Using narrow apertures
When working at high magnifications, depth of field becomes extremely shallow. As a result, only a small slice of your image will appear in focus, and scenes can become abstract when shooting at an angle to your subject (as not everything in your scene is the same distance away from your lens). That’s why it’s important to use narrow apertures – to increase this depth of field so that images are rendered clearly. Shooting at f/11 or f/16 is commonplace when photographing insects, for example, to ensure they’re captured clearly and in focus. However, that means a darker frame, so you’ll need more light to compensate. That’s where bits of kit, like ring flashes, come in handy (see right).