Macro photography can be an incredibly addictive genre of photography. Capturing small scale objects close up on a high resolution camera can really show you a whole new world.

If you are looking to take your macro photography to the next level, check out our article on 10 ways to improve your macro photography.

Now, let’s get into gear! All you really need to start in macro photography is a camera and a lens. However if you are looking to dive deep and create great macro images, there are terrific tools available to help. Today we will be covering these accessories that can help you go even further in macro photography.

These accessories are broken down into three different categories. Lighting, Optics, and Stability. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

LIGHTING

1) Off Camera Lighting

Having a light source coming in from a direction other than your camera is a huge advantage. You can put smooth gradients of light on your subject, provide backlighting to outline your subjects, and so much more. Here are a few relatively affordable off camera light sources that can add this depth to your images.

LED Panels

An LED panel is a very versatile light source. This is a form of live lighting that doesn’t require any connection to your camera. Because the LED panel stays on, what you see in your camera is what you get. Some LED panels come with adjustable color temperature to match your scene, as well as adjustable brightness levels.

If you are looking for a very simple solution to off camera lighting, this is for you! Also, because macro subjects are usually smaller, you can get by with a smaller LED panel, thus spend less money!

Here are a few popular color temperature adjustable LED panels:

Large Raleno LED Panel

Small Raleno LED Panel

Wireless Flash

A wireless flash is another great budget option for off camera macro lighting. Wireless flash usually requires a radio transmitter attached to your camera and a flash with a paired radio receiver. The advantage of using a flashgun is that you are able to get strong bursts of light that provide much more illumination than an LED panel. This lets you reduce your ISO and close up you shutter more. Of course this is just a flash so the light only lasts for a fraction of a second. You will not know if your light positioning and levels are correct until you take a photo.

Yongnuo is a very popular aftermarket option here for wireless flash. I have a few of their products and they are my go to budget option for wireless flash.

If you already have a flash, but want to make it wireless, you’ll want the Yongnuo RF-603. Be sure to select the RF-603 that is compatible with your camera body.

If you are looking for a dedicated affordable transmitter that will work with Yongnuo Flashes, check out the Yongnuo YN560-TX. This will be compatible with the tried and true Yongnuo YN-560 III. At the time of writing, this is the highest quality and most affordable full manual wireless flash setup out there! This lets you have manual control on up to 6 groups of flashes! That’s a ton of flexibility, and more than most of us will need.

For compatibility with the newer Yongnuo flashes YN-560 IV & YN-660, you’ll want to go for the Yongnuo YN560-TX II

2) Reflectors

Anyone who has dabbled in portrait photography or even product photography knows that reflectors are incredibly useful. Reflectors can help light up shadows by adding fill light in the direction opposite to your source. There is also a variety of reflectors to choose from. Reflectors come in plain white, silver, and even gold. Plain white is useful for matching color temperature and standard reflecting strength. Silver provides a harder reflection, like a diffused mirror would. This is useful if you really want to get rid of shadows and don’t mind a slightly harsher light. Gold is useful to introduce warmer reflections to your subject.

Usually all three of these reflectors can be found in a single product! Though macro photography is small scale, larger reflectors act as a large reflection source. A large reflection source can wrap around your subjects curves and provide a more cohesive light source.

Here are a few of the many 5 in 1 reflector options on the market. I personally tend to go for the largest reflector I can get, as this can serve many more uses than a small reflector.

32 inch Diameter Reflector Set

43 inch Diameter Reflector Set

24 x 36 inch Reflector Set

40 x 60 inch Reflector Set

3) Ring Lights

When you are so close to your subject, it can be difficult use ambient light as your lens blocks out so much. It can also be difficult to use artificial light because your lens can still be in the way! This is where macro ring lights become useful. Ring lights are mainly used as a head on light, so be sure to introduce other light sources if you feel your image is too bland. Macro ring lights surround the circumference of your lens to make sure you can get as close as possible to your subject and have even lighting.

4) Light Diffusers

On-Camera Diffuser

If your camera has a pop up flash, you may think it’s useless for macro photography. But think again! Even though your popup flash is much higher than your subject in macro, you can still use this light. All you need to do is diffuse this light to a lower level. Here are some products that make use of that pop up flash.

Pop-up Flash Diffuser

Off-Camera Diffuser

Many reflectors on the market also come with a diffuser. Diffusers are fantastic for taking any harsh light source, and making it soft and wide spread. Diffusers allow you to create beautiful gradients with very even lighting. Don’t feel you have to go out and buy photography specific items to diffuse light. Wax paper, translucent poster board, and even white cloth can act as a diffuser. Test out household items before spending that money, you will be surprised on what can work here!

The links in our reflector category apply here as well, as these were 5 in 1 systems that also included a reflector.

If you want a dedicated reflector, Neewer creates these as well.

5) Color gels

If you have an artificial light source, flash gels can help. Not all light sources have adjustable color temperature. When using one of these sources it’s important to be able to adapt your light source temperature to match the ambient light to get the most natural look. Color gels can add more yellow or blue to make your light source warmer or cooler. I’m always annoyed when I have a nice warm image, and then when I add a speed light, it adds a hideous blue tinted light. Matching your color temperature of your light sources makes your image much more cohesive, and less cobbled together.

