Talk:Macro photography

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Contents 1 Coins — an overexplanation? 2 Macro 3 Gallery Format 4 Lense nomenclature convention 5 Real Macro

[edit] Coins — an overexplanation?

Sorry, but isn't all the coin story in the leading paragraph an overexplanation? It doesn't seem of much use (it's an encyclopedia, not a textbook) and the useful information tends to get lost in it... — Pt _(T) 01:01, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

What would you prefer? It's possible to move that to Magnification or to create Magnification (photography) or cut it out entirely. Or maybe there are other possibilities too? Fg2 02:18, Jun 24, 2005 (UTC)

I didn't mind the coin example, but I think informal second person is a bit awkward for an encyclopedia ("For example, suppose you take a macro photograph of a coin on film"). Any ideas on how to rework that? Uttaddmb 01:57, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

I gave it a try. Feel free to work on it some more. Fg2 02:09, July 22, 2005 (UTC)

I rewrote the intro. I removed an awful lot of text that read more like a story than an encyclopedia article, and explained the concept several times in different ways. That's good if people don't understand at first, but I agree about useful info getting lost, and that's a lot of reading for people who understand the first time.

What caught my attention as needing to be changed, was the part about it being a requirement for the camera to be able to focus to 1:1 - this is misleading. Cameras don't focus, lenses do; the lens collects light being reflected at it, and projects this onto the sensor ( film or digital ) inside the camera. Modern cameras have autofocus, which tells the lens where to focus, but (1) the lens is still "doing" the focus by moving internal glass elements, and (2) most macro photographers use manual focus, even with AF cameras.

If people don't agree with removing much of the text, it can be reverted, but I feel the camera vs lens being able to focus to 1:1 is an important distinction, and should be kept.

ForrestCroce 22:30, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Macro

I'm curious: why macro? Shouldn't it be micro photography? See Macroscopic.

Indeed, one manufacturer calls its lenses "micro" even though the most common term in the industry is "macro." It's a branch of photography between photomicrography and ordinary photography. I guess the objects are macroscopic --- it doesn't require a microscope to see a coin or an insect, for example --- so perhaps that's why the term arose? Certainly, I don't know why it's called "macrophotography," but that is the most widely used expression. The article macroscopic bears this out, as it encompasses things as small as a millimeter. Fg2 02:22, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

It's just one of those terms that evolved into a confusing use of the word. Sort of like how the word "shutter" can mean the thing that blocks light from hitting the film or chip, but "shutter" can also mean the button you push to take a photograph. While "micro" would probably make more sense, it's forever engrained into the language of photography, and even has its own technical definition: "macro" in photo optics means "life-size magnification" or 1:1, ie the subject being the same size on the film plane as in reality. Which is a difficult trick for a lens to do, costs two stops of light, and changes depth of field from being 1/3 in front of the subject and 2/3 behind, to evenly split. ForrestCroce 22:05, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gallery Format

i think it will be good to put all the five images in gallery format (for example of gallery format see hibiscus) --vineeth 05:18, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

I strongly disagree. The hibiscus article has very little flow text and lots of images, it makes sense there. But this page has much more text to support less images. --Dschwen 08:46, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lense nomenclature convention

I just bought a pack of three macro screw-in lenses, and they all have markings on them ranging from +1 to +4. What does this mean? Are they standard numbers that mean the same thing to everybody? Is it worth including in the article? I even have a table that came with the lenses, but since I'm new to photography it's a bit confusing. Thanks. -W0lfie 02:32, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

No, I don't know what those numbers mean. I'm no expert photographer though. Are they to do with the macro magnification? Does the table provide any clues? Imroy 04:46, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

I asked on the Deviantart forum, and the answer is that they're probably dioptre numbers. Does that help? Imroy 08:10, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Imroy, I think that's right. Looking at the numbers in the table, they follow an inverse relationship to the sum. But you only see the relationship if you add the +1, et al. to the original dioptre of the lens. Thanks for your help. Is this sort of thing pertinent to the article? --W0lfie 23:21, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

BTW. What I have are close-up lenses. Not a true macro lens. They help the camera focus on the close up things. That could help explain the dioptre number being on there.--W0lfie 00:06, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

So are they seperate lenses (attaching to the lens mount on the camera), or do they attach to the filter thread on the front of an existing lens? If they're the latter then they could help to obtain a macro-like magnification factor. Imroy 10:21, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

What you bought are dioptric filters. If they screw in to the front of the lens, they refocus the light coming into the lens in a way (1) it can accept and project toward the film plane, and (2) increase magnification. This comes at the price of infinity focus; you can't use them, say, for landscapes or sports photography, because your camera won't be able to focus at normal distances with them on. ( Which is the advantage of a "macro lens" compared to a dioptric filter ) The numbers refer to the "strength," or how much magnification they give you, but even though I've got years of experience at photography ( see my photos - mostly landscape ) I've never used this type of filter. So I don't know what the numbers are measurements of, but I do know that by "stacking" the filters you can go beyond 1:1, or shy of it. ForrestCroce 22:13, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Real Macro

Wouldn't it make sense if the sample images were actually representative of results obtained with a real macro lense, projecting 1:1 image on to the sensor, and not just from a camera marketted as such, these photos are very nice but at least two of them seem more like close-ups than macros--80.6.85.54 01:07, 17 February 2007 (UTC)