Language: English

Macro

A lens that can focus very close, so a small subject can be recorded on the sensor at its real size (1:1, life-size). Ordinary lenses cannot focus that close, so you use a dedicated macro lens or attach a close-up lens (a diopter) in front. Textures you cannot see with the naked eye appear, and the range in focus is so thin that moving even slightly forward or back blurs it.

Camera position seen from outside. A carrot sits on a small table beside the bunny, and the blue camera is right up close, about 12 cm from the carrot’s tip. The blur is not drawn in this view.
Camera view. The tip of the carrot fills the frame and its surface texture looks big, while everything else melts into blur. In the comparison the camera backs off to 30 cm, the whole carrot shows, and the bunny’s white suit blurs softly behind it.

How it feels

  • Fine detail
  • Mystery
  • Abstract
  • Focus
  • Strangeness

When to use it

  • Filming very small subjects like flowers, insects or water drops
  • Revealing a small detail of a product
  • Showing a world invisible to the naked eye in a nature documentary
  • Turning an ordinary object into a strange, abstract image

In the movies

The Tree of Life (2011) · Source: Rotten Tomatoes Trailers (YouTube) · Original video

    Not to be confused with

    Extreme Close-up
    An extreme close-up is a shot size, how big the subject looks on screen. Macro is the lens that makes that possible for very small subjects.
    Insert Shot
    An insert shows an object the story needs, so the whole object stays recognizable. Macro goes much closer and fills the frame with a small part of the object and its texture.
    Split Diopter
    A split diopter attaches the same close-up lens over only half the frame, so one side focuses near and the other far.

    Prompt

    Keyword

    macro lens

    Descriptive

    Macro lens, 1:1 magnification on the tip of a carrot. The surface texture fills the frame, extremely shallow depth of field, everything else melts into soft blur.

    Try these combinations

    • Macro + insect: the scales on a butterfly wing

      Macro lens extreme close-up of butterfly wing, iridescent scales, sharp detail

    • Macro + nature: morning dew on a spiderweb

      Macro shot of water droplets on spider web, morning dew, soft light

    Related terms