An ordinary composition of a photograph will contain one or more subjects as focal points and a surrounding consisting of other objects. The subjects and the environment around them are the tools with which the observer will build his assumptions about where the photo was taken, what happened then, and what message it tries to convey, if any. Close-ups, on the other hand, may provide some sort of ambiguity, which will keep any observer guessing.
From a scenic point of view, taking a photograph of a subject filling a small area in your frame may leave you with many empty spaces that if not effectively used, will render your photo boring. In this case, filling the frame with your subject is simple and effective, as this makes it the only center of interest.
Moving closer to your subjects can make your photo more interesting by removing the surroundings altogether. For example, consider this situation in which you are photographing a wild animal at the zoo. The most common composition is one that consists of an animal, a cage, and maybe spectators. Getting rid of all the element except for the animal itself, may make the photograph look as if it was taken in the wild. Another common use of close-ups is to make the observer use his imagination to come up with different stories from a single photograph .A close-up on two hands holding each others will strike a certain emotion that may be different from one person to the other, depending on his experience. Here, all you did is that you removed the subjects’ personalities, so as to give a space for the observer to think.
Portraits are usually a strong candidate for closeups. While taking a portrait inside a specific environment is always nice, close-up portraits are used to give a very different sort of experience. Filling the frame with your subject will produce a very personal look. A facial portrait usually makes you in direct contact with the subject, as if you are looking to someone sitting in front of you. Close-ups on other body parts produce great photos too; they may create an abstract feel, or emphasize a certain action.
Even with still life, close-ups work great. Getting close to object show new details that are not obvious when photographing from a distance. This is particularly important when photographing products and machine parts.
A frame can be filled by walking towards your subject, zooming on it, or by cropping a photograph. While zooming is an on-camera process, cropping is usually done using photo-editing software, giving you more flexibility to set your composition, but with sacrificing the image’s original size.
As you can see, close-ups open a new door for your creative expression using photography. So use your imagination, and make your audience use theirs.
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