Photo How To

Macro photography in winter? You bet. Opportunities abound this time of year, from snowflakes, berries, and pinecones, to frozen dewdrops and barren tree branches covered with sparkling frost. If you’re new to close-up photography, the quick tutorial below will help you get started.

While this episode was shot in relatively mild weather, it offers a variety of simple tips for getting up close and personal with nature. And you can use these techniques year-round, whether you’re shooting icy subjects this time of year, budding flowers in spring, or colorful bugs in summer.

British pro Andrew Lanxon covers a lot of ground in barely 10 minutes. He explains how a minor shift in perspective from a high to low camera position will make a big difference in your results. He also demonstrates a simple off-camera flash technique that can impart a dramatic, moody look to your photos.

Lanxon provides the camera settings and exposure techniques he prefers for different types of macro shots, and he demonstrates a simple Photoshop focus-stacking method for maximizing sharpness by merging multiple images during the editing process.

As with many macro tutorials, Lanxon begins this episode on his knees, while moving in tight on a solitary snowdrop blossom near to the ground. He first makes a few shots with natural light. You’ll see how he chose the proper shutter speed for eliminating subject movement on the windy day, as well as the aperture and ISO settings he selected for low-light conditions and the depth-of-field he desired.

Available light photos can look pretty nice, but they are often more effective when adding a bit of supplemental light from a simple off-camera flash. You’ll also pick up useful composition techniques that are unique to macro shooting, along with several more shooting and editing tips that deliver great results. We suggest you bookmark this episode so you can refer to it as seasons change throughout the year.

You can find more helpful advice on Lanxon’s YouTube channel, so be sure and take a look. And check out another tutorial we posted recently, with five great tips for better winter nature photographs.