One of the really fun things about object and still-life photography is being able to create a variety of images simply by moving your camera around. This kind of photography will let you experiment to your heart's delight with camera angles, lighting, distance, framing, and composition.

Shooting straight on when taking object and still-life shots is seldom the best approach. Try shooting from a variety of angles — as you change the camera's position, the relative sizes of your objects will change, and the distances between them will appear differently. Shooting from different heights will do the same. You can even place objects on a piece of glass or a glass tabletop and shoot them from below.

Shooting closeups requires some special attention to how images are focused. When you're shooting at normal focusing distances, your depth of field (the zone in which images are their sharpest) extends one-third in front and two-thirds behind your point of focus. With closeup shots, however, it only extends one-half in front and one-half behind your focus point. In addition, since you're working at such high magnification, depth of field is extremely shallow. The difference between being in focus and being out of focus can come down to millimeters, even if you're using a small lens opening. This narrow depth of field can work well to isolate the subject.

You can't rely on autofocus lenses to create well-focused closeup shots. Set your camera for manual focus and then choose your point of focus carefully.

FIGURE 15-2 An available light closeup shot of a carefully arranged display in a retail shop. The textures of the olives and snail played off well against the botanical background.

If you're staging a still-life shot, keep in mind that the best ones usually take some maneuvering to come out right. Choose a dominant object and arrange the other objects you want to use around it. Pay attention to how the objects relate to each other, how their colors and shapes either enhance or detract from the picture you're trying to create. There's really no right or wrong way to arrange these shots, although it's always helpful to follow basic compositional techniques such as power points and the rule of thirds. You may have to elevate some of the objects to create the most pleasing arrangement.

Photographing flowers, mushrooms, leaves, and such brings you close to nature. Shooting these pictures requires a good eye for finding objects that are already arranged fairly well since creating these compositions usually looks artificial. If you get used to looking through your viewfinder when you're hiking through woods and fields, good nature shots will jump out at you. The best subjects are in settings with strong compositional elements, such as pools of water.

When shooting flowers in the wild, keep in mind that they will sway with the slightest breeze, which will cause problems when taking closeup shots. If the flower or flowers move out of your depth of field, you'll get both motion blur and out-of-focus images. Shooting with a small f-stop will increase your depth of field, but it will also bring distracting scenery into focus. However, if the subject is brightly lit and the rest of the scene is in shadow, your subject will stand out from the background.

When shooting digital, using a small f-stop will still produce an image that may have distracting background scenery in it, but the subject can be isolated in the digital darkroom and the background rendered into a pleasing mass of indistinct shapes through the use of the blur filter.