....does it have to be larger than life? I only ask because I was just uploading a 'fun' close up when I thought "hang on, with a little ps work this would be rather spiffy" Will you get marked down if your image doesn't fill the frame but is the main focus of the image??
Main Entry: mac·ro·pho·tog·ra·phy
Pronunciation: "ma-krO-f&-'tä-gr&-fE
Function: noun
: the making of photographs in which the object is either unmagnified or slightly magnified up to a limit often of about 10 diameters
- mac·ro·pho·to·graph /-'fO-t&-"graf/ noun
I always thought it meant life-size (1:1) or larger. But, what do I know.
The "traditional" photographic definition of macro is that the object being photographed appears the same size (or larger) on the imager as it is in real life. So if you were shooting negative film, a true "macro" of a penny would mean that you could lay a penny on top of the negative (not the resulting enlargement made by printing the negative), and the penny on the negative would be the same size or larger as the real-life object.
When the image being photographed and the image on the film are the same size, the macro lens is said to be "1:1" capable (the object and the exposed image are the same size). A "1:2" capable macro lens (such as the Canon 50mm/ƒ2.5) means that the image would be half life size on the exposed film.
Note that the "Macro" challenge specifically permits "close-ups", but I think in the past, macro shots (and not just a close-up) have fared better.
Thanks for your replies.
A challenge wouldn't be a challenge if I took my submission on the first day (would it:) This is the shot from tonight, what appealed to me was the psychedelic/surreal background. On closer inspection I probably would not have been able to clean the flower up very much and it was not very sharp at full size. The only editing here was curves on the flower using the magic wand to select. I went outside again (exif data in my head) to remove the fly and retake but I just couldn't get the same effect.
If you'd have scored this more than a five I'll just nip out and shoot myself!
would be considered a macro vs. one of my cat sitting on a chair or something...
Yes?
Close-up: yes, so it meets the challenge, but not a macro unless your cat's head is that size in relation to the size of your camera's sensor.
Get just the eye in the uncropped frame and your getting there -- get just the center of the pupil will all the veiny colored lines and your getting close to the top ten. :D Assuming, of course the image is well taken.
Its not about if it fills the frame or not. Its just a broad terminology about magnification. Anything 1:10 to 1:1 is known as close-up, anything from 1:1 to 10:1 is known as macro. Larger magnification than 10:1 is called micro-photography. The ratio's is simply a relation between a 35 mm film (or CCD) compared to the subject. Thus a 1:1 means that a 5 mm ant would take 5mm on the 35mm frame. In 10:1 a 5mm ant would take 50mm on a 35mm frame. Hope that helps !