Neewer Color Gels

On the opposite end of the spectrum, you can also add very vibrant and dramatic colors to your image with colored gels. If you enjoy the abstract and avoid the natural look, colored gels can make your images very ‘sci-fi’. Crazy combinations like a purple backgrounds with a blue foreground is possible with colored gels over your light sources.

 

MAGNIFICATION & OPTICS

6) Close-up Filter

A close up filter, also referred to as a close up lens, is a handy accessory if you don’t want to shell out for an expensive macro lens. A close up filter screws onto the front of your lens, just like any other filter, and decreases your minimum focusing distance. Close up filter strengths are measured in ‘diopters’.  Common strengths include +1, +2, +4, and they can even go up to +10 diopters! Be careful here. Too strong of a filter can reduce the optical quality of your images.

These filters come at a relatively low cost with many benefits. Because this is a screw on filter, there is no change to your auto focus system and you still have full lens controls such as image stabilization and aperture. Check them out here.

7) Macro Extension Tubes

A macro extension tube was my first tool in macro photography.  A Macro extension tube is essentially a hollow spacer that is placed between your camera body and your lens. Distancing a lens from your camera body reduces your minimum focusing distance.

Some macro extension tubes are very minimalistic and are literally a metal spacer with no electrical connections (See my review of the Fotodiox Extension Tube here). These are OK, however your lens’ electrical connections allow you to use autofocus and aperture. If you plan on going with extension tubes, I would highly recommend the autofocus capable versions, though it comes at a higher cost.

8) Dedicated Macro Lens

The king of the optics section has to be dedicated macro lenses. Dedicated lenses don’t deal with any type of add-ons or adapters. These lenses were manufactured only with macro photography in mind. This means that you get optics that were designed from top to bottom with getting nice and close to your subjects.

Advantages of dedicated lenses over the previous items are:

-Better optical quality

-Simplified gear needs

-More stable and predictable shooting experience

Here are some of the popular 100mm macro lens options on the market. 100mm is a great magnified focal length to start with, and is more affordable than other 100mm+ options.

  1. Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Lens
  2. Nikon AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED Lens
  3. Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro Lens
  4. Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS Lens

STABILITY & CONTROL

This last category is a very important one. Macro images meet their fullest potential when they are sharpest. Shooting stability has a huge impact here. Especially because we don’t always have enough light and our shutter speed has to compensate. Here are the items that can be critical to your stability while shooting macro.

9) Low Profile Tripods

First of course, is the tripod. With macro photography, any random tripod can leave you limited. We recommend tripods that are able to go as close as possible to the ground. This is often where our subjects are in macro photography.

In tripod lingo, a lateral or 90 degree center column is a feature that allows tripods to get really close to the ground. This works by allowing the center column to move out from the bottom of your tripod, which would otherwise limit the lowest tripod height.  In addition to a lateral center column capability, a tripod that can spread its legs as close to 90 degrees is an advantage as well.

The Vanguard AltaPro 263AB 100 is a terrific example of a very flexible tripod that does not break the bank either! The flexibility will keep this tripod as your go to for macro photography.

10) Mini Tripods

If you are willing to have a mini tripod in addition to your all around tripod, these can also be very handy. I do still recommend a tripod that can have a low profile over a mini tripod. This is because I will always choose the tripod that can do multiple jobs. If you find yourself shooting with a mini tripod and wanted to change composition to a top down view, it may not be tall enough. A flexible full size tripod will be able to perform the low and the high tasks, and are well worth the investment.

With that being said, tabletop tripods are much more affordable. For example the Oben TT-100 tops out at $35 at the time of this writing.

11) Bean Bag Supports

Sometimes it helps to be low to the ground and not have to work around a cumbersome tripod. Bean bag supports are a great for when you don’t have to be perfectly still, but only need a little more stabilization for that crisp shot. Due to the nature of bean bags, you are naturally low to the ground. You simply rest your camera on the bean bag for stabilization. Because bean bags can form into pretty much any shape, they are great for supporting a camera lens in position. This can easily allow you to reduce your shutter speed a couple of stops compared to handheld shooting.

12)  Macro sliders

If you are doing any precision focusing with macro, you will find a lot of help with a macro slider. Macro sliders are precision translators that move your camera towards or away from your subject. If you shoot with manual focus, a macro slider can help you nail focus without touching your lens. Some lens focus rings are too sensitive and it can be difficult to operate in small increments. A slider would allow you to slowly move your entire camera.

A macro slider will also be useful for shooting at you lens’ minimum focusing distance. Shooting at your lens’ MFD allows you to get as close as possible to your subject, which translates to more detail in your image. You would simply set your lens to manual focus, and move the focus ring to the closest focusing distance. Now you would use the macro slider to move your entire camera closer or further from your subject. This helps you nail focus and ensure the camera was at the closest possible distance.

That’s a Wrap

Did we miss anything? Comment below if you have your own macro photography accessory recommendations! Thanks for reading!