Close-ups taken with wider-angle lenses also expose subtle detail, but by framing your subject in its surroundings, you also create a narrative to go along with the visual detail. “Normal” macro photographs expose detail, ultra-wide-angle close-ups tell stories.
Photographs © Allan Weitz
Macro photography is fascinating in the way it enables us to focus on the kind of subtle details we seldom notice otherwise. Sometimes the most mundane subjects can become fascinating when viewed at life size or greater.
Something I’ve long been fascinated by is the way small items can appear monumental when captured close-up through ultra-wide-angle lenses. In my book, the ultra-wide threshold begins with lenses with angles of view of 90°, which on a full-frame 35mm camera is about 21mm.
What I’ve always found visually jolting about photographs taken at such close range with these lenses is how visually dynamic the main subject becomes when viewed against its surroundings. Midrange and longer focal length macro lenses expose the finer details of your subject, but they limit your perspective solely to the subject itself.
The accompanying photographs aren’t true macro images, i.e., life size. Most are closer to approximately 1:4. Nonetheless, the magnification ratios of these photographs are much greater than the native close-focusing distances of the lenses.
1. Get Low and Get Close
Wide-angle lenses demand strong foregrounds or backgrounds—without them, your eye wanders aimlessly across the viewing field. For this reason, I often resort to shooting wider-angle close-ups at ground level or, depending on the photograph, by positioning the camera against a wall, tree, or other surface. Needless to say, the tilt-screen on my Sony A7R II comes in extremely handy when shooting in this manner.
2. Alignment Matters
Camera alignment is crucial for macro photography. Depth of field is exceptionally shallow even when stopped down to smaller f-stops, and even the slightest tilt up, down, right, or left can dramatically alter the perspective and composition of the picture. When shooting extreme wide-angle close-ups, I strongly advise playing around with camera position because even the slightest changes in POV can dramatically change the visual dynamics of the photograph.
3. Support Needed
Of course, use a tripod of similar camera support whenever possible. Tabletop tripods are great for this type of photography.
These photographs were taken with Sony A7-series cameras and a Zeiss 21mm f/4.5 C Biogon T* ZM (90° AoV), a Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f/4.5 Asph III (110° AoV), and a Zeiss 16mm/f8 Hologon T* lens. To focus closer than the native close focusing distances of these lenses (12-18”), I used a Voigtlander VM-E Close-Focus Adapter, which incorporates a 4mm close-focusing helicoid that enables notably closer focusing when using Leica M-mount lenses on Sony E-mount cameras.
Have you used ultra-wide-angle lenses for extreme close-ups? If you have, we’d like to hear about your experiences, and maybe send us a picture or two!
