; I lean a little bit to the right or left, or bring myself up over the top of a flower, or get on my stomach and look straight across at the flower. I don't know how I can do that with a tripod." Which makes the compact size (3.9 inches long) and the light weight (12.5 ounces) of the 85mm Micro NIKKOR so important to her. Combine that lens with the D300s she used for the photos you see here, and hours of shooting were not only rewarding but comfortable.

Ultimately, though, results are what count. Carol markets posters, fine art prints, calendars and note cards, so her images must be what she calls "print quality"—sharp, detailed, colorful. "That's my criteria for keeping a shot: will this look good in print?"

Carol prefers to set her lens for manual focus. "In the macro situation, even at f/11, I'm getting only a small point of focus, and I want to control where that point is. That precise point determines what [the] picture is going to look like." Her technique also favors higher f/stops. "I like to be at f/8 or higher for sharp focus and depth," she says. "I want everyone to see the sharp details of the cool new world I'm investigating. At f/8, if I'm close to a tiny flower, I realistically have maybe a quarter of an inch depth of field; at f/16, I have maybe an inch of the flower in focus. The closer I go, the more depth of field I need to have that satisfying sharpness.

"The reward of going in so close is the richness of the detail, the texture and color that you don't see at a distance. If I've come in that close, I want that reward."

View a collection of Carol's images and learn about her photography classes at her website.