Macro photography is one that allows us to see small details of our world that we cannot see with our own eyes with the naked eye. Taking these types of photos with cameras is very expensive, almost prohibitive. However, smartphones have brought us closer (pun intended) to this world. More and more are offered and sold terminals with macro lenses. Thanks to this, we can stimulate and challenge our creativity, as well as surprise our instagram feed with very interesting photos.
Mind you, it's not just zoom in and shoot. Taking a quality macro photo with a mobile device is not an easy task. Therefore, in this post we will tell you a few tips so you can improve your macro photography.
Don't settle for Macro mode
Macro mode is just the starting point for many smartphones. Each brand has its ways, and sometimes they are . limited, which can cause you to quickly tire of the experience.
However, it is always possible to transform the main camera lens into a macro using accessories. If you're curious, you can level up using lens adapters. This is the case of Moment products or the famous Olloclip.
If you can not experience à la MacGyver. You can attach a small lens to the lens of your mobile (from an old recorder, for example). There is a more extreme case, which is to place a drop of water on the standard lens of the terminal. In both cases you will cause a "myopia effect" that will allow you to focus in just a few millimeters. By the way, this last trick is only recommended if your smartphone has a water resistance certificate.
Think about lighting
There is no point in being in front of the most curious flower you have ever seen if you shade it when taking the photo. The macro in mobile terminals has the drawback of focus distance. We have to get very close to the subject to keep it in focus and this can ruin the shot.
A small led strip connected to a powerbank and a few sheets of paper can level up your macro photos. However, there is no need to spend money on lighting either. Simply you have to be creative and use the available resources.
The simplest things you have in your backpack can be great allies. Use pieces of paper as reflectors to magnify the natural source of the Sun. Or the opposite: cover the subject (with a folder, for example) to leave it in total shadow. So you can build your own lighting scheme from scratch.
Use the Manual Mode of your Smartphone
If your mobile does not have a specific macro mode and you are going to take the photos using accessories, it is best to use the Manual mode of the camera app. The reason? Although the ISO and speed parameters set by hand can be of help, what is really interesting is lock focus.
With the focus always fixed on the same point, you only have to zoom your smartphone in and out of the subject to take the photo. Taking autofocus out of the equation will save you a lot of time and blurry photos.
Editing Tips
Cut out the distorted area
Macro photography tends to generate quite a bit of distortion, especially when not using professional cameras. Sometimes the blurred part of the image can serve to give context to viewer. But in other cases, the blurry spot is just going to be distracting. In such cases, it is best crop the image, either in square or keeping the original format. In this way you will focus all the attention on the important part of the image and apply the famous rule of "less is more".
Apply digital approach
In any image editing app like Lightroom Mobile o Snapseed there are tools to give a little highlight to the image and make it look sharper. This tool is usually called a "Sharpen" and applies an unsharp mask. With this little trick we will recover some sharpness, which is usually the weak point of mobile macro photography.
With these tricks, we are convinced that your photos will take a good leap in quality. You will not only take advantage of your smartphone, but you will also be able to squeeze all your ingenuity and translate it into your social networks.