I have a lot of people ask me about my photos and in particular the shots of turf diseases up close. In most cases, people think that I must have used some fancy equipment and high tech camera/lens combination to get that “perfect shot”. Well, I hate to disappoint, but many of my best closeup photos were taken with a simple hand-held point and shoot camera that you could pick up for around $200. Although there’s nothing too special about the camera being used, there is something key that you must consider when trying to get that closeup pic and that’s the “Macro” function.

Most cameras have a macro function and in nearly all cases (I think maybe all as a matter of fact) it is represented by a little flower symbol (often a green one). Once you figure out how to activate your macro function it’s simply a matter of getting close and shooting. Here are a few tips that I can pass along from my experiences:

From the standpoint of a pathologist, it’s great when someone can send me a extreme closeup of a lesion on an individual blade of grass or even some of the structures in the tissue. Pathologists must look for the signs (the actual pathogen parts themselves) in order to get an accurate diagnosis. Although a microscope is sometimes necessary, the use of the macro function on your camera may be just what the doctor ordered to get a positive diagnosis.

Check out these macro photos from my collection