How can you get unusually deep depth of field in macro photography?
Asked 3/29/2021
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I remember an old magazine article showing a macro-style photo with blades of grass close to the camera and a whole backyard seemingly in focus, creating a “small things look giant” effect. The setup sounded very improvised, possibly involving reversed or stacked lenses and very long exposures. Is there a real technique for achieving unusually deep depth of field in macro photography, and what equipment or methods would make that possible?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
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Sounds like large format tilt to me...
Using tilt only creates the "toy world effect" because the technique creates a thin sliver of focus w/in the FOV, which appears as a very shallow depth of field; which creates the impression that the scene must have been very close and therefore very small.
It's a mental/optical illusion; and when tilt is applied to close-up photography in the more traditional manner it can have the opposite effect (unusually large DoF).
The only other method of achieving extreme DoF is using the hyperfocal distance with a short focal length lens; but that couldn't include macro level magnification.
Originally by user70370. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user70370
5y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—there are real ways to push macro depth of field much farther than usual, though not without tradeoffs. The key methods mentioned are:
- very small effective aperture: stopping down as far as possible increases depth of field, though diffraction softens the image.
- longer focal lengths at the same reproduction ratio: according to one answer, a longer macro setup can give more depth of field than a shorter one at the same f-number and magnification, though it often requires lots of extension.
- teleconverters, extension tubes, or bellows: these can raise effective f-number and magnification, producing the kind of long, homebuilt setup you remember.
- tilt on a large-format/view camera: if the subject lies near a plane, tilt can rotate the plane of focus and make much more of the scene appear sharp.
The long exposures also fit: tiny apertures and extended macro setups need a lot of light. So the effect you remember was likely a combination of tilt and/or an extremely small effective aperture with a long, extended lens setup. It’s not black magic—but it is a specialized technique with sharpness, light, and practicality compromises.
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