Theresa asked me,

I like the new site design! Here’s a post idea: how do you take up close pictures of flowers and bugs and all of that without it being really blurry? I am not a good photographer but I try.

Good question.

Most digital cameras can do what it used to take a regular film camera and a selection of lenses to do 20 years ago. I know; my studio major was Photography in art school. The problem is, most digital camera users don’t know half of what their cameras can do or how to use them.

When taking up close pictures of bugs and flowers and things of that sort, the macro and super-macro settings on your camera are your best friend. Most of the time, you’ll find this setting marked with a flower icon. Hit it twice on my camera, and you get super macro. Most digital cameras have this feature, although some do not.  A macro lens allows you to get up close with a subject, and still focus in, but there is usually some distortion around the edges. With the macro setting on a digital camera, the distortion isn’t as bad (the camera corrects it), and not really noticeable on my camera.