Macro – Page 3 – Up Close And Personal

Captures of the day (26/4/19)

26th Apr 2019 awendesLeave a comment

A macro photo of some red berries. Lots of green leaves. — Sweep of Berries

All taken on a dog walk today. It’s amazing what you can find to photograph if you just look. Still using the Edge 35 Optic at the moment. Went to change it out yesterday and couldn’t find my Sweet 35, so left the Edge on. Kind of glad I did now, as I like how these turned out.

A false colour image of trees — False Colour Trees

I also like playing with false colours when an image just doesn’t “pop” for me. I found the structure of this shot to be really interesting, but the feel of it was quite dull. While I could have pushed the saturation, I felt it just needed something else, so started with one of the presets in Exposure X4.5 and went from there.

A black and white photo of a tree trunk. — Elephant Leg

I was very tempted to crop out the top of this image, but I think it’s better balanced by keeping it in. Lots of gnarly texture to enjoy.

Creepy and Crawly

25th Apr 2019 awendesLeave a comment

Sometimes the mood takes me and I break out the macro lense, extension tubes and ring flash to hunt for insects hiding around the flat. Living and dead, I’m fascinated by all the tiny details revealed.

Getting this close brings it’s own problems, especially if you’re hand holding the camera. While using a tripod would make it easier to get the focus where you want it, for me it’s very restricting in the fluidity of exploring an object.

The dead insects etc. are interesting in their own way. Details of their decay that would normally go unnoticed, are brought to the fore.

Sometimes, missing the shot – for whatever reason – can be serendipitous, giving a creepy image like the one above.

Messing around with the Edge 35 Optic

22nd Apr 2019 awendes2 Comments

I’ve had the Lensbaby Edge 35 Optic for about a week now. It’s a bit of a beast, in that I have to really work to learn how to use it. I’m used to slapping a new optic into my Lensbaby Composer and being ready to go with a shallow learning curve. Not so with the Edge 35.

What is interesting is that the optic works very well as a prime lense. When the composer is straight ahead, it’s like shooting with a nice, crisp 35mm lense.

It’s a bit difficult to get a good slice with extension tubes, but I intend to keep experimenting!

Up Close

21st Apr 2019 awendesLeave a comment

An abstract, black and white, macro photograph of some strips of staples.

There’s a reason why I called this blog “Up Close And Personal”. I love macro (close up) photography. I enjoy finding objects and exploring them, looking for interesting composition.

Back to the start again for a moment. I was agoraphobic for 7 1/2 years. During this time, I quickly ran out of subjects for my growing love of photography. So, getting closer and closer was one of the few options available to me.

Through this state of affairs, I’ve found macro photography, and the general practice of viewing small things up close, very enjoyable. Whether it be insects, flowers, strange industrial looking objects or other natural wonders, I like photographing them. I’m also a fan of abstraction, creating strange macro landscapes that make you scratch your head, trying to figure it out.

I hand hold the camera for most of my macro subjects, as I find it makes it easier to explore an object. This does however mean that I make a lot of “bad” photos, where the focus is off. It’s a process with lots of serendipity and one I enjoy.