This is the first in our Digital Photography 201 series, called "Photographic Styles". This session will highlight a variety of different styles of photography and we're happy to introduce macro photography as the first class.

Have you looked at those up-close and personal photographs of butterflies or flowers and wondered how that was done? It's done through the process of macro photography. One of the joys of macro photography is that it allows the viewer of your pictures to see a view of the world that they normally don't. Have you ever found yourself having an artistic block? No matter what you do, you can't seem to figure out what to shoot? One of the best and immediate cures is to shoot close up.

This class will introduce you to the concepts of macro shooting including such things as "working space", magnification, lighting and shadows, subject selection, and more.

You will be making your own light box and the higher cost of this class is to cover materials.

This is an advanced class and therefore there are some equipment requirements. In order to participate you must bring:

• A tripod. At the distance (or lack of) that we'll be shooting at, pulling your camera back half an inch will throw your subject completely out of balance.
• A camera with a macro lens. Preferably a DSLR with a macro lens however a point and shoot that has that little flower symbol can suffice as well.
• Your manual. You may need to know how to adjust the diopter control on your viewfinder, switch to manual focusing (you'll probably want to set your camera to manual focus), ability to change the white balance, etc.
• A gray card. When shooting up close, color casts and incorrect white balancing will be very obvious. A gray card is an absolutely essential piece of equipment at this level of shooting. However, these do not need to be expensive, just accurate. Ritz Camera sells a lens cleaning cloth that is 18% gray, Helix sells a nice cardboard card by Kodak for around $5.00, etc. Just don't print out your own from the web unless you are 100% certain that the gray level is accurate.