Ideas for macro practice?

[bethard728]

Aside from flowers and insects, what kind of "around the house" things are good for practicing macro shots? It's a rainy day here and even between showers, there isn't much in my yard worthy of a macro shot. I'm pretty clueless about macro settings and I'm going to need a lot of practice. Any suggestions? While I was outside looking for something picture worthy, I took pics of an iris, a clematis bloom, a dandelion puff, and a spider that was in my house when I came back in. I also took this while outside. It's definitely not great but the best I was able to get today. I didn't even notice the bug on the leaf until I uploaded it. Anyway, what are some suggestions for things around the house I can practice taking pics of?

[Nicole]

While I'd say the real answer to your question is "try anything and everything" a few things to get you started could be:
Food, Packages of stuff (like the words on them), fabric, appliances, cutlery...
You'd be surprised how different things look when you get close up.

[irispatch]

Yep anything and every thing. Inside try searching for details Look in your spice cabinet zero in one a pile of ground pepper. Feathers can be a good start. Check out the fine details on your jewlery. How about the pen nib on that old fountain pen. The sea shells from you last trip to the beach. The rocks in your yard. anything that will reveal a smaller structure. The back of a leaf looking at the veins. The potted plant in the living room the dust bunnines under the bed. Just abount anything you have at home can reveal details under the macro lens.

[CharlieJ]

Some other indoor ideas for macro photography: coins; keys; office supplies (stapler, highlighter, etc); indoor plants; cell phone; comb/brush. A particularly fun category is kitchen utensils. Post some photos once you take some practice shots. Here are a couple small ones from my Flickr Photostream:

[faeriegodess612]

I like to take pictures of my pets,..I don't have kids, so I take pictures of my two cats. If you have kids, take macros of their toys. Get all up in Barbie's face and take a picture. Or get Spider-Man climbing a toy brick wall or something. Take Hot Wheels and make a car show out of them. Buy a cheap bouqet of flowers at your local grocery store and think of ways to shoot them inside. Take apart the bouqet, most of them are hideously put together. Try them with mirrors.


I took this picture of some Mardi Gras necklaces using only the natural light from the window.


It might not be what someone else would like, but I like it.
This one was taken on the same day,..I used two pillow cases over a kitchen chair. Took me a while to get the necklace in the exact form I wanted. This one isnt as great, but I'm just using it as an example.




Just look around you at your possessions, and try to think of ways that you can photograph them. Get creative.

[captainkimo]

Dew droplets and coins are common macro subjects I see. Just yesterday, I saw a macro shot of a ripped newspaper. I liked the details of it.

Cheers!

Captain Kimo

[bethard728]

Thanks for the ideas everyone! I did do some macro practice shots inside. I wasn't horribly impressed with any of them but that's why they are practice, right? I haven't uploaded any yet but will in the next day or two. However, I did get outside on a beautiful day this past weekend and got some pretty good macro shots of some thistles and some bees. If you want to check those out, I'll be adding them to Share Your Shots in a few minutes.

[Gonzo13]

Old electronics (like from an old computer or remote), candle flames, sugar, salt, virtually anything can be used I have used my dog tags from the military (picture attached). I remember when I first started doing macro, I would look for subjects that I could fit completely into the frame. You don't have to do that, you can simply choose part of the subject like a vein on leaf, a letter from a word, petals from a flower (picture attached), or the gem in a ring. Be creative and keep an eye on your DOF because it can become very shallow with macro.

~Gonzo13

[bethard728]

Thanks Gonzo! Your pics are great! I plan on having another practice day here soon. Got a sick baby today though.