MALA-RISE IMAGES Photography by George Hopkins

You don't always have to use a macro lens, sometimes a 70-200 might be more convenient when you can't get to close to the subject. The most important parameters is depth of field and camera movement. Usually its getting the right balance a small aperture F24 might give you enough depth of field but the shutter speed drops and any slight movement the image will suffer. Usually its a balanced compromise push that ISO a little bit more than you want to, try and achieve between F11 and F16 but you will need that tripod or something solid to stop camera movement. If you have got time even use your remote or timer. Close up work often means a depth of field in a few millimetres, especially when using macro lenses. The latest image stabilization      macro lenses are a big improvement for auto focus, but there are occasions when you want to manual focus but this is difficult at hand held. A better technique is to manual focus approximately then move the camera backwards or forwards to get the image sharp in focus. Remember you only have a few millimetres.