Macro
Macro is the art of the very small — getting so close that a dewdrop or an insect's eye fills the frame, revealing detail you'd otherwise walk right past. It's a whole world hiding in plain sight.
This close, depth of field becomes razor-thin: even at a moderate aperture, only a sliver of your subject will be sharp. That's why macro shooters often narrow the aperture — a higher f-number — to claw back a little more focus, the opposite instinct from your portrait back in Blur the Background.
Focus is delicate at this range. The tiniest sway slides the sharp plane right off your subject, so brace yourself and take several frames to land one that's crisp where it counts.
Get to your lens's closest focusing distance (or use a Macro mode / macro lens if you have one). Try a narrower aperture (f/8–f/16) to deepen the thin focus, steady yourself, and take several frames. Good light helps — narrow apertures need it.
It counts when a tiny subject fills the frame and the detail you cared about is genuinely sharp, even if focus falls off fast around it. If nothing's sharp, you're likely too close to focus — back off slightly — or you moved; brace and retry.
The assignment
Get as close as your lens can focus on something tiny — a flower, an insect, a water droplet, a coin — and fill the frame with its detail.
Place your proof, unlock the next.
With a free account your shot lives on this assignment — you earn the XP, your streak grows, and the next technique opens.
Start freeNo credit card. Every lesson is free.
Already learning here? Log in