After reading "Creative Close-ups" I can't wait to get to the wildflowers springing up in the desert and try some of the many superbly described and illustrated techniques for close-up and macro photography Harold Davis includes. He efficiently covers the basics - cameras and settings, lenses and extension tubes, tripods, lighting and flash, aperture and depth of field and criticality of focus, and then tells exactly how they're varied and applied to each of the >200 images included. Each image has a purpose - showing something a little different to try whether photographing insects, flowers, water droplets, abstractions, reflections, or studio close-ups. His flower photography variations are most inspirational - covering lighting methods, settings and background colors - white and black - to emphasize shape, color, texture and transparency. His descriptions and illustrations of HDR flower photography and focus stacking techniques are so clear they beg to be tried.
I'd have liked a few photos of actual equipment setups, but this is still a 5-star book for me.
It's an easy to read book I'll browse through whenever I'm thinking macro and looking for something new to try.
Author(s): Harold Davis
Publisher: Wiley
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 243
Creative Close-Ups Digital Photography Tips and Techniques (2009) (ATTiCA)......Page 5
Contents......Page 9
Introduction......Page 10
Worlds of wonder......Page 13
Close and Closer......Page 14
Worlds of Close-Up Photography......Page 16
Photographing Artifacts......Page 22
Finding Macro Subjects......Page 32
Macros and the Digital Darkroom......Page 36
Creating Close-Up Abstractions......Page 40
Getting close......Page 47
Seeing Up Close and Personal......Page 48
Macro Lenses......Page 50
Extension Tubes and Close-Up Filters......Page 54
More Close-Up Gear......Page 56
Lensbaby Close-Ups......Page 62
Using a Tripod......Page 66
Focusing......Page 70
Exposing Close-Ups......Page 74
Aperture and Depth-of-Field......Page 78
Lighting Close-Up Photos......Page 82
Using Macro Flash......Page 86
Photographing flowers......Page 91
Botany of Desire......Page 92
Flowers and Light......Page 100
Transparency in the Garden......Page 106
Transparency in the Studio......Page 108
Flowers on White......Page 114
Flowers on Black......Page 116
HDR Flower Photography......Page 120
Focus Stacking......Page 126
Selective Focus......Page 134
Motion......Page 136
Impressionism......Page 138
Colors and Abstraction......Page 142
Flowers and Digital Painting......Page 146
Universe in a grain of sand......Page 151
Water Drops on Parade......Page 152
Drops, Drops, Drops......Page 157
Locking Up Your Mirror......Page 158
Natural Jewelry......Page 162
Reflections and Refractions......Page 170
The Solo Drop......Page 182
Close-ups in the studio......Page 191
Still Life Photography......Page 192
Setting the Stage......Page 198
Backgrounds......Page 202
Lighting Still Life Compositions......Page 208
Shadows......Page 214
Staging the Set......Page 218
Finding Subjects......Page 224
Photographing Jewelry......Page 228
Photographing Glass......Page 230
Resources and Further Reading......Page 236
Glossary......Page 238
Index......Page 240
