Orange Tulip
Mar, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo at the Richmond Virginia Botanical Gardens in their historic greenhouse.Time
It was mid afternoon when I photographed this capture.Lighting
Although it was a bright sunny day, the light was diffused through the greenhouse windows acting like a cloudy day eliminating shadows.Equipment
The equipment used included a Nikon D300 and a Sigma 150mm F 2.8 Macro lens. I hand held this shot due to the fact I was with my 2 year old daughter at the time making it difficult to carry around a tripod. A tripod would have been preferred though in order to ensure no camera shake but we take what we can get under the circumstances. It was a wonderful day with my daughter.Inspiration
At the time I recently obtained the Macro lens in my kit and was inspired to take more shots at the macro level. This shot is one of the first macro shots I have taken and I am hooked to this day. Macro has taught me to view things a bit differently, even in non-macro photography, and I find I do take shots a bit more close in composition now, especially with abstract and people shots.Editing
I always run my photos through Photoshop and touch them up a bit. In this shot I adjusted the saturation and brightened the image a bit. I did crop this a bit as well for it's final composition.In my camera bag
The equipment I carry now includes a Nikon D700 and D300. I have the following lenses: Tokina 12-24 F4, Nikon 35mm F1.8, Nikon 50mm F1.8, Nikon 85mm F1.8, Sigma 150mm F2.8 and rent the rest as needed such as a Nikon 24-70 F2.8 and Nikon 70-200 F2.8.Feedback
Macro is an art. This shot represents the beginning of a new inspiration so the only recommendation I can make is to rent or purchase a macro lens, preferably with a long focal length around 85mm or longer, and have fun learning how to use it. Macro lenses have different characteristics when used at the macro level and it is important not to be discouraged by these nuances, such as the change in speed of the lens at macro differs from its minimum aperture stated. Rather than complain about these facts I feel it is important to embrace them and learn to manage this and other characteristics because in my opinion half the fun of photography is learning new things. I am far from being a professional Macro photographer but the journey is both challenging and fun. Although capturing moving flying bugs may be the ultimate challenge, another great challenge is lighting your subject. Studio photographers may find this aspect a bit less challenging because of their extensive use of lighting techniques but for the mostly natural light photographer like myself, it is time to learn the techniques of strobes and ring flash and invest in some kind of ring flash system. I have found that macro photography will definitely increase your skills in every day photography and you find an entire world you do not see every day when you shoot macro.
