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Even the widest view is made up of details. So are people, animals and the everyday objects that surround us. This makes them easy targets for the photographer prepared to look that bit closer than normal. Here we explain how to get more from your photography by moving in close.

Close-up pictures always seem to make people take a second look, perhaps because they draw attention to details which most people wouldn't normally notice. As you travel around you are sure to come across many perfectly ordinary, everyday objects which are normally taken for granted but which can make simple and intriguing pictures.

Technique
Good close-up pictures cut out all distracting non-essentials and are capable of revealing the simple beauty or character of the most mundane subjects. Few pictures, for instance could be more simple than that of the horse's eye above. Yet it demands attention. The colour, texture, and the beautiful shape of that eye make you want to look again. The actual photography technique involved was minimal, but the choice of subject and framing make the image worthwhile.

To achieve really effective results, shape and composition must be kept as simple as possible - a jumbled, busy composition can be very confusing - like a puzzle which the viewer is obliged to unravel before the picture can get its message across.

Does it work?
The second picture on this page is also on a horsey theme. It was taken many years ago in Almeria, Southern Spain, and shows a fairground horse partially uncovered after the show. There have been lots of interpretations as to why this picture makes people want to look twice - some of an acutely sexual nature - but the truth is that once again it shows a close-up detail of a commonplace object - a view few people normally bother to look at. Captured on film, the object becomes something more, a composition of shape, tone, texture and colour that makes an intriguing image worthy of a closer look. You can't see the horse's face, so the picture shouldn't really work. But it does... is it because it stimulates the imagination into thinking that the horse is still galloping behind the tarpaulin covers?

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