I just got my first camera, an Olympus C-750. One of the primary things I want to use it for is macro photography, but I have little understanding of camera techniques, and I don’t have the patience to slog through some guide sites I googled.
Maybe I can get some advice here, or some quality references? My photos will be both indoor and outdoor. The camera claims to be able to focus in “super-macro mode” at a minimum distance of 3 1/2 cm.
What’s the question? How to use macro mode?
Also, just FYI the term is photomacrography.
Good photography=good composition. This is especially true in macro work. A closeup of a flower is not necessarily interesting. A closeup of a bee polinating a flower may be more so. In macro mode, as with a macro lens, the depth of field is going to be very short, i.e., the middle of the flower may be in focus, but the leaf in front of it won’t be. This makes composition critical, since blurred objects can either be artistic or annoying.
Musicat, the question in general is how do I take macrophotos properly? I’m only asking for basic do’s and dont’s here.
For reasons I don’t understand, 90% of the macrophotos I’ve taken so far have been blurry. When I pre-load the shutter button (to initiate the autofocusing), and the camera is ready to take the picture, the subject LOOKS crisp and clear in the display, but the photo comes out really blurry. I don’t understand why, but it may be a lighting issue.
First check your shutter speed. If it is anything longer than 1/lens focal length, use a tripod.
Second, understand that extreme closeup photography yields a very shallow depth of field (the amount of the photo that is in focus from front to back of the scene).
Third, if you’re shooting in low light, the camera is going to require a large aperture (opening in the lens that allows light in). Larger apertures further yield shallow depth of field.
Given a very shallow depth of field, any slight movement of the camera will throw the subject out of focus before the shot is taken. If you’re not using a tripod, you may be moving the camera slightly between the time you’ve “locked” the focus on your subject and when the pic is actually recorded.
Hope this helps.
criminalcatalog, macro photos can be difficult. If your camera has a manual-focus mode, that might be better to use. The auto-focus mode may not focus where you want it to, and closeup photgraphy is critical.
You probably want to stay away from an on-camera flash as a general rule.
A tripod or mini-tripod is useful where practical.
If your cam allows manual settings, and you want greater depth of field, set the F-stop to the largest number you can. Of course, for the same exposure, this means the shutter speed will have to be slowed down, so, again, a camera support might be needed, and a bee on a flower might be moving too much.
Conversely, a large f-stop (small number) will decrease your depth of field, so use it wisely. Decreasing can be used to deliberatly blur backgrounds and render them less distracting.
Basically, you don’t care much about the shutter speed unless you are capturing motion.
Life is full of compromises. 
I would add one thing: try using manual focus rather than auto focus. I have an Olympus digicam (C2100) and the autofocus really struggles in macro mode. Unfortunately the electronic viewfinder doesn’t make manual focussing easy as it is difficult to find the optimum sharpness, but can be done.
If you have good lighting, stop the aperture right down to f8, or whatever is the smallest available. (Remember large f number = small aperture.) Small aperture means larger depth of field, but the trade-off is that you need a longer exposure for a given light level. Of course, sometimes you want a shallow depth of field for artistic reasons, but then you need to be absolutely spot on with your focus.
Sorry if I’m telling you stuff you already know…
No, this is all gold. The instruction manual for my camera isn’t helpful at all, and often confusing. There are several things I’ve been doing wrong that have been answered here. Thanks for the tips.
I would stick with some sort of tripod for most photomacrography, unless your shutter speed is 1/125 or faster. I assume your macro lens is probably in the 50-60mm range. The standard rule is 1/focal length (as photog) said, but at such close ranges, any slight movement is so exaggerated that you really want to use faster shutter speeds, unless you’re steady as a rock.
And forget about on-camera flash. You’ll be too close for it to have any significant effect on your picture. Most of your light will be going past your subject.
So I gather that if I want the lighting to be good, I have to supply that artificially before the picture is taken. Check. I read elsewhere that putting white paper near the subject to reflect light will help.
And since I’m steady as a landed fish, I’ll continue using my tripod.
The real reason I want to do these photos is so I can refer to them for highly-detailed and meticulate illustration. I’ve always wanted the closest, clearest picture of, for example, someone’s eye. Now I can get what I want. Yay!
Actually on-camera flash can be used quite well for macro work with the right diffuser. Olympus makes a horse shoe shape diffuser that goes over the front of the lens like a collar. The flash illuminates this which in turn illluminates the subject like a pricey ringlight. I used a makeshift one made of paper for my Dimage 7 which worked great and I plan on doing the same with my D100.