In close-up or tabletop Photography, digital cameras have a huge advantage over traditional film cameras because you can review your results and make adjustments as you shoot. If a photo doesn’t turn out as you’d hoped, just delete it and try something new. Digital images also let you import them directly into a graphic editing program for editing or reprocessing. I have used a series of photos taken in extreme close-up and full camera zoom of vivid coloured flowers to construct some unique banner backgrounds for use in web pages or as unusual icons and buttons.

When photographing in close proximity of the subject, your lens’ minimum focusing distance will determine how close you can get to the subject. The closer you can get to a subject, the larger it will be in the final image. However, macro mode allows you to get a lot closer to the subject, making it much larger in the final image. If you can’t get close enough to an object to fill the image area, you can always crop out the unwanted areas later.

I use a Pentax EI200 which has a minimum focus distance of 3 inches. The following settings seem to work OK for me:

Align camera and tripod to provide a stable platform and adjust distance from lens to subject. Try to get the sun/light behind the lens.

The camera settings are Macro (usually a little flower icon shows). Full size, best quality, flash off.

Using the preview window, zoom in until you get the closest shot possible. Then half click and wait for the green focus OK light to come on, then smoothly press the shutter fully down.

Windy days are virtually useless for taking flower images, as even the tiniest movement will cause the final image to be blurred.

The examples below show how a pink rose close-up shot has been converted into three or four unique banner designs. PaintShop Pro has an Effects Tool, I just play around with the various effects, mixing and matching until I get something acceptable. Occasionally, I stumble upon something really "arty".