Essence of Photography: Up Close

Have you thought about getting up-close in your photography? There is a whole world of details to be discovered and displayed if you zoom in to find them.

August 27, 2021

Ask an old photographer for a tip and they might tell you to get closer to your subject. Sometimes this is known as "filling the frame with your subject". This is sound advice for creating good images, but it is also a great idea when you are learning to see the world differently.

We get used to seeing the big picture and don't always zoom in to find the little details.

Let's look at some examples of photos which were zoomed in to show tiny ordinary subjects in extraordinary ways.

Once you start seeing from this up close perspective, you may start to notice things that you never did before going on all around you.



You can get up-close in different ways. One is simply to move your camera (and/or your feet) closer to your subject. You can also use a zoom lens to zoom in on the details.



Around the House

Search around the house for something that might look interesting from close up. It could be an ordinary object you see everyday that looks totally different with the right perspective.



Peeking at your Pets

One way to practice getting close up is to zoom in on details of a pet or friendly farm animal. You can create nice abstractions of eyes, fur colors, or other details like this.




Essence of Photography is a series of tips, tutorials, and visual inspiration on a variety of photography skills and techniques.

You can practice these skills and more by purchasing a deck of Photo Cards from Zoom In Reach Out, a non-profit with a mission of teaching to see the world from a different perspective.

All photos in this article were posted to the Aminus3 Photography Community and are copyrighted by their respective photographers.

Click on any photo to see a larger version or to leave a comment for the photographer.

Want to share your own experiments with up-close photography?

Why not Join Aminus3 Today and get started.

TOPICS: essence of photography

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