Get bitten by the ultra macro bug

Learn how to take incredibly-detailed close-up insect photos cheaply using extension tubes and focus stacking skills with James Paterson

- James Paterson

THE MISSION

Capture mega close-ups of insects with a macro lens, extension tubes and focus rail

Time needed

Two hours

Skill level Expert

Kit needed

• Macro lens • Extension tubes • Focus rail • Tripod • Home studio kit • Coloured paper • Insects • Photoshop • Helicon Focus

There are all kinds of objects and details that look incredible in close-up, but insects are perhaps the most beguiling. Ultra macro photography allows us to blow their tiny features up to a tremendous scale, revealing alien-like features, vibrant colours and incredible details.

But how do we get close enough to see these details? You can easily spend a lot of money on macro photography. From specialist objective lenses to bellows and motorized focus rails, close-up photography can get expensive very quickly. But for those looking to dip their toes in the wonderful world of ultra macro photography, there is a cheaper option – extension tubes. These enable you to convert any lens for macro use by allowing for closer minimum focusing distances, and if you already own a macro lens then extension tubes can take you beyond a life-size 1:1 view of your tiny subjects.

However, macro photography throws up a particular set of photographic challenges, and the trickiest of all is depth of field. The smaller and closer the subject, the more limited (shallower) the depth of field becomes.