9 Gift Ideas for Macro Photographers

Macro photographs enable you to capture in-your-face close-ups of flowers, bugs, peeling paint, and—depending on your personal aesthetics—anything encrusted in rust. The following are 10 gift ideas designed to help you with tight close-ups of objects, rusty or otherwise.

1. Macro Lenses

Macro lenses are specifically designed to capture sharp close-up photographs. Available in normal, wide-angle, and telephoto focal lengths, most macro lenses can get as close as life-size (1:1). A few macros only focus down to half life-size (1:2), while others can focus down to 5x life-size (5:1).

Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f/4 Macro Lens (left) and Canon TS-E 135mm f/4L Macro Tilt-Shift Lens (right)

Available for most every camera system, many shooters prefer longer focal length macros because they are less likely to cast shadows on their subjects or, in the case of insects, scare them away. When used at close range and at wide apertures, longer focal length macros make it easier to focus selectively on your subject while separating it from the foreground and background.
Conversely, wide-angle macros enable you to get in close to your subject while maintaining detail in its surroundings. With few exceptions, macro lenses focus to infinity and can be used equally well for conventional, i.e., non-macro photography.