Macro Photography: History, Photographers and Techniques

Apr 18

What is macro photography?

Macro photography shows small subjects very close, so that they look life-size or larger in the picture. In the strict sense, a photograph is macro when the subject appears on the sensor or film at its real size or bigger. This is called a reproduction ratio of 1:1. Photographs made from a little farther away, for example of flowers, are often called close-up photography.

Beyond about 5:1, normal lenses stop working well and photographers move to the microscope. This is photomicrography, a field close to macro photography.

Main approaches

Insects and small animals. The most popular subject. Thomas Shahan became known for face-to-face portraits of jumping spiders, made with old lenses mounted backwards. Leon Baas photographs ants and other insects in strong backlight.
Science and nature. Igor Siwanowicz, a research scientist, photographs insects, reptiles and amphibians and also makes colorful images of tiny animals with a microscope. David Maitland, a zoologist, works both with macro lenses and with microscopes.
Plants and still life. Seeds, leaves, flowers and everyday objects. Here the photographer controls the light and the background.
Abstract macro. Close views of textures, water drops, oil and soap film, where the subject is less important than color and pattern.

History

Wilson Bentley, a farmer from Jericho, Vermont, photographed his first snowflake on January 15, 1885, by attaching a camera to a microscope. Over his life he made more than 5,000 photographs of snow crystals. His glass plates are now in the Buffalo Museum of Science.

In Germany, Karl Blossfeldt (1865 to 1932) photographed plants for his students in Berlin, using cameras he adapted to magnify buds, stems and seeds many times. His book Urformen der Kunst (Art Forms in Nature) appeared in 1928 and was a sudden success. Its sharp, plain pictures were very different from the soft pictorialist photography of the time.

In the second half of the 20th century, special macro lenses, extension tubes, ring flashes and later autofocus made close-up work much easier. Since 1975, Nikon’s Small World competition has shown photographs made through the light microscope. Digital cameras added focus stacking, which today is a standard method for sharp macro pictures.

Techniques

Depth of field. At 1:1 the depth of field is often only a few millimeters, even at small apertures. Photographers either accept a thin sharp zone and place it carefully, for example on the eyes of an insect, or combine many frames with focus stacking.
Diffraction. Very small apertures such as f/22 make the whole picture softer. Many macro photographers work around f/8 to f/11 and stack frames instead.
Light. A flash with a large diffuser close to the subject freezes movement and gives soft light. In the field, early morning is useful because insects are still cold and move less.
Steady camera. At high magnification, even a small movement ruins focus. A tripod and a focusing rail help with still subjects. With live insects, many photographers hold the camera and use flash.

How to start

You can begin without a special lens. A close-up filter (a magnifying lens on the front of your lens), extension tubes or a lens reversed on the camera all let you focus closer. Many phones also have a macro mode. A dedicated macro lens of about 90 to 105mm gives 1:1 and leaves some distance between you and a nervous subject.

Start in your garden or a park. Learn the habits of the insects you photograph, do not move or harm them, and do not chill or glue them for a picture.

Books to start with

Understanding Close-Up Photography by Bryan Peterson (Amphoto). A practical guide to lenses, light and composition at close range.
Karl Blossfeldt, Urformen der Kunst (Art Forms in Nature, 1928). Blossfeldt’s plant photographs, reprinted many times.

Legacy

Macro photography has connected art and science from the start. Bentley’s snow crystals were studied by scientists, and Blossfeldt’s plants were admired by artists. Today the same tools are used in biology, forensics and product photography, and many people first meet the genre through the macro mode of their phone.

Discover other macro photographers · Macro in the Photopedia Dictionary

Last updated: November 2026

Photopedia

Charles Brooks

Charles Brooks is a New Zealand-born photographer based in Melbourne. He worked as a cellist for about twenty years. His series Architecture In Music shows the hidden interiors of musical instruments.

Leon Baas

Leon Baas is a Dutch macro photographer with a great passion for insects. He often shows them in backlight and dramatic color, and he builds much of his own equipment.

Igor Siwanowicz

Igor Siwanowicz (born 1976) is a Polish-born scientist and photographer. He is known for close-up portraits of insects, reptiles and amphibians, and for colorful confocal microscope images of tiny animals.

David Maitland

David Maitland is a British nature and science photographer who works with small and microscopic subjects. He trained as a zoologist and did research on how animals are built and how they move.

Ondrej Pakan

Ondrej Pakan is a macro photographer from Myjava, Slovakia. He photographs insects up close, often just after rain or on cold mornings, when they are covered in tiny drops of water.

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Macro Photography

Martin Kaninsky

Martin is the creator of About Photography Blog. With over 15 years of experience as a practicing photographer, Martin’s approach focuses on photography as an art form, emphasizing the stories behind the images rather than concentrating on gear.