Macro photography is close-up photography. The lens is typically optimized to focus sharply on a small area and magnifying it.

Depth of field is extremely small when focusing on close objects; a small aperture (high f-number) is often required to ensure sufficient depth of field. This requires either a slow shutter speed or bright lighting for correct exposure; in all but the brightest natural lighting if a prolonged exposure is not advisable, auxiliary lighting (such as from a flash unit) is required as a ring flash or a flash diffuser like the one discussed here on DIY photography.

How to:

• Using a lens specifically designed for close work and with a long barrel for close focusing, called a macro lens.
• Extending the distance between the lens and the film or sensor by inserting either extension tubes
• Placing an auxiliary close-up lens in front of the camera's taking lens. Inexpensive screw-in or slip-on attachments provide close focusing at very low cost
• Reversing the lens using a "reversing ring"

You can buy a reverse ring, or you can fit your second lens (if you have one) on the lens you have on your body camera as i did and have macro capabilities for FREE:

That’s my sony a300 with the standard lens dt18-70 and my old manual Zenit lens: Mc Helios 44m-7

I just reversed the Helios lens and attached to the DT lens

That’s all!

Don’t forget to switch to Manual focus!

This is an example of what i did with that DIY:

Actually my Helios lens is all manual, so to use the aperture from that lens, i needed to have the aperture switch in the back of the lens always pressed but putting on it some glue or some rubber!

Other infos:

- Here is another cheap way to have an homemade macro lens at Photocritic

- And here another usueful way to build your own reversing ring from a Body Cap, its basically the same way i did macro reversing, but instead of using 2 lens, you will use a body cap, a filter and some glue!

- Another really cheap way of doing macro from Zuco

Thanks to wikipedia for macrophotography explanation.