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Exploring Photography
Imagine a full-frame sensor in a cam-
era. It is about 1″ (25 mm) high. An object 3″
(75 mm) high fi lling this frame is reproduced
as 1/3 life size. This example has an image
to subject ratio of 1:3. See Figure 7-2. A 1″
(25 mm) high object fi lling the sensor has a
1:1 ratio that is life-size. See Figure 7-3. A 1/2″
(13 mm) high subject fi lling the sensor must
be enlarged. It has a ratio of 2:1 or a magnifi -
cation of 2X. The symbol “X” indicates mag-
nifi cation or times. See Figure 7-4.
Magnification Terms
The term close-up photography is gen-
erally understood to cover the range of 1:10
through 1:1 (1/10 size to life-size). Photo-
graphing objects larger than life-size through
25:1 (25X) is called photomacrography. The
terms macrophotography and macrography
Figure 7-1. These examples of close-up and photomacrography photos are images that you can create.
Figure 7-2. A 3″ (75 mm) subject that fi lls a 35 mm
sensor vertically has an image to subject ratio of 1:3.