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Home → Photography Tutorials → Macro Photography Lighting Tutorial

Macro Photography Lighting Tutorial

By Spencer Cox 30 Comments
Last Updated On February 23, 2020

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In many ways, natural light is inherently better than a flash — it’s free, for starters, and you don’t have to worry about changing its position. Plus, when the sun is near the horizon or behind a cloud, the quality of natural light is better for macro photography than all but the most elaborate artificial lighting solutions.

When you work with natural light, the main issue is that you need to position yourself to take advantage of the best available angle. For example, it is possible to use the rising sun as a backlight, something that cannot be imitated with most artificial lights.

With natural lighting, an important positive is that the light source stays effectively still. To change the quality of light, you must move yourself around the object you wish to photograph. This can lead to more creative options than may be visible at first — even minor differences in your position can make an important difference in the quality of foreground or background light.

In the image below, I used a slight backlight to create a highlight outlining my subject, but I made sure to position myself so that the damselfly did not become a complete silhouette.

Spotlight
Nikon D800e + 105mm f/2.8 @ 105mm, ISO 100, 1/640, f/3.2

When you use natural light for macro photography, you will always be pushing the boundaries of your camera system. Even during the middle of the day, you may struggle to keep your images at a low ISO for life-sized macro photography. To get consistently sharp 1:1 images, your shutter speed will have to be 1/400 second or faster, and your aperture should stay at f/16 or smaller.

The best way to compensate is just to wait until your subject moves to a brighter location, although you can also position yourself to photograph the brightest angle for a particular subject. Sometimes, one side of a bug or plant will be lit more brightly than the other, which may not be obvious until you start shooting and check your meter’s readings.

Compare the two dragonfly images below. They were taken within ten minutes of each other — the biggest difference in the photos is my position relative to the sun.

Pair
Nikon D800e + 105mm f/2.8 @ 105mm, ISO 280, 1/400, f/3.2
Morning, Dual
Nikon D800e + 105mm f/2.8 @ 105mm, ISO 100, 1/3200, f/4.0

For the first of these two images, the sun was blocked by a tree, meaning that the damselfly pair was in the shade. To compensate, I needed to set the exposure almost five stops (32x) brighter than in the second. Not only is the amount of light far greater in the second image, but so is the quality. In my opinion, the dramatic backlighting of the second image makes it significantly more interesting than the first.

The key to a successful macro image is to depict your subject with lighting and colors that enhance the aesthetic you have in mind. Sometimes this means that you want to use natural light in a way that stands out — as in the first image on this page — but often you will want to avoid calling attention to the light. If your goal is to depict your subject as serene and natural, you can use shade to soften the image’s shadows and create a more gentle background.

Resting
Nikon D800e + 105mm f/2.8 @ 105mm, ISO 100, 1/800, f/3.2

One thing that you may notice about the macro images on this page is that all four are taken at magnifications less extreme than 1:1. In other words, I didn’t magnify the subjects quite as much as my lens allows.

I chose to avoid maximum magnification for a two reasons. First, the composition — with larger subjects like damselflies and lizards, it is impossible to include the entire subject in a single 1:1 magnification image. For the images on this page, I wanted the composition to include the entire subject.

The second reason is that a lower magnification makes it easier to shoot a sharp macro image. As magnification increases, depth of field decreases and motion blur increases. At a more moderate magnification (like the above images), you can shoot at wider apertures and slower shutter speeds without getting an unsharp image. Since natural light is relatively dim (at least when compared to a high-powered flash), the benefits of a lower magnification are significant.

So, as a whole, natural light is great for macro photography when there is enough of it. However, for most high-magnification macro photographers, it just isn’t an option. Unlike with landscape or architectural photography, you will rarely be able to use a tripod for outdoor macro photography — most bugs simply move too much. Some photographers will try to use a tripod in the early morning (when bugs are more sluggish), but most will turn to artificial lighting methods instead.

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