Impossible macro

Shoot and edit closeups with incredible detail and stunning backgrounds

One of the great things about shooting on cameras with APS-C or Micro 4/3 sensors is that the crop factor these formats apply can help us achieve even greater magnification from our lenses, macro optics or otherwise. In close-up photography, this can be a benefit, especially if your lens doesn’t allow life-size magnification on its own. However, the closer crop means, if we shoot at a life-size 1:1 setting, we exclude much of the background.

While this might not sound like a problem in many cases, there are times when you want both incredible detail in your subject – the level only seen at life-size – and location elements behind it, to set the scene. This is one advantage of shooting macro on a medium format camera; you can get close to small subjects but the larger sensor captures more of the surroundings. This creates a unique blend of wider composition and attractive bokeh.

In digital photography, we can take things even further. By stitching multiple macro images together, we can create a shot with huge amounts of detail in the subject, plenty of background elements, for context and beautiful bokeh to smooth out any distractions. This blended image is impossible to create in a single frame, truly giving it the wow factor. It’s important, however, to carefully follow the workflow shown here to achieve reliably successful results.

Shooting steps 

1 Match subject height

Although a common tip for extending depth-of-field in macro photography is to shoot at 90° to the subject, and our goal is to reduce DOF, lowering the camera to ground level enables an interesting bug’s-eye view. It also allows for attractive natural backlighting.

2 Choose maximum f/stop