Close Up Photography Through Cropping
Decades ago, in the days of film and prints, I owned a macro lens.
Today, I practice Digital Close Up Photography
Or, close up photography through cropping.
While I still have a few legacy close up shots that I scanned from old prints, and a few I still shoot in camera, I now create most my close ups from whatever other photos I have that may lend themselves to a different look. i.e. I crop the photo.
Yes, with my telephoto lens, I could shot a distant object as a close up. By taking the wide shot and then using post processing, however, I have flexibility on what part of the photo I wish to feature.
Since I do not print photos nearly as often as I used to, I am not too concerned about a 6000×4000 pixel photo being reduced by 2/3.
With the plethora of paid and free photo resizers available, I can, if I want to, resize it for large printing.
The photo below is a pleasant late after noon shot of the pier at Ft. Meyers Beach, FL.
The photo below that is a cropped version. Easy peasie.
Or a favorite tourist type photo of Half Dome, in Yosemite National Park, followed by a cropped version of the same.
Or closer still.
Of course, cropped close ups can be photos other than landscapes.
Many of my people shots were, originally, a wider view that included the person featured in the closeup.
An example is a woman sweeping a street in India. I took the from a moving bus and did not have time to focus, telephoto, on the woman.
A quiet setting by the pond.
I generally crop the photo and then enhance Clarity, add texture, Dehaze and fine tune with shadows, whites, blacks and contrast.
Sometimes I will also tweak with color saturation or luminance.
About The Author
